REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION : View Posts

TEMPE, Ariz., April 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — To help bridge the diversity gap in the real estate industry, the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University has partnered with Grambling State University, a public historically Black university in rural Louisiana, to offer real estate development courses to eligible GSU students.

Less than 6% of all real estate professionals are Black, compared to 76% who are white, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) explains that a shortage of Black real estate agents may be a contributing factor to another issue: a widening gap in Black homeownership. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) estimates that only 42% of the Black population in the U.S. owns a home, compared with 64% of the general population.

“This pilot program will create an awareness of real estate development as a viable career option for Black people,” said Mark Stapp, executive director of ASU’s Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) program and Fred E. Taylor Professor in Real Estate. “Real estate is more than an investment, it’s the physical place we see as community. It builds wealth, creates freedom, houses our economy, and offers opportunity — it’s the foundation for the success of people and a community.”

Under the terms of the year-long agreement, which began March 1, 2021, W. P. Carey will provide institutional guidance, live academic instruction online, and oversight for the pilot program. GSU will be the primary point of contact for eligible student enrollment and academic support during the program.

“This partnership supports GSU students being able to expand their training to include the acquisition of skills associated with real estate,” said GSU Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Connie Walton. “GSU students will be able to enroll in online real estate courses that are taught by faculty at Arizona State University. We expect that there will be student interest across disciplines at the university.”

Murphy Cheatham, who serves on the Grambling University Foundation Board and an alumnus of the inaugural W. P. Carey MRED program in 2007, connected the universities and helped put the alliance idea before the Louisiana State University Board of Regents. “The partnership will go a long way in helping foster more diversity in the commercial real estate industry,” Cheatham said.

The dean of Grambling State University’s College of Business, Dr. Donald White, is currently reviewing options related to the establishment of a minor in real estate.

Interested Grambling State University students can sign up for the real estate courses at wpcarey.asu.edu/grambling.

About the W. P. Carey School of Business
The W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University is one of the top-ranked business schools in the United States. The school is internationally regarded for its research productivity and its distinguished faculty members, including a Nobel Prize winner. Students come from more than 100 countries and W. P. Carey is represented by alumni in over 160 countries. Visit wpcarey.asu.edu.

About Grambling State University
Grambling State University, located in Grambling, Louisiana, is a historically black university founded in 1901 that combines the academic strengths of a major university with the benefits of a small college. This combination enables students to grow and learn in a serene and positive environment. The 590-acre campus offers 43 undergraduate and graduate academic programs. A member of the University of Louisiana System, Grambling State University has been accredited by 13 accrediting associations and holds accreditations in all programs required by the Louisiana Board of Regents. With a longstanding tradition of excellence, Grambling State University continues to emphasize the value and importance of each student, exemplified by our motto: Where Everybody Is Somebody.

For more information, contact:
Shay Moser, W. P. Carey School of Business
shay.moser@asu.edu
480-965-3963

Tisha Arnold, Grambling State University
communications@gram.edu
318-243-5012

SOURCE W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2021 — Full-year 2021 real GDP growth expectations improved to 6.8 percent, including 9.1 percent annualized growth in the second quarter, due primarily to the continued easing of virus-related social restrictions and stimulus-driven consumer spending, according to the April 2021 commentary from the Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMA) Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group. Economic activity rebounded sharply following February’s weather-related pullback, and the acceleration is expected to continue through the second quarter before tapering in the second half of the year. Given the unprecedented nature of last year’s pandemic-induced slowdown, risks to this part of the forecasted recovery remain elevated. Uncertainties to the forecast include the extent of consumers’ willingness to tap into their accumulated savings and return to previously COVID-restricted activities; they also include well-publicized supply chain disruptions, the pace of inflation, and both monetary and fiscal policy uncertainty.

While housing demand remains strong, the ESR Group revised its annual home sales forecast slightly downward due to continued supply constraints and a modestly higher outlook for mortgage rates. Even so, home sales and purchase mortgage originations in 2021 are expected to rise 6.2 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively, year over year. Additionally, given the continued supply-demand imbalance, home prices are forecast to rise 8.0 percent in 2021 – up from the previously forecast 4.2 percent – before decelerating to 2.9 percent annualized in 2022, as measured by the FHFA Home Price Index.

“The ramp-up we’d previously forecast for the economy is underway, as evidenced by, among other measures, increasing airline passenger reservations and restaurant bookings,” said Doug Duncan, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Vaccinations are continuing to roll out, and consumers appear to be increasingly looking toward post-pandemic life. While inflationary pressure is growing, our latest forecast update suggests that in the near term interest rates will remain steady at borrower-friendly levels. In fact, despite the recent increases, mortgage rates remain near historical lows, which we expect will help maintain strong housing demand in 2021.

Duncan added: “An above-average pace of renters converting to first-time homebuyers is continuing, with many migrating into the suburbs from denser urban areas. However, strong consumer demand for housing continues to hit up against a lack of supply, limiting sales and bolstering home prices, which we expect will further compound affordability concerns in the months ahead as homebuilders also wrestle with input supply restraints.”

Visit the Economic & Strategic Research site at fanniemae.com to read the full April 2021 Economic Outlook, including the Economic Developments Commentary, Economic Forecast, Housing Forecast, and Multifamily Market Commentary. To receive e-mail updates with other housing market research from Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research Group, please click here.

About Fannie Mae
Fannie Mae helps make the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and affordable rental housing possible for millions of people in America. We partner with lenders to create housing opportunities for families across the country. We are driving positive changes in housing finance to make the home buying process easier, while reducing costs and risk. To learn more, visit:
fanniemae.com | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Blog

Fannie Mae Newsroom
https://www.fanniemae.com/news

Photo of Fannie Mae
https://www.fanniemae.com/resources/img/about-fm/fm-building.tif

Fannie Mae Resource Center
1-800-2FANNIE

SEATTLE, April 14, 2021 — The coronavirus pandemic has upended the housing market, opening up new opportunities for many, pushing some to move back home and causing others to reevaluate how they want their home to look. With vaccines being widely distributed, new Zillow® surveys reveal what’s likely to change and what’s expected to remain when the pandemic ends.

Zillow logo (PRNewsfoto/Zillow Group)
“As the pandemic subsides and the economy begins to recover, lowered health risks and renewed homeowner financial confidence should bring more sellers to the market,” said Zillow economist Arpita Chakravorty. “That increased inventory would ease buyer competition that has driven prices higher during the pandemic, but expect a steady pace of home value growth to persist into the near future. Mortgage rates have risen some but are still low by historical standards, adding to people’s purchasing power and helping to keep competition for homes revved up.”

Telework is here to stay, which should continue to boost home buying demand…
An overwhelming majority (95%) of economists and real estate experts surveyed by Zillow as part of the Zillow Home Price Expectations (ZHPE) survey say an increased preference to work remotely at least part time is a permanent shift.i According to Zillow’s Ideal Home Survey, which asked adults to describe their ideal living situation, remote workers are more likely to consider moving because of the pandemic. Of employed people who work remotely at least one day a week, 23% said they are more likely to consider moving because of the pandemic – only 13% of employed people who always work at their employer’s location said the same.ii

With widespread teleworking expected to continue when the pandemic ends, boosted home buying demand thanks to the added flexibility offered by remote work is likely to persist — Zillow economists expect 17.2% more home sales this year than in 2020.

…but housing location and size preferences may return to pre-pandemic norms
Experts surveyed by Zillow were split on whether housing preference shifts during the pandemic will last. When asked about Americans’ preference for living in the suburbs over urban areas, the same share of ZHPE panelists said the shift was permanent as said the shift was temporary (46%) — 8% said there has been no shift at all. The results were similar when asked whether consumer preference has changed in favor of proximity to smaller cities over larger cities, or larger homes in favor of smaller homes.

Zillow’s Ideal Home Survey results show no change in the size of Americans’ ideal home since last year. According to the survey, Americans prefer a 2,000-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms — the same as when surveyed a year ago.

More homes will come onto the market to help meet demand
In today’s frenzied housing market, buyers are often plucking homes off the market just days after they are listed, thanks in part to technology that’s making home buying and selling faster and easier. The speed at which homes are selling is one factor contributing to low inventory, which has steadily declined during the pandemic and now sits 30% lower than a year ago.

A majority of ZHPE panelists (53%) expect inventory will begin to grow again this year, likely during the second half of 2021. An increase in existing homes being listed for sale is expected to be the biggest factor in the reversal, with 38% of panelists saying that is the most likely catalyst for inventory growth.

Previous Zillow research supports this belief. Homeowners representing eight million households say they’re more likely to move and sell their home as a result of the pandemic, and widespread coronavirus vaccine distribution will make homeowners in 14 million households feel comfortable moving who don’t necessarily feel that way now.

“As the economy continues to recover, more potential sellers will enter the market as they gain confidence in their employment,” said Samer Kuraishi, president and founder at The ONE Street Company in Washington, D.C. “It’s been tough on homeowners who want to sell but might have lost their job, or cannot work remotely. Increased employment stability will only raise confidence and push people off the sidelines. While we have optimism about April and the summer, our work with clients will remain the same: arm, educate, and empower them to learn the market and understand the road ahead.”

