Strong market conditions helped fuel a 6 percent increase in multifamily lending in 2017 as lenders provided a record high $285 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

"The multifamily lending market in 2017 benefited from improving fundamentals, rising property values and low interest rates," said MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell. "The result was larger loan sizes and record levels of overall borrowing and lending."

By Liam Quinn

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Oct. 18 appointed Randy Bryson, SRA, AI-RRS, to the state's Real Estate Appraisers Commission. Bryson is president of Associated Property Analysts in Columbia and has been an appraiser since 1980. 

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By Jessica Guerin

It’s been just a few weeks since the Federal Housing Administration announced that it will now require a second appraisal on select reverse mortgage loans, but lenders are already feeling the effects.

NCAI 2019 President Sheri Colvin and NCAI 2019 President Elect Chris Johnson met with AI 2019 President Stephen Wagner at the AI Chapter Leadership Program in Chicago, IL – October 2018. Learn more about the event here.

Visit any urban center in a major U.S. city and you'll see a similar view: cranes dotting the landscape and billboards advertising units in the latest luxury apartment projects. Has the focus on high-end units gotten out of hand?

New research from RentCafe found that luxury rental properties had accounted for 79 percent of all apartment construction in the U.S. And in the 2018 that number has grown to a whopping 87 percent. In many cities, a full 100 percent of projects completed in the first half of the year were upscale units.

By Michael Tucker

By Ben Lane

The world’s largest mortgage insurer can only check for mortgage defects on a “small” number of mortgages due to technological shortcomings and that’s leading to a potential rise in appraisal-related issues.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Oct. 16 published answers to frequently asked questions about appraisals and evaluations for real estate transactions that are covered by the interagency appraisal rules. 

Click here to view FAQs.

By Michael Tucker

A record number of e-commerce retailers opened physical stores last year and 850 more are set to open in the next five years, reported JLL, Chicago.

By Patricia Kirk

A shakeup may be in store for the office REIT sector with firms likely to change hands as interest rates rise and investors—private equity funds, other REITs and foreign investors—seek opportunities for placing large amounts of available capital.

 ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database, today released its Q3 2018 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows a total of 177,146 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — in the third quarter, down 6 percent from the previous quarter and down 8 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since Q4 2005 — a nearly 13-year low.

U.S. foreclosure activity in Q3 2018 was 36 percent below the pre-recession average of 278,912 properties with foreclosure filings per quarter between Q1 2006 and Q3 2007 — the eighth consecutive quarter where U.S. foreclosure activity has registered below the pre-recession average.

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The modest decline in mortgage rates is a welcome respite from the rapid increase in rates the last few weeks. While the housing market has clearly softened in reaction to the rise in mortgage rates, the economy and consumer sentiment remain very robust and that will sustain purchase demand, particularly in affordable markets and neighborhoods.

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By Michael Tucker

The North American Free Trade Agreement's likely replacement, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, should increase U.S. commercial property market demand by decreasing uncertainty about trade, said CBRE, Los Angeles.

By Jessica Guerin

The Federal Housing Administration’s investigation into possible appraisal inflations on reverse mortgage loans revealed an issue the agency decided it must address.

• Charles G. Argianas, MAI, (Chicago Chapter);
• Hugh B. Bass Jr., MAI, (Atlanta Area Chapter); 
• R. Wayne Pugh, MAI, (Louisiana Chapter);
• Jose A. Rodriguez-Martinez, SRA, AI-RRS, (Puerto Rico and Caribbean Chapter); and
• Leah Lasley Shell, SRA, (Arkansas Chapter).

By William Maher

Real estate economists continue to have a generally bullish outlook for the U.S. economy, capital markets, and real estate fundamentals. Overall, expectations have improved since the prior forecast in March 2018, and the strong second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 4.2 percent was fresh in forecasters’ minds as they weighed in on future years. Based on this forecast, the U.S. economy will easily surpass the current record for length of expansion (120 months) in mid-2019.  Consistent with a strong economy, key real estate metrics—such as NCREIF Property Index (NPI) returns and transaction volumes—moved moderately higher in this survey. While expectations have improved, the survey was completed prior to recently announced tariffs by the United States and China that could curtail growth in 2019 and possibly beyond. While there are many potential outcomes for the current trade dispute, escalated tariffs with China could dampen the next round of forecasts in April 2019.

The Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers, today encouraged home sellers to consider making energy-efficient improvements to their properties and urged potential buyers to seek homes with those features.

“The latest research shows that green and energy-efficient home improvements have the potential to pay dividends for buyers and sellers,” said Appraisal Institute President James L. Murrett, MAI, SRA. “However, it depends on the improvements made. Some green renovations, such as adding Energy Star appliances and extra insulation, are likely to pay the homeowner back in lowered utility bills relatively quickly.”

Additionally, by purchasing an energy-efficient product or renewable energy system for a home, the owner may be eligible for a federal tax credit based on EPA-established guidelines.

Three recent studies confirm that green homes sell for more than non-green properties:

Congratulations to NCAI member L. Roger Webb, Jr., MAI, AI-GRS on his designation. The Appraisal Institute designated 23 members in August, including; and 5 who received MAI designations; 7 who received SRA designations; 9 who received AI-GRS designations; 2 who received AI-RRS designations. 

View the full list here.

Starter homes are now more costly to purchase than at any time since 2008, when the last boom came to a crashing halt. In the second quarter, first-time buyers needed almost 23 percent of their income to afford a typical entry-level home, up from 21 percent a year earlier, according to an analysis by the National Association of Realtors.

The property market, after years of price gains that outpaced income growth, is showing signs of slowing as sales decline. The affordability crunch is especially severe at the low end of the market and in hot areas where supplies are tightest and values have risen most. A jump in mortgage rates this year only made it worse.

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