For those of you that do not Tweet – you should consider doing so. If you want to talk about effective bang for the buck, the 140 total characters, letters, numbers and spaces of a Tweet on Twitter certainly qualifies. Who knew you could say so much in so little? Evidently the NFL just agreed to that statement also.
More important perhaps, is that Millennials (Social Media Core Users) are not only the largest population cohort ever seen in the U.S., but also as of 2016 the largest home buying segment. Join in or check out.
Tweeting reminds me of Mark Twain, who wrote, “I would have written you a shorter letter but I didn’t have the time.” You need to pack a lot in a little space.
Twitter followers on DrTCJ now total 2,143 – please tell friends and colleagues. This is one of the periodic Jones on Real Estate blog postings covering the latest Tweets.
While you may recognize some of the data from my blog postings, there are always items that just get Tweeted. I am always looking for “I did not know that” information.
DrTCJ’s Tweets April 8, 2016 Through April 28, 2016
- US GDP grew at an annualized pace of just 0.5% in Q1 2016, the slowest pace in 2 years vs 1.4%, 2.0% & 3.9% in the prior 3 quarters
- The home buying experience improves with 71% of respondents in TD Bank’s survey responding Excellent-Very Good vs 68% in 2015 & 62% in 2014
- Forecast 30-Year Fixed-Rate Residential Mortgage Rates
- Hotel room demand in Q1 2016 dropped 0.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis, the first decline since the recovery commenced – STR
- TD Bank’s Survey of Homebuyers found that 14% used social media to assess mortgage products and services in March 2016 – double that of 2014
- In March 2016 the unemployment rate declined in 270 of the 387 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) – BLS
- In March 2016 the number of non-farm payroll jobs were up in 332 of the 387 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) – BLS
- NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (newly signed contracts) increased to the highest level in 10 months, up 1.4% from a year ago
- Since Texas deregulated public university tuition in 2002, tuition has risen 147% and median household income in the state up just 32%
- Three Major Housing Trends Spring 2016
- 67% of all residential loans closed in March 2016 had FICO scores of 700 and up vs 12% with FICO scores of less than 650 – Ellie Mae
- The average number of days to close residential loans fell to 44 days in March 2016, a 12-month low – Ellie Mae
- California pending homes sales (newly signed contracts) fell 1.7% vs a year ago, the third consecutive monthly Y-O-Y decline – CAR
- Q1 2016 median home prices hit $186,200, up 4.8% year-over-year, while rents rose 2.6% to $1,389 – Zillow
- The numbers point to increasing frustration of prospective 1st time homebuyers as 10.4% fewer entry level homes are available to buy – Zillow
- The average home sold in March 2016 was on the market 47 days: short sales 120 days, foreclosures 50 days & non-distressed homes 46 – NAR
- Investors accounted for 14% of all existing home sales in March 2016 and paid all-cash 66% of the time – NAR
- Buyers paid all-cash on existing home sales 25% of time in March 2016 vs 24% a year ago – NAR
- Distressed sales made up just 8% of all existing home transactions in March 2016: foreclosures at 7% and short sales 1% – NAR
- Four-out-of 10 existing home sales in March 2016 (42%) were on the market less than 30 days – NAR
- While first-time homebuyers historically made up 40% of existing home buyers, they accounted for just 30% of March 2016 sales – NAR
- The median US existing home price in March 2016 was$222,700, up 5.7% vs March 2015 – NAR
- March 2016 existing home sales were up 1.5% vs a year ago and up 5.1% sequentially from February 2016 – NAR
- 26% of Americans responded they were saving more than a year ago (24% in 2015) with 69% contributing to non-retirement savings – NFCC
- New home sales rose 5.4% in March 2016 vs a year ago at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 511,000, but down 1.5% from February 2016
- Freddie Mac is forecasting a 4.8% increase in housing prices in 2016 and up an additional 3.5% in 2017 as of April 2016
- Single women accounted for 15% of all home buyers in 2015 vs just 9% for single men – NAR
- The average seller of a home in Q1 2016 sold at a $30,500 profit vs what the paid – a 17% gain, the most since December 2007 – RealtyTrac
- Most Expensive U.S. Business Travel Cities 2016
- Housing starts up 14.2% vs year ago at an annualized rate of 1.089 million units, but down 8.8% sequentially from February – Census Bureau
- March 2016 building permits were up 4.6% vs a year ago at a seasonally rate of 1.086 million units, but down 7.7% sequentially from February
- Share of Federal Individual Taxes Paid by Income Segment
- 2015 Individual Income Tax Burdens
- 45.3% of American households (77.5 million) paid no Federal income tax in 2015, 1/2 having no taxable income – Tax Policy Center
- Better than expected earnings drive the Dow Jones Industrial Average above close above 18,000 for the 1st time since July 2015 – MarketWatch
- Q4 2015 was the 28th consecutive quarter of declines in Home Equity Loans & Lines of Credit, dropping 1.5% to $533.1B – SNL Financial
- Houston office market has 9.2 million square feet of vacant office space with 6.3 million still under construction – Colliers International
- The 289,116 residential foreclosures in Q1 2016 were the fewest since Q4 2006 – RealtyTrac via HousingWire
- Annual spending on prescription medicines will rise 22% annually for the next 5 years, hitting $400 billion in 2020 – IMS Health Holdings
- 4.1% of high-end home listings ($5 million and up) had reduced asking prices in January 2016, with a median price drop of 7.2% -Realtor.com
- Houston single family sales dropped 2.2% YOY in March 2016, average price down 1.6% ($272,658), median price up 2.4% ($215,000) – HAR
- Oil prices: the number of residential listings in Houston in March 2016 jumped 21 percent with months inventory up 28.6% to 3.6 months – HAR
- The average income tax return this season is right at $3,000 per the IRS taking 3 weeks to receive for those filing online – @MarketWatch
- 30 year home mortgage rates fell to 3.58% in the latest Freddie Mac Survey, the lowest level in almost 3 years (May 2013) – HousingWire
- Median Retirement Savings by Age Group
- Public transportation ridership in the US dropped 1.3% in 2015 vs 2014 (2014 was the most since 1958) due to energy price decline – WSJ
- Consumer credit outstanding totaled $3.568 trillion as of February 2016 of which $941 billion was revolving credit – Fed via NAHB
- Consumer credit outstanding increased 5.8% on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis in February 2016, up $206.6 billion – NAHB
- Top $5 million & Up Residential Sales Gains 2015 – 2014 (excludes NY) 100% La Jolla 72% Miami 51% Santa Barbara Coldwell Banker
- Top $1 million & Up Residential Sales Gains 2015 – 2014 32% Austin 31% Ft Lauderdale 30% Seattle 21% Atlanta 19% San Diego Coldwell Banker
Get your own Twitter account and Tweet away — and of course re-tweeting the ones of mine you find interesting.
Want to see all of my tweets or follow? Click https://twitter.com/drtcj
If this 61-year old can Tweet, so can you.
Ted
