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According to real estate website Homes.com, America’s housing markets are close to reaching the halfway point in the recovery. Homes.com President David Mele predicts that if current trends continue through the late summer and fall, the actual halfway point of the recovery will occur by the end of the third quarter. In this article from HousingWire, Mr. Mele provides some details of the current and potential future state of U.S. housing markets around the country.
The long-awaited housing price rebound is arriving. After eight years, more and more real estate markets are reaching or exceeding the prices they achieved at the peak of the housing boom in 2007.
For homeowners who have been frozen in place due to upside-down mortgages or excessive mortgage payoffs, surging home prices are restoring the equity they need to sell.
For buyers, rebounding prices demonstrate a trend of potential appreciation and security in years to come for those who buy now. For real estate and mortgage professionals, the return to strong and stable values presents opportunities to those who have up-to-date home pricing information, and a solid understanding of valuation trends in their markets.
As of June 2015, a total of 142 markets, or 47% of the top 300, have achieved full pricing recovery. Among the top 100 markets, southern markets continue to dominate the recovery with 23 markets, while the Midwest ranks in second with 11 markets.
As of June, America’s real estate markets were just a month or two away from the halfway point in the recovery, according to the Homes.com Index.
According to recent reports, more than half of all new electricity generated in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2015 came from solar, much of it from solar panels on homes – and new results from the second quarter just set another record. This article from Katie Fehrenbacher of Fortune takes an inside look at this year’s rapid growth of residential solar.
The market to install solar panels on the roofs of homes in the U.S. set another record in the second quarter of this year, indicating a shift in the U.S. solar panel industry towards home owners and consumers.
According to a new report from research firm GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industry Association trade group, the recent record beat out the amount of solar panels installed on home roofs in the first quarter of this year, which itself was a record at the time.
For years, the bulk of solar panels in the U.S. have been installed in big solar farms in remote areas, creating electricity to be sold to utilities. Utilities distribute this electricity to consumers through a centralized power grid.
But the amount of U.S. residential solar panels has been growing more rapidly, and has been expanding across more states than ever before. The amount of home solar roofs grew 70% year-over-year for the most recent quarter, and went from four states with vibrant residential solar markets in 2013, to ten states today.
The growth in the market for residential solar is particularly interesting because by installing panels on roofs, consumers take more control over their own electricity generation. Energy generation becomes decentralized, in contrast to the traditional centralized model. In that model, utilities still provide the backbone for the grid, but don’t own the generation.
By the year 2100, the number of people around the world aged 60 and over will reach 3.2 billion. Highlighting the results of a study published recently in the medical journal The Lancet, along with new reports from the United Nations and HelpAge International, Linda Poon of CityLab takes a look at how cities and developers will need to prepare and adapt for this rapidly aging global population.
By the end of this century, the world is going to look a whole lot grayer: The proportion of people aged 60 and up is growing faster than any other age group.
Today, there are 901 million people aged 60 or above, making up just 12 percent of world’s population, according to the new Global AgeWatch Index Report from HelpAge International, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of older people. But by 2100, the global population will reach 11.2 billion, and of that, 3.2 billion will be at least 60 years old, according to the latest report from the United Nations. That’s more than triple the current numbers. In that time, the number of people aged 80 and over will also increase by more than seven-fold, from 125 million to 944 million.
It’s a phenomenon demographers commonly refer to as “population aging,” and it’s happening at an unprecedented rate as a result of longer life expectancy and lower fertility. Thanks in part to improvements made in global health – including significant strides in the fight against infectious diseases like HIV, malaria, and polio – people are living much longer. In fact, a study published last month in the journal Lancet found that, between 1990 and 2013, global life expectancy rose by more than six years, from 65.3 years to 71.5.
Families are also getting smaller. Women on average will go from having two-and-a-half children to just two by 2100, and in some countries the fertility rate will be even lower.
Cities will have to adapt. At least in the U.S., baby boomers – many of whom are now in their sixties and still very active – aren’t looking to move to a neatly carved-out retirement community away from the bustling city. “The old model is that you’d move into these active adult communities, away from where you spend most of your life, to a place where everybody is about the same age as you,” says Eran Ben-Joseph, head of the urban studies and planning department at MIT. “We see less and less of that.”
Rather, many prefer to “age in place,” or stay put in the same neighborhood they’re already in and build their own communities. But can cities accommodate their needs?
Urban developers will also have to take housing into consideration, says Ben-Joseph, as there is a gap between the supply and demand for homes that accommodate the elderly. “There are situations where people want to stay in the neighborhood but not necessarily in their old house, particularly if it’s too big,” he says. “But sometimes the supply of these particular developments in the cities have not been there.”
Here’s some helpful advice from BrightNest on interesting ways your smartphone can make life easier for you around your home. And you don’t even need to download an app – just use your phone’s camera.
