ATTOM Data recently released their Q1 2025 Single-Family Rental Market report, which ranks the best U.S. markets for buying single-family rental properties in 2025.  According to the report, the average annual gross rental yield on three-bedroom properties, (annualized gross rent income divided by purchase price) among the counties analyzed is projected to be 7.45% in 2025.  In addition, ATTOM says investment returns for landlords are slipping as home prices are going up faster than rents across slightly more than half the country.  Their data show that from 2024 to 2025, median single-family home prices rose more than median three-bedroom rents in 54%, of the markets analyzed. “The fallout from rising single-family home values is proving beneficial for long-time landlords, as increasing property prices drive rents higher. However, for new investors entering the rental market, conditions are becoming more challenging nationwide…Unless home prices stabilize or more properties become available for sale, …

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in February, 2025 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,501,000, which is 11.2% higher than January’s revised number and is 2.9% lower than one year ago.  February’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 370k.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,456,000, which is 1.2% lower than January’s revised number and is 6.8% lower than one year ago.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 404k in December. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.   The post Housing Starts Jump 11% in February appeared first on Real Estate Investing Today.

Young Americans are also tracking behind their parents’ generations; for instance, 33% of 27-year-olds own their home today, compared to 40% of baby boomers when they were 27.  Young Americans are losing their momentum when it comes to homeownership. Just over one-quarter (26.1%) of Gen Zers owned their home in 2024, essentially flat from 2023 (26.3%) and 2022 (26.2%). Before that, the Gen Z homeownership rate had increased each year since Gen Zers started aging into potential homeownership in 2017 (except 2022, when it stayed flat). The story is similar for millennials: 54.9% of millennials owned their home last year, essentially unchanged from 2023, when it was 54.8%. Prior to 2024, the millennial homeownership rate had increased each year since 2012.  Gen Zers were 12-27 years old in 2024 (born 1997-2012); only adult Gen Zers (19-27 years old) were included in this analysis. Millennials were 28-43 (born 1981-1996) in 2024, …

House hunters are touring homes and applying for mortgages as rates stay below 7%, but prospective buyers aren’t always following through with a purchase.  The typical U.S. homebuyer’s monthly housing payment is $2,793, just a few dollars shy of the all-time high.  Housing payments are sky-high for two reasons. One, sale prices keep rising; the median home-sale price increased 3.3% year over year during the four weeks ending March 16. Two, the weekly average mortgage rate is 6.65%, more than double pandemic-era lows–though it has declined to its lowest level since mid-December. Lack of affordability is suppressing homebuyer demand, even as we get tantalizingly close to spring. Pending home sales are down 5.2%, on par with the annual declines we’ve seen for the last two months. But there are signals that house hunters are stepping off the sidelines, even if they’re not  following through with a purchase yet. Redfin’s Homebuyer …

New York and Los Angeles are the only metro areas where the majority of households rent. Renting is least common in Cape Coral, FL and Dayton, OH. Roughly three-quarters of major metros have seen an increase in wealthy renters since 2019, another recent Redfin analysis found. The number of renter households in America increased 0.8% year over year to 45.4 million in the fourth quarter—the slowest growth since the first quarter of 2023. The number of homeowner households rose 0.8% to 86.9 million—a growth rate that’s little changed from recent quarters.  That marks the first time in over a year that the number of renter and homeowner households are increasing at the same rate. Prior to this, the number of renter households had been growing faster for four-straight quarters. This is based on a Redfin analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data going back to 1994. A renter household is defined …