Home prices will continue their climb
Strong competition for available homes pushed up prices last year — the typical home appreciated by more than $20,000 in 2020. Even with an expectation for more inventory to help meet buyer demand, ZHPE panelists on average expect home prices to grow 6.2% in 2021 — a full two percentage points higher than when they were surveyed in Q4 2020 — and several panelists call for double-digit price growth this year.

“This is the most bullish near-term outlook for home prices we’ve seen from our experts since the early stages of the post-bust recovery, and the panel’s five-year average annual home price forecast has never been more optimistic,” said Terry Loebs, founder of Pulsenomics. “In the wake of last year’s heady home equity gains, these new projections indicate that the aggregate value of homes across the country will increase by another $2 trillion in 2021. This is great news for existing homeowners, but even with a robust economic rebound in the coming months affordability will likely remain a challenge for many aspirational renters looking to move into homeownership this year.”

Buyers will continue to want digital tools that make home shopping easier
“Zillow Surfing” has surged during the pandemic as home shoppers and daydreamers use Zillow as a new form of escapism. Real estate technology, like Zillow’s 3D Home tours, are making home shopping easier and faster and can give home shoppers an experience similar to an in-person tour from their couch hundreds or thousands of miles away. Nearly 60% of millennials say they would be at least somewhat comfortable making an offer on a home without touring in person if they’ve viewed a virtual tour, and almost 40% even say they would be comfortable buying a home online.

Demand for these tools is expected to continue once the pandemic ends. One in three respondents to a Zillow survey say they would prefer taking a virtual or video home tour instead of touring a home in person after the pandemic, a departure from traditional shopping behavior. And 79% of Americans say they’d like to view a 3D virtual tour while shopping for a home.

The results achieved from listings using these technologies support the preferences stated by consumers in the survey. From March 2020 through February 2021, for-sale home listings on Zillow with a Zillow 3D Home tour were viewed 65% more and favorited (saved) 75% more than for-sale home listings without a Zillow 3D Home tour.iii Listings with a Zillow 3D Home tour sold, on average, 10% faster than listings without.iv

Buyers gravitate toward waterfront living
Zillow’s Ideal Home Survey found a notable increase in people who say their dream location is near the water. More people say their ideal home would be on or near a beach (21%, up from 17% in 2020) or a lake (16%, up from 12%) than last year.

The kitchen cements itself as the most important room in a home
A large kitchen is the home feature the most people say they couldn’t live without, according to Zillow’s Ideal Home Survey. Seventy percent of those surveyed said a large kitchen is extremely or very important, edging out a large ensuite bathroom (68%), walk-in closet (63%) and a patio or deck (62%) as the must-have feature in their ideal home.

It’s even more indispensable for those who say they’re more likely to move because of the pandemic — 78% of them say a large kitchen is extremely or very important, more than those who are less likely to move.

Buyers are often willing to pay a premium for the kitchen of their dreams. Among the 10 features most often mentioned in listings that sold for more than expected during the pandemic in 2020, six are kitchen-related. Steam ovens were the most-coveted feature of the year, associated with a 4.9% sale premium.

Only 25% said a pool is extremely or very important in their ideal home — perhaps because they’re dreaming of swims in the ocean or lake instead.

About Zillow Group
Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate to make it easier to unlock life’s next chapter.

As the most-visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow® and its affiliates offer customers an on-demand experience for selling, buying, renting or financing with transparency and nearly seamless end-to-end service. Zillow Offers® buys and sells homes directly in dozens of markets across the country, allowing sellers control over their timeline. Zillow Home Loans™, our affiliate lender, provides our customers with an easy option to get pre-approved and secure financing for their next home purchase. Zillow recently launched Zillow Homes, Inc., a licensed brokerage entity, to streamline Zillow Offers transactions.

Zillow Group’s brands, affiliates and subsidiaries include Zillow®, Zillow Offers®, Zillow Premier Agent®, Zillow Home Loans™, Zillow Closing Services™, Zillow Homes, Inc., Trulia®, Out East®, StreetEasy® and HotPads®. Zillow Home Loans, LLC is an Equal Housing Lender, NMLS #10287 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org).

About Pulsenomics
Pulsenomics LLC (www.pulsenomics.com) is an independent research firm that specializes in data analytics, opinion research, new product and index development for institutional clients in the financial and real estate arenas. Pulsenomics also designs and manages expert surveys and consumer polls to identify trends and expectations that are relevant to effective business management and monitoring economic health. Pulsenomics LLC is the author of The Home Price Expectations Survey™, The U.S. Housing Confidence Survey, The Housing Confidence Index, and The Transaction Sentiment Index. Pulsenomics® , The Housing Confidence Index™, The Transaction Sentiment Index™, and The Housing Confidence Survey™ are trademarks of Pulsenomics LLC.

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., April 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Aramco and the American Concrete Institute (ACI) announce the launch of NEx: A Center of Excellence for Nonmetallic Building Materials to develop and promote the use of nonmetallic materials in the building and construction sector.

Based at ACI World Headquarters in Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA, NEx will focus on accelerating the use of nonmetallic materials and products in construction, leveraging ACI’s role as a world-leading authority and resource for the development, dissemination and adoption of consensus-based standards for concrete design, construction and materials.

“The Center’s mission will be to collaborate globally on using nonmetallic materials in the built environment by driving research, education, awareness and technology adoption,” said Jeffrey W. Coleman, ACI President. “Expanding incorporation of nonmetallic materials and products in the built environment will improve sustainability, contribute to a lower carbon footprint, and enhance the durability and longevity of structures.”

Commenting on the launch of NEx, Aramco Senior Vice President of Technical Services, Ahmad Al-Sa’adi, said: “Aramco has been developing and deploying nonmetallic solutions within our own operations for more than 20 years as they offer superior lifecycle cost, efficiency and environmental advantages over their metal alternatives.”

He added: “The potential for using nonmetallic advanced polymetric materials, however, goes way beyond the oil and gas sector and includes the building and construction industries where there is significant potential. That is why this new Center of Excellence for Nonmetallic Building Materials offers enormous and exciting opportunities.”

Aramco is already a leader in the use of nonmetallic materials in oil and gas facilities to reduce corrosion, weight and the cost of construction and operation. This initiative with ACI is part of the Company’s broader strategy to enter new markets, leveraging its hydrocarbon resources and technology to deliver advanced polymeric materials solutions across industries.

Nonmetallic materials are increasingly being deployed across multiple industries, including oil and gas, construction, automotive, packaging and renewables. They offer several advantages over metallic materials, such as corrosion-resistance, reduced weight, increased durability, lower cost, and improved environmental efficiency.

Over the past four decades, the American Concrete Institute has been convening the industry’s brightest minds to advance nonmetallic technologies. With numerous published guides, reports, and specifications on nonmetallics in concrete, including fiber-reinforced polymers and fiber reinforced concrete, NEx will serve as a catalyst to incorporate more than 40 years of knowledge into the further acceleration of nonmetallic materials and technology.

“Our founding member, Aramco, aligns with our vision to effectively meet the demands of a changing world by setting standards for the development and adoption of nonmetallic materials in building and construction,” added Mr. Coleman. “ACI is pleased to have Aramco’s support in leading this dialogue with industry stakeholders around the world.”

The Center plans to expand its scope to include the use of nonmetallics in other construction materials, such as composite cladding, asphalt and soil. The Center looks to draw additional partners from leading academic institutions, industries, technical societies, standard bodies, manufacturers and professionals.

To learn more about how NEx is advancing nonmetallics and to get involved, visit nonmetallic.org.

About Aramco

Aramco is a global integrated energy and chemicals company. We are driven by the core belief that energy is opportunity. From producing approximately one in every eight barrels of the world’s oil supply to developing new energy technologies, our global team is dedicated to creating impact in all that we do. We focus on making our resources more dependable, more sustainable and more useful. This helps promote stability and long-term growth around the world. aramco.com

About Aramco Americas

Aramco Services Company (d/b/a Aramco Americas) is the U.S.-based subsidiary of Aramco, a world leader in integrated energy and chemicals, and has had a presence in the U.S. for more than 60 years. Aramco Americas is a contributor to the U.S. energy sector through research and development, venture fund activities, asset ownership, as well as technology and digital transformation. The company is headquartered in Houston, and maintains offices in New York, Washington D.C., Boston, and Detroit. Aramco Americas is committed to being a positive contributor in the communities where its employees live and work, and to making a difference through outreach that benefits the arts, geosciences, education and the environment. americas.aramco.com

About ACI

Always advancing – the American Concrete Institute is a leading global authority for the development, dissemination, and adoption of its consensus-based standards, technical resources, and educational, training and certification programs. Founded in 1904, ACI is headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA, with a regional office in Dubai, UAE, and a resource center in Southern California. concrete.org

SOURCE Saudi Aramco

CONTACT: international.media@aramco.com

MIAMI, April 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Real estate pioneer and impact entrepreneur, Tony Cho, announces the launch of the Future of Cities platform – a mission-driven organization and consortium dedicated to transforming communities worldwide through sustainable development. By adopting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies and propagating best practices from multi-disciplinary partners, Future of Cities will drive outsized returns and a positive impact across diverse communities, improving the quality of urban living. The platform aims to impact more than one billion people, helping organizations in the U.S. and around the world reimagine building and development through Regenerative Placemaking.