Are you getting the most out of your smartphone’s camera?
If you mostly use it for selfies and cute photos of your cat, the answer is no.
With a few strategic snaps, your smartphone camera can save you time and money at home (in addition to sharing your amazing brunch with the world, of course).
Audit your fridge. Before you head out to the grocery store, snap a picture of your open refrigerator. Make sure everything is in plain sight before you take the photo! The photo will help you remember what you have, so you’ll know exactly what you should buy and won’t be left wondering if you have any milk left while trolling aisle six.
Keep track of disassembly projects. If you need to fix something with a lot of different parts, take a quick photo of the assembled item before you take it apart. It’ll be way easier to put Humpty Dumpty back together again that way.
Pick the right paint hue. Painting is one of the quickest ways to update the look of a room, but choosing a color isn’t easy. Before you head to the home improvement store, take a panorama of the room you want to paint. Then, take a few close-up snapshots of the fabric in the room. That way, you’ll be able to pull out distinct colors that may work for the wall. Using the panorama, choose a few different paint chip hues at the store.
Keep track of your appliance’s serial numbers. An appliance serial number is something you probably never think about until there’s a problem. To make your life easier, take photos of your appliance serial numbers and store them in a folder on your computer. It’s a nice backup system!
Have your WiFi password handy, always. When guests visit, one of the first questions asked is typically “What’s your WiFi?” To avoid scrambling to remember or worse, moving your router to look at the back of it, take a photo of the long password. That way, all you need is your phone to get your friends online.
In the latest installment of its “Ask The Economist” series, DS News asked Realtor.com Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke to share his thoughts on the current state of the U.S. economy and housing industry. According to Mr. Smoke:
Housing and the economy are finally in a supportive, virtuous cycle again. The economic growth we’ve seen over the last two years has provided the context for the healthy growth in home sales and the recovery of prices we have experienced this year. Higher prices are a result of surging demand with tight supply, which is finally resulting in more growth in single-family construction. Historically, new construction and housing services contribute 18 percent of the US economy. That contribution has been lower while new construction was depressed and while the housing sector worked through the distress brought on by the foreclosure crisis. Housing’s contribution is on the rise again, just in time to offset the drag from lower oil production and lower exports caused by the strong dollar.
More job creation, higher consumer confidence, and an increasing pace of household formation all lead to more demand for housing, keeping that virtuous cycle going.
When is the right time to start educating your kids about money? While some say it’s never too early, this article from Kimberly Palmer of U.S. News highlights new research indicating that financial lessons can really start clicking in a child’s mind during their teenage years.
Teenage money experiences, both good and bad, can influence spending habits in adulthood. Indeed, a paper by Annette Otto and Paul Webley published in June in the Journal of Consumer Affairs found that after age 15, saving money becomes more important to teenagers than borrowing money or negotiating over it with their parents. The authors suggest that teenagers might be especially motivated to learn how to be financially independent, so it’s a good time to broach the topic with them. The findings also underscore previous research that suggests saving at age 16 is closely linked to saving at age 34.
“It confirms the findings of other work that money habits are really formed early in life. That’s why it’s important to have financial literacy in school,” says Annamaria Lusardi, academic director of the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at the George Washington University School of Business. She adds that the paper shows parents help shape the future financial behavior of their children. “It starts at home, at the dinner table,” she says.
“How young people deal with their money seems to be related to their psychological well-being, at least when they are college-age,” Otto adds. Research suggests that saving behavior, she explains, is often learned through social relationships within families, which is why it’s important for parents to encourage their children to save as well as to model saving practices.
A survey of 1,000 parents and 881 kids released last month from T. Rowe Price found that having conversations with children about money is essential for raising “financially savvy” kids. Giving an allowance and letting them gain firsthand experience with money can also help, the survey of 1,000 parents and 881 kids ages 8 to 14 found. Parents who gave an allowance to their children were more likely to have kids who said they felt smart about money (40 percent versus 25 percent) and say they are “knowledgeable about managing personal finances” (32 percent versus 16 percent).
The NFL regular season officially kicks off this week, and college football is already in full swing. For retirees who love their football, and who might be considering relocating to another city, this perfectly-timed article from Bankrate highlights the best retirement cities in the U.S. for football fans. Scoring the most points in a number of categories were cities such as Houston, Tampa, Tucson, Minneapolis, Nashville, Denver, Seattle, San Diego and Austin.
If your perfect idea of retirement involves lots of tailgating, you’re in luck. Bankrate has tapped its database to find cities that are not just good for retirees, but also for anyone who can’t get enough of America’s most popular sport.
Each city received points according to the number of college and professional teams that played there, and they were ranked based on other measurements including cost of living, crime rate, well-being, walkability, tax rates, weather, wellness and health care quality.
