Highlights From Research on Rents and Homelessness
We used statistical modeling to improve homeless population estimates, then created a framework for investigating how changes in rent would affect the size of the homeless population. Given that logistics and expenses prevent metros from conducting more counts of homeless populations each year, this research also offers a statistical way to generate hypothetical additional counts every year.
Southern Comfort: First-Time Home Buyers Will Find More Favorable Conditions in the South
First-time home buyers looking for friendly market conditions would do well to avoid the busy, headline-making markets in the West and the Northeast, and focus their search instead on homes in slower-moving, more sedate Southern and Midwestern metros.
March 2017 Market Report: Rents Rise at Slowest Pace in Five Years
U.S. rents rose 0.7 percent over the past year, to a Zillow Rent Index (ZRI) of $1,408 per month, the slowest rate of appreciation since November 2012.
February 2017 Market Report: Inventory Still Low as Home Shopping Season Begins
Median U.S. home values rose 6.9 percent in February compared to a year ago, the 55th consecutive month of annual home value growth and the 18th month in a row in which annual appreciation exceeded 5 percent, according to the February Zillow Real Estate Market Report.
January 2017 Market Report: The Rest Overtake the West
In January, U.S. median home value growth continued to accelerate year-over-year, the 22 month out of the past 23 in which annual growth was similar to or faster than the prior month. But while the national trend has remained roughly the same for two years, a slowdown in growth in a handful of pricey West Coast markets, particularly in California, has opened the door for more affordable markets in the South to top the list of the nation’s fastest-growing metros.
December 2016 Market Report: What Could Flattening Rents Mean for 2017?
A months-long streak of accelerating home value growth was met with an equally long stretch of flattening rents to end 2016, a trend with interesting implications for the housing market as a whole as attention turns to the busy 2017 home shopping season to come.
Rising rents, low interest rates and strong expected home value growth make buying a home instead of renting it an increasingly attractive financial option for those who can afford to do so.