“As the challenges cities face multiply and become more evident in the face of the global pandemic, the Future of Cities will reimagine how we live, work, play and learn,” said Tony Cho, CEO and Founder of Future of Cities. “With various societal inequalities further exposed in 2020, the idea was born to encourage those who can influence cities to make a commitment to our collective well-being. If we want to create solutions for affordable housing and climate change, we need unprecedented cross-sector collaboration at scale.”

Future of Cities will serve as part real estate investment vehicle, part venture capital ecosystem and part think tank to source and scale solutions:

Real Estate Investment and Development: Reimagining the built environment to be community-centric, eco-friendly, pandemic- and climate-resistant, Future of Cities will leverage Opportunity Zones and Public Private Partnerships to activate capital and develop ‘living laboratories’ of safe, healthy, thriving cities of the future.
Public Advocacy: Connecting thinkers and doers, Future of Cities will promote open source thought leadership and advocate for smart, inclusive policy agendas to influence holistic city design.
Venture Ecosystem: Investing in small businesses and technologies, such as smart city technology, PropTech, HealthTech and clean technologies, Future of Cities will incubate, accelerate and aggregate sustainable development and maximize access to leaders supporting adoption of regenerative solutions.
Future of Cities is a globally distributed network of innovators and experts with a management team that has already collectively stewarded over $2 billion in development projects across more than 20 cities around the world. Notable Future of Cities strategic partner organizations include the Chopra Foundation by Deepak Chopra, MIT’s Global CoCreation Lab, and the Buckminster Fuller Institute. These organizations are joined by a host of global advisors, subject matter experts, technology partners, investors, policymakers, local municipalities and governments, and leaders of nonprofit organizations, businesses and corporations that have committed to adopting ESG strategies. A full list of Future of Cities advisors and partners can be found here.

Cho will continue to serve as the chairman of Metro 1 – a forward-thinking full service real estate investment, brokerage, management and development firm focused on shaping neighborhoods and developing sustainable cities. As the founder of the Magic City Innovation District Little Haiti – an 18-acre large-scale regenerative mixed-use project – Cho is a long-standing advocate for the community and pioneer of emerging neighborhoods including the Wynwood Arts District, Little Haiti and Little River.

About Future of Cities

As the challenges cities face mount, the Future of Cities was created to reimagine how we live, work, play and learn. Future of Cities is a mission-driven consortium invested in transforming the built environment by adopting environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies to improve the quality of urban living across the globe. With a goal to impact 1 billion people through a new sustainable urban design logic and the co-creation of regenerative cities of the future, Future of Cities is a multi-pronged platform that includes: real estate investment and development, a venture ecosystem and public advocacy. The organization is comprised of global advisors, subject matter experts, technology partners, investors, policymakers, local municipalities and governments, leaders of nonprofit organizations, businesses and corporations that have committed to adopting strategies and a regenerative development framework that will accelerate the transition to a more sustainable urban future.

To learn more about the Future of Cities, visit FOCities.com.

IRVINE, Calif., April 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database, today released its first-quarter 2021 U.S. Home Affordability Report, showing that median home prices of single-family homes and condos in the first quarter of this year were more affordable than historical averages in 52 percent of counties with enough data to analyze. That was down from 63 percent of counties in the first quarter of 2020 and 95 percent during the same period five years ago. But rising wages and falling mortgage rates still compensated for near-20 percent spikes in home prices over the past year, helping to keep median home prices affordable for average wage earners around the country.

The report determined affordability for average wage earners by calculating the amount of income needed to meet monthly home ownership expenses — including mortgage, property taxes and insurance — on a median-priced home, assuming an 80 percent down payment and a 28 percent maximum “front-end” debt-to-income ratio. That required income was then compared to annualized average weekly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (see full methodology below). The 80-percent down payment criterion marks an update to ATTOM’s affordability analysis, which now shows smaller portions of income needed to afford home ownership than recent reports.

Compared to historical levels, median home prices in 287 of the 552 counties analyzed in the first quarter of 2021 were more affordable than past averages. That was down from 349 of the same group of counties in the first quarter of 2020, a trend that came during a 12-month period when the national median home price shot up 18 percent, to $278,000, in the first quarter of 2021.

Yet, with workplace pay rising and home mortgage rates continuing to hit historic lows, major expenses on a median-priced home nationwide still consumed just 23.7 percent of the average wage across the country in the first quarter of 2021. That figure was up from 22 percent in first quarter of 2020 and from 19.7 percent five years ago. But it remained well within the 28 percent standard lenders prefer for how much homeowners should spend on those major expenses.

Those mixed trends – homes remaining affordable but not quite as much as they have historically – happened amid a surge over the past year of home buyers who largely escaped the economic damage caused by the recent worldwide Coronavirus pandemic. As those home seekers pursued a dwindling supply of homes for sale, prices shot up – just not enough to significantly outweigh the benefits of increased wages and average mortgage rates that sat below 3 percent.

“The past year certainly has been an odd one for the U.S. housing market. Home prices surged at a remarkable pace even as the virus pandemic damaged the U.S. economy, which dropped historical affordability levels. But average workers untarnished by the pandemic were still able to afford the typical home because wages and rock-bottom interest rates worked to their favor in a big way,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “Much remains uncertain about the housing market in 2021. A lot will depend on how well the broader U.S. economy recovers from the pandemic and whether there are still many more buyers looking to escape congested neighborhoods most prone to the virus, pushing prices even higher. But for now, our data shows that average workers are able to manage the costs associated with rising values.”

Among the 552 counties in the report, 327 (59 percent) had major home-ownership expenses on typical homes in the first quarter of 2021 that were affordable for average local wage earners, based on the 28-percent guideline. The largest of those counties were Cook County (Chicago), IL; Harris County (Houston), TX; Dallas County, TX; Bexar County (San Antonio), TX, and Wayne County (Detroit), MI.

The most populous of the 225 counties where major expenses on median-priced homes were unaffordable for average local earners in the first quarter of 2021 (41 percent of the counties analyzed) were Los Angeles County, CA; Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ; San Diego County, CA; Orange County, (outside Los Angeles), CA and Miami-Dade County, FL.

Home prices up at least 10 percent in two-thirds of country

Median home prices in the first quarter of 2021 were up by at least 10 percent from the first quarter of 2020 in 360, or 65 percent, of the 552 counties included in the report. Counties were included if they had a population of at least 100,000 and at least 50 single-family home and condo sales in the first quarter of 2021.

Among the 42 counties with a population of at least 1 million, the biggest year-over-year gains in median prices during the first quarter of 2021 were in Wayne County (Detroit), MI (up 24 percent); Suffolk County, NY (outside New York City) (up 20 percent); Bronx County, NY (up 19 percent); Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ (up 19 percent) and Harris County (Houston), TX (up 18 percent).

Counties with a population of at least 1 million that had the smallest year-over-year increases (or price declines) in the first quarter of 2021 were New York County (Manhattan), NY (down 2 percent); Santa Clara County (San Jose), CA (up 7 percent); Hennepin County (Minneapolis), MN (up 7 percent); Kings County (Brooklyn), NY (up 8 percent) and Orange County, CA (outside Los Angeles) (up 8 percent).

Price appreciation up more than wage growth in almost 90 percent of markets

Home price appreciation outpaced average weekly wage growth in the first quarter of 2021 in 474 of the 552 counties analyzed in the report (86 percent), with the largest counties including Los Angeles County, CA; Cook County (Chicago), IL; Harris County (Houston), TX; Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ and San Diego County, CA.

Average annualized wage growth outpaced home price appreciation in the first quarter of 2021 in only 78 of the 552 counties in the report (14 percent), including Santa Clara County (San Jose), CA; New York County (Manhattan), NY; Honolulu County, HI; San Francisco County, CA and Suffolk County (Boston), MA.

Less than 28 percent of wages needed to buy a home in six of every 10 markets

Major ownership costs on median-priced homes in the first quarter of 2021 consumed less than 28 percent of average local wages in 327 of the 552 counties analyzed in this report (59 percent).

Counties requiring the smallest percent were Schuylkill County, PA (outside Allentown) (6.3 percent of annualized weekly wages needed to buy a home); Bibb County (Macon), GA (8.3 percent); Fayette County, PA (outside Pittsburgh) (8.4 percent); Macon County (Decatur), IL (9.9 percent) and Robeson County, NC (outside Fayetteville) (10.6 percent).

Among the 42 counties in the report with a population of at least 1 million, those where home ownership typically consumed less than 28 percent of average local wages in the first quarter of 2021 included Wayne County (Detroit), MI (12.2 percent); Philadelphia County, PA (14.1 percent); Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), OH (14.4 percent); Fulton County (Atlanta), GA (19.4 percent) and Franklin County (Columbus), OH (19.5 percent).

A total of 225 counties in the report (41 percent) required more than 28 percent of annualized local weekly wages to afford a typical home in the first quarter of 2021. Those counties that required the greatest percentage of wages were Kings County (Brooklyn), NY (75.7 percent of annualized weekly wages needed to buy a home); Marin County, CA (outside San Francisco) (75.5 percent); Santa Cruz County, CA (69.9 percent); Monterey County, CA, (outside San Francisco) (68.1 percent) and Maui County, HI (65.9 percent).