Houston wins the crown as the best city for football lovers for perhaps the most fitting reason of all: It’s stocked with football teams. College football fans can revel in the Houston Cougars, the Houston Owls, the Houston Baptist Huskies and the Texas Southern Tigers. At the NFL level, there’s the Houston Texans, who made it to the playoffs in 2011 and 2012. If that’s not enough for you, then consider this: The city will be hosting the 2017 Super Bowl.
If lying on a beach sounds like the best way to spend your retirement, then you may want to consider Tampa. With 18 beaches nearby and sunshine most days of the year, there’s rarely an excuse to not spend a day outside. Football fans can take in a Bulls game at the University of South Florida or visit Raymond James stadium, where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 2002 NFL champions, play.
Tucson is one of the sunniest cities in the U.S., and it’s meant to be enjoyed outside. Tucson has plenty of opportunities to hike in nearby mountain ranges and in national parks. There are hundreds of miles of trails, and the city continues to add bike lanes and routes for bikers. Tucson also received one of the highest wellness scores among the cities in our ranking. The city is awash in University of Arizona red and blue as residents flock to Arizona Stadium to encourage the Wildcats to “Bear Down.”
Minneapolis has more than 20 lakes and wetlands, a park every 6 blocks (that’s 170 parks total), and about 200 miles of recreational pathways winding through the metro area. Minneapolis also has the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers, who compete in the Big Ten Conference, and the Minnesota Vikings, who have played in 4 Super Bowls. Vikings fans also have a new stadium to look forward to; it opens next year.
When it comes to entertainment, Nashville has something for everyone – especially budget-minded retirees. Tennessee has an affordable cost of living that falls below the national average and a favorable tax climate. Nashville is home to the Vanderbilt Commodores, the Tennessee State Tigers and the Tennessee Titans.
Credit scores and credit reports are more accessible than ever, but many common credit myths just won’t die.
A whopping 51% of Americans wrongfully believe having accounts with high balances will help a credit score so long as those accounts are paid on time, according to the latest Bankrate Money Pulse survey.
In fact, these balances will count against your credit utilization rate, which could hurt your score. This rate, which is essentially how much debt you are carrying versus how much credit has been extended to you, accounts for 30% of the popular FICO score.
And 37% of consumers erroneously believe you have to carry a balance on a credit card to improve credit, even though simply having the card will build your credit history.
Meanwhile, just 1 in 4 consumers was able to correctly identify that closing old accounts they no longer use will hurt their credit score, while fewer than 1 in 3 recognized that limiting themselves to a single credit account could be holding back their score.
The confusion comes at a time when a majority of Americans are – at the very least – checking their credit status. A March 2015 Bankrate survey found nearly half of Americans (46%) have checked their credit score within the past year. Another 14% have checked their score within the past 3 years.
The monitoring has helped consumers boost their credit score knowledge. A June 2015 survey from the Consumer Federation of America found small but broad improvements in consumer credit score knowledge between 2014 and 2015.
“Those that have received their credit scores in the last year have higher knowledge levels,” says Stephen Brobeck, the CFA’s executive director, but “the knowledge of a large majority remains fairly general.”
But “while more people seem to be looking, you’re still talking about a significant amount of people who don’t look at their credit report … and don’t know their score,” says Kevin Weeks, president of the Financial Counseling Association of America, formerly known as the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies.
And those who check their credit may be missing a few things.
If you’re living with your parents and would like to make a move towards living independently, writer Catherine Alford offers some valuable budgeting advice, as highlighted in this article from U.S. News.
The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that more than 30% of people aged 18 to 34 still live with their parents. This number works out to be a whopping 42.2 million people, most of whom are college-educated. What’s shocking about that number is that there are more people who are living with their parents now than there were during the recession. While many people choose to live with their parents, many others want to be on their own but don’t have the financial means necessary to do so. However, with one budgeting trick, those who want to be independent can be well on their way sooner than they think.
It might seem too good to be true, but one exceptional way to become accustomed to living on your own is to budget in rent, even if you’re living at your parents’ home for free. This trick not only gets you accustomed to paying for rent or a mortgage regularly, but it will also help you build a substantial enough savings account to allow you to feel comfortable moving out of your parents’ home.
Many parents do not charge their adult children rent, believing that they are being helpful and allowing their children to become more financially aware. However, because children are not responsible for paying to live somewhere, they can easily get lulled into a false security that they have more money than they really do.
Because many people’s parents don’t actually charge them rent, you can place that money aside. The benefits are that you get used to not spending that amount of money each month, and you build a substantial savings account that will help you when it is time to move.
While factoring in rent (or a mortgage payment) into your budget is the best way to prepare for moving out of your parents’ house, there are some other financial factors that you should consider in addition to this in order to prepare for your big move.
