Ralph McLaughlin
Trulia
San Francisco, CA, United States
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Past articles by Ralph B.:
Case-Shiller: San Francisco Home Price Fever Breaks
Today’s S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index increased 5.15% year-over-year in March 2016, which is the 47th consecutive month of positive gains. March is also the second straight month in which the year-over-year figure decreased over the previous month. This is a sign that the U.S. housing market is stabilizing in the wake of strong price … → Read More
Go East Young Grad: America’s Most Grad Friendly Markets
New college grads take note: there’s more to a great start to your career than living in an area with high salary and strong job growth. After all, what good is that high salary if most of it is spent on rent? What happens if you can’t find a replacement job if your current one … → Read More
New Home Sales Surge, but Buyers Still Facing Shortage
New home sales surged in April, jumping to a seasonally adjusted rate of 619,000. This is up strongly from 531,000 in March. Even when looking at a less volatile measure-the 12-month rolling total-starts are up 10% year over year and 3% month over month. The gain reflects a sharp increase in demand from homebuyers and … → Read More
Million Dollar Creep: Where Seven Figure Homes are the New Normal
The million-dollar home used to be a rarity in the United States, but is now becoming commonplace in several of America’s largest housing markets. Among the 100 largest metros, San Francisco has seen the largest increase in the share of million dollar homes in the country, growing to 57.4% in 2016 from 19.6% of homes in… Continue reading → → Read More
Housing Starts Keep Rolling In April
New housing starts grew at an impressive pace in April. The 12-month rolling total of starts-which is a less volatile measure-grew 11.6% year-over-year in April to 1,148,000 starts, slightly up from March. This represents the second most starts in a 12-month period since August 2007, but is lower than March 2016. Though the continued upward… Continue reading → → Read More
Breaking Stride: America's Fastest Moving Housing Markets Slowing Down
As the U.S. housing market has recovered from the Great Recession, homebuyers have been faced with declining inventory and worsening affordability. However, there are signs that some of the hottest markets on the Costly Coasts may be slowing down while slow-to-rebound markets in the Bargain Belt are finally heating up. In this edition of Trulia’s… Continue reading → → Read More
Homeownership Rate Ebbs For All But Gen X
Today’s Census Homeownership and Vacancy Survey release provides optimism that the homeownership rate hit is flattening. The Census’ seasonally adjusted homeownership rate in the first quarter decreased slightly to 63.5% from 63.7%, but the change is not significantly different from a year ago. Of particular note was the continued increase in the homeownership rate for… Continue reading → → Read More
U.S housing Market May Be Stabilizing As Home Price Growth Slows
The S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index suggests the U.S housing market may be stabilizing as the rate of annual price growth slowed slightly in February of 2016. Coastal markets in the West and South led the charge. Today’s S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index increased 5.3% year-over-year in February 2016, which is the 46th consecutive month… Continue reading → → Read More
New Home Sales Steady, but Inventory Gap Is Too
New home sales in March were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 511,000, which is down 1.5% month-over-month but up 5.14% year-over-year. The month-over-month drop is due more to last month’s upward revision to 519,000 from 512,000 than a fundamental change in demand for new homes. In addition, new home sales numbers from the U.S.… Continue reading → → Read More
Best Places For Retirees To Rent Or Buy
In our last Rent vs. Buy Report, we looked at whether it is cheaper for millennials to buy a home than rent. In most cases, it was. But what about those looking to buy their retirement home? For this edition, we take a look at the whether it is cheaper for retirees to rent or… Continue reading → → Read More
Led By A Surge In Single Family, Housing Starts Continue Rise
New housing starts grew at an impressive pace in March. The 12-month rolling total of starts-which is a more statistically robust measure of trends in housing start data-grew 13% year-over-year in March to 1,143,000 starts. This represents the most starts in a 12-month period since August 2007. Though the continued upward trend is good news… Continue reading → → Read More
Job Growth Strong But Slowing, Sales Down for Real Estate Ranks
Job growth in March pulled back slightly from a strong February, adding 215,000 jobs, or 2%, year-over-year. This is down from the revised increase of 245,000 in February, but was the 73rd consecutive month of gains. Wages posted another strong annual increase, with average hourly earnings growing by 2.3% year-over-year, likely due to continued tightening… Continue reading → → Read More
House Arrest: How Low Inventory Is Slowing Home Buying
America is experiencing a housing shortage. Not only are there fewer homes available to buyers of all income levels, those just starting out or making their first foray into home ownership are worse off than they’ve been in years. There are fewer homes available, an even if they can find a home, it’s likely to… Continue reading → → Read More
February Adds To Homebuilding Rise But Still Lags Historic Rate
New housing starts continue to grow strongly. The 12-month rolling total of starts which is a more statistically robust measure of trends in housing start data grew 11.9% year-over-year in February to 1,131,400 starts. This represents the most starts in a 12-month period since June 2008. Though the upward trend is good news for the housing sector,… Continue reading → → Read More
America's Best Neighborhoods For Living Well
Neighborhoods are where the fun is. Where a home is matters just as much, if not more than floor plans, updated kitchens and square footage. With that in mind, Trulia’s geospatial and economics teams worked together to show home seekers where they can find amenities that will help them stay active and healthy. We’ve not… Continue reading → → Read More
Case-Shiller Signals Recovery But Homebuyers Should Be Wary
Today’s flurry of reports suggests the housing market recovery continues to charge ahead despite concern over global economic conditions, although homebuyers could be getting nervous. The S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index increased 5.4% year-over-year in December 2015, which is the 44th consecutive month of positive gains. More importantly, November’s number was the 10th consecutive… → Read More
Big Flippers And High Rollers
House flipping is a practice that some believe is an indicator of an over-heated housing market. Nationally, it made up a stable of all home sales during the past year, mirroring a steady increase in home prices. The good news: that flip rate is roughly in line with the non-housing bubble years and well below… Continue reading → → Read More
New Housing Starts Roll Higher Led By South And Northeast
New housing starts grew strongly. The 12-month rolling total of starts which is a more statistically robust measure of trends in housing start data grew 9.4% year-over-year in January to 1,111,900 starts. This represents the most starts in a 12-month period since July 2008, despite a dip in home building sentiment reported yesterday by the NAHB. The dip in… Continue reading → → Read More
Jobs Report: Modest Growth, Construction Sector Remains Strong
Job growth in January started 2016 in modest fashion, adding 151,000 jobs, or 1.9%, year-over-year. It was the 64th consecutive month of gains. This is down from the revised jump of 262,000 in December. Wages posted another strong annual increase, with average hourly earnings growing by 2.5% year-over-year. Last month’s number was revised upwards to 2.7%. As… Continue reading → → Read More
New Home Sales Surge In December And 2015, But Lag Long Term
In December 2015, new home sales increased month-over-month by 10.8%, and increased by 9.9% year-over-year. However, both of these numbers should be taken lightly because the margin of error is wide and includes zero. In other words, we can¹t be certain whether the month-over-month or year-over-year actually increased, decreased, or stayed flat. A better number… Continue reading → → Read More