Aside from Kings County, NY, counties with a population of at least 1 million where home ownership consumed more than 28 percent of average annualized local wages in the first quarter included Orange County, CA (outside Los Angeles) (57.7 percent); Queens County, NY (56.3 percent); Nassau County, NY (outside New York City) (53.5 percent) and Alameda County (Oakland), CA (51.6 percent).

Average wages needed to afford median-priced home exceed $75,000 in less than 15 percent of markets

Annual wages of more than $75,000 were needed in the first quarter of 2021 to afford the typical home in just 75, or 14 percent, of the 552 markets in the report.

The highest annual wages required to afford the typical home were in New York County (Manhattan), NY ($247,802); San Mateo County (outside San Francisco), CA ($230,848); Marin County (outside San Francisco), CA ($218,830); San Francisco County, CA ($212,892) and Santa Clara County (San Jose), CA ($207,691).

The lowest annual wages required to afford a median-priced home in the first quarter of 2021 were in Schuylkill County, PA (outside Allentown) ($10,089); Fayette County, PA (outside Pittsburgh) ($12,957); Bibb County (Macon), GA ($13,708); Robeson County, NC (outside Fayetteville) ($14,133) and Cambria County, PA (east of Pittsburgh) ($16,251).

Slight majority of housing markets more affordable than historic averages

Among the 552 counties analyzed in the report, 287 (52 percent) were more affordable in the first quarter of 2021 than their historic affordability averages, down from 63 percent of the same group of counties that were more affordable historically in the first quarter of 2020.

Counties with a population of at least 1 million that were more affordable than their historic averages (indexes of more 100 are considered more affordable compared to historic averages) included New York County (Manhattan), NY (index of 128); Montgomery County, MD (outside Washington, D.C.) (121); Cook County (Chicago), IL (114); King County (Seattle), WA (110) and Santa Clara County (San Jose), CA (108).

Counties with the best affordability indexes in the first quarter of 2021 included Schuylkill County, PA (outside Allentown) (index of 195); Macon County (Decatur), IL (188); Fayette County, PA (outside Pittsburgh) (171); Calcasieu Parish (Lake Charles), LA (149) and Bibb County (Macon), GA (146).

Among counties with a population of at least 1 million, those where the affordability indexes improved the most from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 were New York County (Manhattan), NY (index up 14 percent); Santa Clara County (San Jose), CA (up 7 percent); Orange County, CA (outside Los Angeles) (up 3 percent); Kings County (Brooklyn), NY (up 3 percent) and Hennepin County (Minneapolis), MN (up 2 percent).

Slightly fewer than half of markets less affordable than historic averages

Among the 552 counties in the report, 265 (48 percent) were less affordable than their historic affordability averages in the first quarter of 2021, up from 37 percent in the first quarter of last year.

Counties with a population greater than 1 million that were less affordable than their historic averages (indexes of less than 100 are considered less affordable compared to their historic averages) included Wayne County (Detroit), MI (index of 78); Dallas County, TX (81); Tarrant County (Fort Worth), TX (82); Harris County (Houston), TX (83) and Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ (86).

Counties with the worst affordability indexes in the first quarter of 2021 were Canyon County, ID (outside Boise) (index of 67); Grayson County, TX (outside Dallas) (72); Ada County (Boise), ID (74); St. Louis City/County, MO (75) and Bonneville County (Idaho Falls), ID (76).

Counties with a population of least 1 million residents where affordability indexes decreased the most from the first quarter of 2020 to the same period in 2021 included Wayne County (Detroit), MI (index down 11 percent); Harris County (Houston), TX (down 11 percent); Dallas County, TX (down 8 percent); Bronx County (down 8 percent) and Oakland County, MI (outside Detroit) (down 8 percent).

Report Methodology

The ATTOM Data Solutions U.S. Home Affordability Index analyzes median home prices derived from publicly recorded sales deed data collected by ATTOM Data Solutions and average wage data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 552 U.S. counties with a combined population of 245.7 million. The affordability index is based on the percentage of average wages needed to pay for major expenses on a median-priced home with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage and an 80 percent down payment. Those expenses include property taxes, home insurance, mortgage payments and mortgage insurance. Average 30-year fixed interest rates from the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey were used to calculate the monthly house payments.

The report determined affordability for average wage earners by calculating the amount of income needed for major home ownership expenses on a median-priced home, assuming a loan of 20 percent of the purchase price and a 28 percent maximum “front-end” debt-to-income ratio. For example, the nationwide median home price of $278,000 in the first quarter of 2021 required an annual wage of $52,523, based on a $222,400 loan and monthly expenses not exceeding the 28 percent barrier — meaning households would not be spending more than 28 percent of their income on mortgage payments, property taxes and insurance. That required income was less than the $61,984 average wage nationwide based on the most recent average weekly wage data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, making a median-priced home nationwide unaffordable for average workers.

About ATTOM Data Solutions

ATTOM Data Solutions provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation’s population. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes and enhances the data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. The 9TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through *flexible data delivery solutions that include bulk file licenses, property data APIs, real estate market trends, marketing lists, match & append and introducing the first property data delivery solution, a cloud-based data platform that streamlines data management – Data-as-a-Service (DaaS).

Media Contact:

Christine Stricker

949.748.8428

christine.stricker@attomdata.com

MADISON, N.J. —
Century 21 Real Estate LLC announced today that Kyle Seyboth, the nation’s *number one real estate agent, and the 12-member Seyboth Team have chosen to affiliate with Century 21 Real Estate and will now operate as CENTURY 21 The Seyboth Team brokerage. This growth news shows that the global franchisor’s efforts to transform the industry from transactional to experiential and win by perfecting the real estate experience, is **gaining traction with the very top industry professionals and companies. Homebuyer and seller feedback, too, are reaffirming this vision as in the last six months, clients have, through RealSatisfied’s QSS scores, given the C21® System’s relentless sales professionals quality service scores of 97% in overall satisfaction and a recommendation rating of 98%. Century 21 Real Estate sits among the top consumer brands whose focus on a customer-centric mindset is building a great reputation and attracting top talent to its industry-leading number of 11,600 offices worldwide.

“Real estate is a relationship business and our brand is only as successful as our people,” said Michael Miedler, president and chief executive officer, Century 21 Real Estate LLC. “Attracting an industry leader like Kyle and his team affirms that our push to always elevate and give 121% to our valued CENTURY broker franchise network and affiliated agents is working.”

“What sold me on the CENTURY 21 brand is the senior management team, and the understanding and entrepreneurial mindset they have to this business, which starts at the top with Mike, who is all about having his team deliver the best technology, learning and marketing programs to my affiliated agents so they in turn can go above and beyond in helping their clients achieve the best outcomes possible,” explained Seyboth, who, unsurprisingly, was courted by most real estate brands and franchises. “We have worked hard to develop strong relationships and deep roots in our communities and this new affiliation ensures that our homebuyer, homeseller and investor friends will be able to continue to trust and rely on us to assist with the best real estate outcomes possible.”

Seyboth combines his knowledge of the Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts markets with his financial and investment experience to better serve the personalized needs of his clients. Seyboth and his team also understand the importance of leveraging the latest technologies, market research and business strategies to deliver extraordinary experiences. Their exceptional efforts have resulted in their clients referring them to family and friends time and time again.

In addition to achieving the number one spot on The Thousand list, Kyle’s extensive track record includes annual stats of over $140 million in sales, more than 500 units sold, and recognition in The Wall Street Journal as one of the top-10 real estate agents in the country. In his personal life, Kyle is a proud father of two beautiful girls, and he enjoys coaching their sports teams during the week and on the weekends.

To learn more about the CENTURY 21 value proposition, or to join the ranks of the relentless, please go to www.century21.com/about-us/contact.

*According to The 2020 RealTrends and Tom Ferry The Thousand ranking July 6, 2020.

** https://www.realogy.com/news/2020/05/28/century-21-real-estate-inks-10-new-companies-and-38-renewals-in-first-four-months-of-2020

About Century 21 Real Estate LLC
The approximately 139,000 independent sales professionals in approximately 11,600 offices spanning 83 countries and territories in the CENTURY 21® System live their mission every day: to defy mediocrity and deliver extraordinary experiences. By consistently chasing excellence, giving 121% and always elevating, the CENTURY 21 brand is helping its affiliated brokers/agents to be the first choice for real estate consumers and industry professionals worldwide. Century 21 Real Estate has numerous websites to help answer specific consumer needs. They are century21.com, century21.com/global, century21.com/commercial,
century21.com/finehomes and century21.com/espanol.

Century 21 Real Estate LLC is a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY), a global leader in real estate franchising and provider of real estate brokerage, relocation and settlement services.

SEATTLE — Where people choose to live has traditionally been tied to where they work, a dynamic that through the past decade spurred extreme home value growth and an affordability crisis in coastal job centers. But the post-pandemic recovery could mitigate or even produce the opposite effect and drive a boom in secondary cities and exurbs, prompted not by a fear of density but by a seismic shift toward remote work.

Now that more than half of employed Americans (56%) have had the opportunity to work from home, a vast majority want to continue, at least occasionally. A new survey from Zillow, conducted last week by The Harris Poll1, finds 75 percent of Americans working from home due to COVID-19 say they would prefer to continue that at least half the time, if given the option, after the pandemic subsides.

Two-thirds of employees working from home due to COVID-19 (66%) would be at least somewhat likely to consider moving if they had the flexibility to work from home as often as they want. Only 24 percent of Americans overall say they thought about moving as a result of spending more time at home due to social distancing recommendations.

The Pew Research Center found prior to COVID-19, only 7 percent of civilian workers in the United States had the option to work from home as a workplace benefit, though 40 percent worked in jobs that could potentially be performed remotely.

Recent Zillow research suggests more Americans are at least looking at their housing options. In mid-April, page views of for-sale listings on Zillow were 18 percent higher than in 2019.

Space Seekers

Many employed Americans are trying to square the desire to work remotely with the functionality and size of their existing homes. Among employees who would be likely to consider moving, If given the flexibility to work from home when they want, nearly one-third say they would consider moving in order to live in a home with a dedicated office space (31%), to live in a larger home (30%), and to live in a home with more rooms (29%).

A Zillow analysis finds 46 percent of current households have a spare bedroom that could be used as an office. But that percentage drops off by more than 10 points in dense, expensive metros such as Los Angeles, New York, San Jose, San Francisco and San Diego, where far fewer homes have spare rooms.

When it comes time to move, home shoppers who can work remotely may seek out more space — both indoor and outdoor — farther outside city limits, where they can find larger homes within their budget.

“Moving away from the central core has traditionally offered affordability at the cost of your time and gas money. Relaxing those costs by working remotely could mean more households choose those larger homes farther out, easing price pressure on urban and inner suburban areas,” said Zillow senior principal economist, Skylar Olsen. “However, that means they’d also be moving farther from a wider variety of restaurants, shops, yoga studios and art galleries. Given the value many place on access to such amenities, we’re not talking about the rise of the rural homesteader on a large scale. Future growth under broader remote work would still favor suburban communities or secondary cities that offer those amenities along with more spacious homes and larger lots.”

Zillow Premier Agents from Silicon Valley to Manhattan say anecdotally, they’re seeing the early beginnings of a shift.

“We are seeing more buyers looking to leave the city,” said Bic DeCaro, a member of Zillow’s Agent Advisory Board serving Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. “Buyers, who just a few months ago were looking for walkability, are now looking for extra land to go along with more square footage.”

Keith Taylor Andrews, a small business owner in Denver, started home shopping on Zillow the week Colorado issued a stay-home order. The first-time homebuyer is now under contract on a house in Fayetteville, Arkansas that he plans to use as his home office.

“We learned from COVID-19 that we could operate our business remotely,” said Andrews, who has 40 employees working from home. “Arkansas is a good place to move, it’s economical and there are far fewer people. It feels like a breath of fresh air to get out of the city.”

Computing the Commute

Previous Zillow research found renters, buyers and sellers overwhelmingly agreed that the longest one-way commute they’d be willing to accept when considering a new home or job was 30 minutes.

This new survey from Zillow and The Harris Poll finds those priorities appear to change if people have the flexibility to work from home regularly. When given that option, half of those who are able to do their job from home (50%) say they would be open to a commute that was up to 45 minutes or longer.

In most major cities, living close to downtown comes at a price. A previous Zillow analysis found in 29 of the nation’s 33 largest metro markets buyers can expect to pay more per square foot for a home within a 15-minute, rush-hour drive to the downtown core. If buyers and renters are not burdened by a five-day-a-week commute, housing in the exurbs, secondary cities and remote bedroom communities may become viable and affordable options.

Even with remote work as an option, only 10 percent of those able to do their job from home would consider a commute longer than an hour, debunking the theory that urbanites are now seeking out rural living as a result of the coronavirus.

About Zillow
Zillow® is transforming how people buy, sell, rent and finance homes by creating seamless real estate transactions for today’s on-demand consumer. Zillow is the leading real estate and rental marketplace and a trusted source for data, inspiration and knowledge among both consumers and real estate professionals.

Zillow’s proprietary data, technology and industry partnerships put Zillow at nearly every major point of the home shopping experience, helping consumers search for and get into their new home faster. Zillow now offers a fully integrated home shopping experience that includes access to for sale and rental listings, Zillow Offers®, which provides a new, hassle-free way to buy and sell eligible homes directly through Zillow; and Zillow Home Loans, Zillow’s affiliated lender that provides an easy way to receive mortgage pre-approvals and financing. Zillow Premier Agent instantly connects buyers and sellers with its network of real estate professionals to help guide them through the home shopping process. For renters, Zillow’s innovations are streamlining the way people search, tour, apply and pay rent for leased properties.

SEATTLE — After a nearly two-year slowdown, year-over-year home value growth rose from the month prior in February. The typical home value in the U.S. is now $247,084, a 3.9% increase from a year ago, according to the February Zillow® Real Estate Market Reporti.

U.S. home values have not fallen on an annual basis since summer 2012, and have only done so in a few of the most expensive markets in recent years. But the rate of annual appreciation nationally had slowed in each month between May 2018, when they grew 6.7% year-over-year, and January 2020, when they grew 3.8%.

This turn in home values comes as for-sale inventory again fell to a new low in Zillow data that dates back to 2013. Inventory is down 8.4% in the U.S. and 29.4% in Phoenix, which had the biggest annual gain in home values among the 35 largest U.S. metros. This continued tightening of homes on the market, along with incredibly low mortgage rates that make monthly payments more affordable, continues to be a key factor putting pressure on prices as buyers compete for the limited homes that are available.

The economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic were only beginning to be revealed as February ended, so it is possible this reacceleration will be a blip, not a trend, and reverse itself in the coming months. The U.S. economy has entered a bear market, with major financial indices falling by more than 25% since the beginning of the year. Zillow research on past pandemics has shown that home sales activity slowed during the outbreak, sometimes significantly, but prices remained stable and the market recovered quickly once the outbreak subsided.

If the U.S. were to fall into an economic recession, that would dampen the outlook for housing somewhat as that often means a recovery will be slower and more prolonged. But it’s unlikely a recession now would have the same impact on the housing market as the Great Recession did in the mid-2000s. Previous research by Zillow about other economic downturns over the past 23 years shows that, historically, home values tend to rise faster than inflation during a recession.

“Zillow’s February numbers show the strong position the housing market was in just ahead of the novel coronavirus’s spread in the United States, and the subsequent stock market downturn,” said Jeff Tucker, economist at Zillow. “In February we saw inventory stuck near record lows, which was finally enough to reignite home price appreciation after a cooler 2019. Homebuyers were flocking to the market this winter with their finances buttressed by the longest economic expansion in memory, and with their purchasing power magnified by rock-bottom mortgage interest rates. Now, though, as so much is uncertain, we are entering uncharted territory for the housing market.”

Home value growth accelerated from January to February in 23 of the 35 largest U.S. metros. The acceleration was greatest in expensive West Coast markets, led by San Jose, which saw positive annual home value growth for the first time since January 2019. Home values grew the most year-over-year in Phoenix (+7%), Columbus (+6.3%) and Charlotte (+5.8%).

Mortgage rates listed by third-party lenders on Zillow rose to a peak of 3.91% on February 28 after starting the month at 3.75%. Rates reached their monthly low on February 27 at 3.7%. Zillow’s real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers on the Zillow Mortgages site by third-party lenders and reflect recent changes in the market.

Metropolitan
Area

Zillow Home
Value Index,
February
2020

ZHVI Year-
over-Year
Change,
February
2020

ZHVI YOY
Percentage
Change From
Last Month

Inventory Year-
over-Year Change
(Percentage),
February 2020

Inventory
Year-over-
Year Change
(Number),
February 2020

United States

$247,084

3.9%

0.1%

-8.4%

-135,705

New York, NY

$483,379

0.9%

0.1%

-3.9%

-3,480

Los Angeles-
Long Beach-
Anaheim, CA

$687,810

4.1%

1.7%

-20.1%

-5,899

Chicago, IL

$240,595

1.0%

0.0%

1.3%

590

Dallas-Fort
Worth, TX

$254,821

2.2%

-0.1%

-6.1%

-2,079

Philadelphia,
PA

$250,156

3.2%

0.1%

-13.2%

-3,677

Houston, TX

$218,783

2.2%

-0.3%

-4.3%

-1,595

Washington,
DC

$437,409

3.0%

-0.2%

-8.9%

-1,860

Miami-Fort
Lauderdale, FL

$303,426

2.5%

0.7%

-10.4%

-6,163

Atlanta, GA

$241,153

5.0%

0.2%

-5.2%

-1,899

Boston, MA

$491,740

2.1%

0.2%

-11.2%

-1,662

San Francisco,
CA

$1,118,362

2.7%

1.7%

-14.6%

-1,158

Detroit, MI

$180,039

3.8%

0.1%

5.4%

1,050

Riverside, CA

$386,644

3.4%

0.3%

-18.4%

-3,873

Phoenix, AZ

$290,720

7.0%

0.3%

-29.4%

-7,625

Seattle, WA

$535,121

4.3%

1.3%

-26.7%

-3,181

Minneapolis-St
Paul, MN

$294,680

4.0%

0.1%

-1.5%

-193

San Diego, CA

$619,887

5.0%

1.3%

-24.7%

-2,424

St. Louis, MO

$179,884

2.9%

-0.3%

-7.5%

-961

Tampa, FL

$231,247

4.3%

0.4%

-16.5%

-3,451

Baltimore, MD

$291,929

1.1%

0.0%

-9.7%

-1,249

Denver, CO

$441,557

2.5%

0.3%

-17.4%

-1,867

Pittsburgh, PA

$159,187

4.2%

-0.4%

-11.8%

-1,209

Portland, OR

$420,531

2.0%

0.2%

-16.2%

-1,577

Charlotte, NC

$238,651

5.8%

0.2%

-14.4%

-1,690

Sacramento, CA

$435,941

5.1%

1.0%

-15.3%

-1,091

San Antonio, TX

$205,179

3.2%

-0.7%

5.9%

702

Orlando, FL

$256,896

3.6%

-0.1%

-14.8%

-2,077

Cincinnati, OH

$185,754

4.4%

-0.5%

-15.5%

-1,177

Cleveland, OH

$159,405

4.7%

0.3%

-10.2%

-1,067

Kansas City,
MO

$205,552

3.6%

0.0%

-12.4%

-1,061

Las Vegas, NV

$293,030

1.1%

-0.1%

-21.4%

-2,889

Columbus, OH

$212,422

6.3%

0.1%

-7.2%

-429

Indianapolis, IN

$181,438

5.0%

0.2%

N/A

N/A

San Jose, CA

$1,224,923

0.4%

3.4%

-19.7%

-604

Austin, TX

$339,033

3.5%

-0.5%

-13.7%

-1,296

About Zillow
Zillow, the top real estate website in the U.S., is building an on-demand real estate experience. Whether selling, buying, renting or financing, customers can turn to Zillow’s businesses to find and get into their next home with speed, certainty and ease.

In addition to for-sale and rental listings, Zillow Offers buys and sells homes directly in dozens of markets across the country, allowing sellers control over their timeline. Zillow Home Loans, our affiliate lender, provides our customers with an easy option to get pre-approved and secure financing for their next home purchase.

Millions of people visit Zillow Group sites every month to start their home search, and now they can rely on Zillow to help them finish it — with the same confidence, ease and empowerment they’ve come to expect from real estate’s most trusted brand.

Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z and ZG) and headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow and Zillow Offers are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc.

i The Zillow Real Estate Market Reports are a monthly overview of the national and local real estate markets. The reports are compiled by Zillow Real Estate Research. For more information, visit www.zillow.com/research/. The data in Zillow’s Real Estate Market Reports are aggregated from public sources by a number of data providers for 928 metropolitan and micropolitan areas dating back to 1996. Mortgage and home loan data are typically recorded in each county and publicly available through a county recorder’s office. All current monthly data at the national, state, metro, city, ZIP code and neighborhood level can be accessed at www.zillow.com/research/data.

SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan and King County Executive Dow Constantine today unveiled a new Zillow-powered search tool to help match local nonprofit service providers and their clients experiencing homelessness with owners of affordable vacant rental units.

A project borne of Mayor Durkan’s Innovation Advisory Council, and launched in 2018; the new search tool was developed by a team of Zillow employees in close partnership with the Seattle Office of Housing, local nonprofit organization Housing Connector and its network of service providers and property owners. The Innovation Advisory Council – whose members come from the corporate, academic, and nonprofit sectors – collaborates with the City of Seattle to use data and technology to solve Seattle’s most urgent challenges in the areas of homelessness, affordability, mobility, delivery of essential services, and more.
Zillow’s search tool directly addresses one of the biggest challenges for case managers searching for affordable housing for their clients experiencing homelessness. Case managers no longer have to laboriously look for available homes property-by-property; the units are now at their fingertips through Zillow’s online listing platform.
Through Zillow’s search tool, Housing Connector partner landlords will be able to quickly upload housing inventory, and local non-profit service providers will be able to find housing inventory in real time for tenants who need affordable housing. Housing Connector landlords have adjusted or waived criteria that would normally prevent those most in need from qualifying for the home. Thirty-five landlords throughout Seattle and King County and 42 nonprofit service providers are active on the platform as it launches, with more partners expected to be added. Zillow’s search tool does not require or knowingly collect the personal information of tenants and no user information through Housing Connector is sold to third parties.
“We are fortunate to live in one of the most innovative, talent-rich ecosystems anywhere on the planet – and for too long, our government has existed as if we have no relationship to it. I created the Innovation Advisory Council because we know that the challenges facing our region cannot be addressed by government alone,” said Mayor Durkan. “I am incredibly proud of the work that Zillow and the Housing Connector have done to make it easier for people experiencing homelessness to find affordable housing and for affordable housing providers to connect with those in need. Zillow, Housing Connector, and the Seattle Office of Housing have shown that by working together, we can find truly innovative solutions to some of our region’s most pressing challenges.”
“Zillow’s new application streamlines the connection between property managers who have apartments available and families who need housing now,” said Executive Constantine. “We are grateful for their partnership with our Housing Connector program and for their commitment to being part of the solution to the crisis of homelessness in our region.”
“Our community desperately needs more affordable housing,” said Shkelqim Kelmendi, Executive Director of Housing Connector. “And while we’re working to build that housing, individuals experiencing homelessness can’t wait; they need a home today. Together with Zillow, we are thrilled to launch this new search tool to scale our impact and streamline how individuals access housing with reduced screening criteria, ultimately decreasing the time a unit sits vacant and the number of days a family must experience homelessness.”
“As a company headquartered in Seattle, Zillow is committed to doing what we can to help address one of the greatest challenges facing our region today: housing affordability and homelessness. When asked by the mayor to serve on her Innovation Advisory Council and work with Housing Connector — which needed a better way to find and surface available housing inventory — we saw an opportunity to use our unique skillset to build a tool that will help Housing Connector fulfill its mission to help families find a home,” said Racquel Russell, vice president of government relations and public affairs for Zillow. “Through the leadership and support of Mayor Durkan and Executive Constantine and a tremendous amount of hard work by some of our most talented employees and engineers, we are excited and honored to launch this new tool that we hope will make a meaningful difference in the lives of our neighbors.”
A coalition of private and public partners including the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the City of Seattle and King County launched Housing Connector last year to help private property owners and landlords easily and successfully rent to people experiencing homelessness. The City of Seattle and King County developed the initiative with a business to business approach as a key component of homelessness systems change based on the belief that leveraging existing housing in the private market can meaningfully reduce homelessness.
To help attract private property owners and landlords as partners, Housing Connector provides free referrals to ready-to-rent residents and financial support to cover a variety of costs (ensuring access to benefits that include rent guarantee, security deposits, damage mitigation funds, and unit hold fees, etc.). In exchange, property owners will adjust criteria or lower barriers for potential tenants, opening up units that previously were out of reach for individuals experiencing homelessness.
To date, Housing Connector already has found homes for 460 individuals and families experiencing homelessness in the region. Thanks to the services and support provided by Housing Connector, renters referred by the organization can find and move into their next home nearly 30 percent faster than the same renters facing similar barriers without the support of Housing Connector. This new tool housed on Zillow.com will help drive that wait time even lower.

Indianapolis, IN – JPMorgan Chase & Co. is committing $1.5 million over two years to help the National Urban League launch their new Financial Savings Initiative, a program that will help black households build savings and meet their long-term financial goals. The announcement is being made at the National Urban League Annual Conference in Indianapolis.

Through tailored fintech tools and coaching, the initiative aims to enable more black households will be able to save for the future and achieve goals like homeownership, small business formation and expansion, and investing for retirement and college.

More than half of Americans struggle financially, experiencing high amounts of debt, irregular income and lack of savings. Research from JPMorgan Chase and Morning Consult found that 52 percent of Americans do not have enough money saved or on hand for a $500 emergency.

“Closing the racial wealth gap is a key objective of the National Urban League, and we’re proud to partner with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on achieving that goal,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said. “Through our network of 90 affiliates in 36 states and the District of Columbia, we can reach the people most in need of these financial tools and fulfill our mission of empowering communities and changing lives.”

As part of the initiative, the National Urban League will select 10 Urban League affiliates from around the country to integrate financial technology tools into their financial coaching programs.

The program will include tools that are being identified, tested and scaled by JPMorgan Chase as part of the firm’s $125 million, five-year investment in financial health and specifically, through the Financial Solutions Lab. Managed by the Financial Health Network in collaboration with JPMorgan Chase, the Financial Solutions Lab supports promising fintech innovations that can help people in the U.S. increase savings, improve credit and build assets. Financial Solutions Lab innovations have led to more than $1 billion in savings for U.S. residents to date.

“Financial health is an important element in building strong and resilient households, communities and economies,” said Sekou Kaalund, Head of Advancing Black Pathways for JPMorgan Chase. “Too many black Americans lack access to the tools and coaching they need to save for the future. With initiatives like this one, more people can share in the rewards of a growing economy.”

Over the last five years, JPMorgan Chase committed over $100 million to 250 nonprofit organizations and research institutions across the world, helping 7 million people improve their financial health and save more than $1 billion.

About the National Urban League
The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. The National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its 90 local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people annually nationwide. Visit www.nul.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @NatUrbanLeague.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.7 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of customers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.

SEATTLE, April 4, 2019 — A home’s listed features can have a significant impact on how much it sells for and how quickly it sells. Zillow’s 2019 Home Features that Sell Analysis found that for-sale listings mentioning ‘steam oven’ or ‘professional appliance’ sold for up to 34 percent more than expected. Six out of the top ten features in homes that sold for more than expected were entertainer-friendly kitchen amenities.

Zillow® analyzed the listing descriptions from 4.6 million home sales around the country that were posted in 2017 and 2018 to identify what features and design styles fetched a higher sale price or a faster sale that would be expected based on the home’s basic traits and location. The analysis also identified the metro area where that feature was most commonly mentioned in for-sale listing descriptions.

For-sale listings mentioning ‘steam ovens,’ a wall oven that steams food, saw the highest sale premium of all the keywords analyzed, selling for 34 percent more than expected. However, homes featuring ‘steam ovens’ were also the slowest to sell, staying on the market 22 days longer than other similar homes in the same metro and price tier. High-end, custom kitchen features may only appeal to certain buyers, but those buyers appear willing to pay more when they find a home with a kitchen that suits their taste.

“Having a steam oven, a heated floor or other luxury features in the home is a signal that there are more than the home’s basic features at play. These homes are special. They likely come with an elevated design sense and the extra touches valued by home shoppers who are willing to pay,” says Skylar Olsen, director of economic research at Zillow. “If you have these features, flaunt them.”

For starter homesi purchased primarily by first-time buyers, listings mentioning ‘free-standing tub,’ ‘pizza oven’ or ‘wine cellar’ sold for more than expected. This could reflect the lifestyle millennialii homeowners want to live and the needs of young families.

Fast sales were associated with trendy design features made popular by home improvement TV shows, such as ‘open shelving’ (homes with this feature sold 11 days faster than expected) and ‘subway tile’ (10 days faster).

Homes with some features sold for both more than expected and faster than expected. Those features include a ‘shed/garage studio’ (26% more than expected, 8 days faster than expected), ‘exposed brick’ (22% more, 9 days faster) and ‘mid-century’ design style (17% more, 11 days faster.)

“While it’s important to understand what’s popular with buyers, ultimately your home is a reflection of your personal style and how you want to live,” says Kerrie Kelly, Zillow Design Expert and founder of Kerrie Kelly Design Lab. “You should design a home that makes you happy every day with features you love, knowing that future buyers may want to adapt it to create their own dream home.”

Home Feature Keyword

(All homes)

Effect (% homes sell for
above expected values)

Most Common Metro

Steam oven

34%

Los Angeles, CA

Professional appliance

32%

Los Angeles, CA

Wine cellar

31%

Los Angeles, CA

Steam shower

31%

Chicago, IL

Pot filler

27%

Dallas, TX

Shed/Garage studio

26%

Los Angeles, CA

Heated floor

26%

New York, NY

Waterfall countertop

26%

Los Angeles, CA

Outdoor kitchen

25%

Dallas, TX

Prep sink

24%

Los Angeles, CA

Home Feature Keyword

(Starter homes)

Effect (% homes sell for
above expected values)

Most Common Metro

Free-standing bathtub

59%

Dallas, TX

Pot filler

49%

New York, NY

Wine cellar

47%

San Francisco, CA

Pizza oven

46%

San Francisco, CA

Solar panel

40%

New York, NY

Prep sink

39%

Los Angeles, CA

Craftsman

38%

Seattle, WA

Dual range oven

36%

New York, NY

Coffered ceiling

32%

Seattle, WA

Mid-century

32%

Seattle, WA

Zillow
Zillow is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with great real estate professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow Group’s Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. Dr. Gudell and her team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z and ZG), and headquartered in Seattle.

GLEN ELLYN, I.L. — Under the leadership of David Gust, Gust Realty announced today that it has joined the CENTURY 21® System and will now conduct business as CENTURY 21 Gust Realty. The company will continue to provide full-service real estate services to buyers and sellers in the greater Glen Ellyn and Chicagoland area. By choosing to affiliate with the CENTURY 21® System, Gust and his team will now leverage the new identity, mission and platform of tools and technologies of the CENTURY 21 brand as it delivers expanded, full-service real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout the Glen Ellyn market.

“We’re an ambitious team; our goals are to always provide quality service and personal attention to each of our customers and deliver the best service until the very end of the homebuying and selling process,” shared Gust. “We’re thrilled to partner with CENTURY 21 and gain new tools and the resources of a global franchisor to even better serve the residents of Chicago and beyond.”

Gust has more than 16 years of real estate experience under his belt and is a born-and-raised Chicago native. With such a deep understanding of Chicago and its suburbs, Gust and his team of 10 talented agents prioritize personalization when serving their customers. The small but mighty team specializes in residential real estate and serves the renters, buyers and sellers in Glen Ellyn and the greater Chicagoland area and surrounding western suburbs.

“We are pleased to welcome David and his entire team to the CENTURY 21 System,” said Michael Miedler, president and chief executive officer, Century 21 Real Estate LLC. “We’re a customer-service driven industry and are always looking to deliver the best experiences to our homebuyers, sellers and renters. To that end, we’re looking forward to seeing the continued success of David and his team in the Chicagoland area.”

About CENTURY 21 Gust Realty
CENTURY 21 Gust Realty is a full-service real estate company, serving the buyers and sellers of Glen Ellyn and Chicagoland. The office is located at 800 Roosevelt Road, Glen Ellyn IL 60137.

CENTURY 21 Gust Realty is an independently owned and operated franchise affiliate of Century 21 Real Estate, franchisor of the iconic CENTURY 21 brand, comprised of approximately 9,400 independently owned and operated franchised broker offices in 80 countries and territories worldwide with more than 127,000 independent sales professionals.

SEATTLE, Oct. 18, 2018 — Rents declined nationwide on an annual basis for the first time in more than six years.
The median U.S. rent is $1,440, according to the September Zillow® Real Estate Market Reporti. That’s down 0.2 percent (which translates to $36 in annual rent) from last September, the first annual nationwide decrease since July 2012. Rent appreciation slowed for seven consecutive months before turning negative in September.

Rents decreased on an annual basis in more than half of the nation’s 35 largest markets. The biggest declines in rent were in Portland, Ore., where rents fell 2.7 percent, and Seattle, where they fell 2.2 percent. However, some markets are still seeing rising rents: Riverside, Calif., rents increased the most, up 3 percent from last September.

Home value appreciation also slowed in September, growing 7.6 percent from the year prior to a median of $220,100. In August, home values rose 7.8 percent annually.

Even as home value growth nationwide is slowing, six of the biggest U.S. housing markets saw double-digit appreciation, led by San Jose, where the median home value increased by 20.9 percent. Even that is slower appreciation than San Jose has seen in recent months – in June, home values there were up 25.4 percent annually. In contrast, Washington, D.C., homes saw the smallest appreciation, gaining 3.7 percent annually.

The slowdown in home value appreciation could benefit home shoppers, but it comes as mortgage rates have seen a sharp increase since the beginning of the year. The higher interest rates have eroded most of the benefits from slower home value growth as mortgage payments for the median-valued U.S. home are growing more than twice as fast as home valuesii.

“Today’s data are yet another signal that the housing market is easing toward a more normal, sustainable pace after the frenzy of the past three years,” said Zillow Senior Economist Aaron Terrazas. “With slowing rents and home value growth, searching for a new home should be somewhat less competitive than it was a year ago, giving renters and buyers a bit of breathing room. Rents remain high by historic standards, but September’s modest annual decline in rents should ease some of the pressure pushing higher-income renters to buy. And though home value appreciation is slowing, homes are more expensive than ever, making it difficult for first-time buyers to save for a down payment to break into the market. Housing plays a central role in most people’s finances, but for people already in their homes with fixed mortgages, there’s minimal spillover. For renters, slower rent growth is welcome news and will put more spending money in their already stretched pockets. The slowdown in new construction is more worrisome for the overall economy: Home building has been a net contributor to economic growth and employment, but rising costs mean that it could shift toward a drag in the future.”

The number of homes for sale declined 1.9 percent in September, which was the 44th consecutive month of falling inventory. But it was the smallest annual decrease since early 2015, another sign of the housing market cooling from its recent frenetic pace. About two-thirds of the nation’s largest markets are seeing inventory increase, including some recently hot markets like Portland, Ore., Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mortgage rates on Zillowiii ended the month at 4.5 percent, slightly lower than the high point of 4.56 percent reached a few days prior. At the end of September, mortgage rates were 75 percentage points higher than they were at the beginning of the year. Zillow’s real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers on the Zillow Mortgages site and reflect the most recent changes in the market.

Zillow is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with great real estate professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow Group’s Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. Dr. Gudell and her team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z and ZG), and headquartered in Seattle.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) fell in July for the second consecutive month, dropping 4.2 points to 86.5, after reaching survey highs in April and May. The decline can be attributed to decreases in four of the six HPSI components. The net share of survey respondents who said now is a good time to buy a home fell 4 percentage points, and the net share who said it is a good time to sell a home fell 6 percentage points. Additionally, the net share who said that home prices will go up in the next 12 months decreased 7 percentage points. More Americans also expressed a decreased sense of job security, with the net share who said they are not concerned about losing their job falling 11 percentage points in July.

“Home purchase sentiment seems to have reached a plateau, with potential home sellers likely struggling to find a home to buy amid slow supply growth, expectations for rising mortgage rates, and significant home price increases,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “Survey respondents cite ‘high home prices’ as the top reason why it is both a good time to sell a home and bad time to buy a home. This suggests a contributing factor to the low supply of existing homes for sale is that current owners are reluctant to trade up in a rising price market. Additionally, the shares of consumers citing favorable mortgage rates as a reason why it’s a good time to buy or sell a home both dropped to fresh survey lows.”

HOME PURCHASE SENTIMENT INDEX – COMPONENT HIGHLIGHTS

Fannie Mae’s 2018 Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) decreased in July by 4.2 points to 86.5. The HPSI is down 0.3 points compared with the same time last year.

The net share of Americans who say it is a good time to buy a home fell 4 percentage points from last month to 24%.
The net share of those who say it is a good time to sell fell 6 percentage points from last month’s survey high to 41%.
The net share of those who say home prices will go up fell 7 percentage points to 39%, falling under 40% for the first time since December 2016.
The net share of Americans who say mortgage rates will go down over the next 12 months rose 1 percentage point to -52%.
The net share of Americans who say they are not concerned about losing their job fell 11 percentage points from last month to 65%.
The net share of those who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago rose 2 percentage points to 21%, matching the survey high from May 2018.

ABOUT FANNIE MAE’S HOME PURCHASE SENTIMENT INDEX
The Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) distills information about consumers’ home purchase sentiment from Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey® (NHS) into a single number. The HPSI reflects consumers’ current views and forward-looking expectations of housing market conditions and complements existing data sources to inform housing-related analysis and decision making. The HPSI is constructed from answers to six NHS questions that solicit consumers’ evaluations of housing market conditions and address topics that are related to their home purchase decisions. The questions ask consumers whether they think that it is a good or bad time to buy or to sell a house, what direction they expect home prices and mortgage interest rates to move, how concerned they are about losing their jobs, and whether their incomes are higher than they were a year earlier.

ABOUT FANNIE MAE’S NATIONAL HOUSING SURVEY
The most detailed consumer attitudinal survey of its kind, Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey (NHS) polled approximately 1,000 Americans via live telephone interview to assess their attitudes toward owning and renting a home, home and rental price changes, homeownership distress, the economy, household finances, and overall consumer confidence. Homeowners and renters are asked more than 100 questions used to track attitudinal shifts, six of which are used to construct the HPSI (findings are compared with the same survey conducted monthly beginning June 2010). As cell phones have become common and many households no longer have landline phones, the NHS contacts 70 percent of respondents via their cell phones (as of January 2018). For more information, please see the Technical Notes. Fannie Mae conducts this survey and shares monthly and quarterly results so that we may help industry partners and market participants target our collective efforts to stabilize the housing market in the near-term, and provide support in the future. The July 2018 National Housing Survey was conducted between July 1, 2018 and July 22, 2018. Most of the data collection occurred during the first two weeks of this period. Interviews were conducted by PSB, in coordination with Fannie Mae.

DETAILED HPSI & NHS FINDINGS
For detailed findings from the July 2018 Home Purchase Sentiment Index and National Housing Survey, as well as a brief HPSI overview and detailed white paper, technical notes on the NHS methodology, and questions asked of respondents associated with each monthly indicator, please visit the Surveys page on fanniemae.com. Also available on the site are in-depth special topic studies, which provide a detailed assessment of combined data results from three monthly studies of NHS results.

Fannie Mae helps make the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and affordable rental housing possible for millions of Americans. We partner with lenders to create housing opportunities for families across the country. We are driving positive changes in housing finance to make the home buying process easier, while reducing costs and risk. To learn more, visit fanniemae.com and follow us on twitter.com/fanniemae.

ATLANTA, — The Home Depot® announced today that its stores have cut energy use 23.5 percent since 2010, exceeding the company’s goal to reduce consumption by 20 percent by 2020. Hitting that energy-saving goal three years early is among progress detailed in the company’s 2018 Responsibility Report, released last week.

The Home Depot 2018 Responsibility Report Snapshot

Titled A Year of Progress, the report outlines the company’s sustainability progress and environmental, workforce and community initiatives. The report is available on The Home Depot’s corporate newsroom Built from Scratch, including a summary infographic. In addition, a special episode of the company’s “Give Me an H” podcast is available, featuring Ron Jarvis, vice president of environmental innovation.

“As part of our values, we encourage our associates to be entrepreneurial, innovative and creative, and the successes you’ll see in this report are a testament to their talent and dedication,” said Craig Menear, The Home Depot chairman, CEO and president. “We’re proud of their work, even as we look ahead with the understanding that there’s much more to do.”

New commitments:

The Home Depot has announced an updated parental leave policy that gives six weeks of 100% paid leave to all parents, plus an additional six weeks of 100% paid maternity leave to all birth mothers.
The company has expanded its global wood-purchasing policy as part of its commitment to High Conservation Value Forests and tropical Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs). The company’s updated policy will take effect on Sept. 1, 2018 and will include requirements for the Amazon and Congo basins, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
The Home Depot has asked its suppliers to exclude additional chemicals from residential household cleaning chemical products sold online and in stores by the end of 2022.
Among the 2017 highlights:

Diversity and Inclusion: More than 50 percent of the company’s new hires were ethnically diverse and more than 34 percent were women.
Community: The Home Depot Foundation granted $63 million to support local communities in 2017, including over $4 million to assist areas affected by catastrophic hurricanes and wildfires. In addition, the company’s employee relief non-profit, The Homer Fund, assisted more than 6,000 associates who experienced evacuations, as well as damage or loss of their homes.
Environmental: In addition to helping customers reduce their environmental impact through ENERGY STAR and WaterSense products, The Home Depot also reduced its Scope 3 upstream transportation and distribution of freight greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent.
About The Home Depot
The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,286 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. In fiscal 2017, The Home Depot had sales of $100.9 billion and earnings of $8.6 billion. The Company employs more than 400,000 associates. The Home Depot’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson today unveiled a package of reforms designed to offer Public Housing Authorities (PHAs), property owners and HUD-assisted families a simpler, less invasive and more transparent set of rent structures, and places HUD’s rental assistance programs on a more fiscally sustainable path. Through its Making Affordable Housing Work Act, HUD is seeking to reform decades-old rent policies that are confusing, costly and counterproductive, in that the incentives they create often fail to adequately support individuals and families receiving HUD rental assistance in increasing their earnings.

HUD helps 4.7 million families to access affordable, quality housing and pay their rents, more than half of which are currently headed by senior citizens or persons living with a disability. The rent reforms proposed today will not increase rents paid by qualifying households currently receiving assistance that are comprised of elderly persons or persons with disabilities.

“The system we currently use to calculate a family’s rental assistance is broken and holds back the very people we’re supposed to be helping,” said Secretary Carson. “HUD-assisted households are now required to surrender a long list of personal information, and any new income they earn is ‘taxed’ every year in the form of a rent increase. Today, we begin a necessary conversation about how we can provide meaningful, dignified assistance to those we serve without hurting them at the same time.”

PHAs and landlords participating in HUD’s rental assistance programs must currently navigate a complex set of rules to properly calculate a household’s rent contribution. Under these existing rules, tenants are required to surrender vast amounts of personal information each year and are often charged wildly different rents even though they have similar wages. Likewise, owners and PHAs, many with limited staff, must spend many hours calculating the correct payments for their tenants, who may themselves be confused by byzantine rent rules for tenant income calculations. The complex annual income recertification process creates a perverse set of conditions that increase the risk of inaccurate income reporting and discourage family unification and progress toward self-sufficiency.

Currently, Congress requires HUD-assisted households to contribute 30 percent of their adjusted income toward rent while the government pays the difference, up to a maximum amount. This approach, with its complicated set of income certification requirements, imposes substantial administrative burdens on PHAs and owners and may suppress residents’ earned income.

HUD is proposing a simplified structure of ‘core rents’ that offers a more transparent and predictable rent calculation that streamlines program administration for PHAs and owners and is easier for both landlords and tenants to understand. Under this core rent proposal, PHAs and owners would only be required to verify income every three years rather than annually. This would substantially ease the administrative burden on PHAs, owners, and residents and would effectively encourage increased earned income without adversely impacting a household’s rent for up to three years. HUD will also create a menu of ‘choice rents’ that PHAs and owners may implement to promote greater flexibility, local control, and self-sufficiency for non-elderly/non-disabled households.

HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.
More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet
at www.hud.gov and https://espanol.hud.gov.

WASHINGTON – Nearly 50 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and fair housing became law. In signing the landmark measure, President Johnson declared, “Now, with this bill, the voice of justice speaks again. It proclaims that Fair Housing for all, all human beings who live in this country, is now part of the American way of life.”

April is Fair Housing Month and on April 11, 2018, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will mark 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act in a ceremony in Washington, DC. HUD Secretary Ben Carson said that a half a century later, the Fair Housing Act remains a centerpiece of the work HUD is doing to ensure fair, inclusive housing, free from discrimination for all Americans. Watch Secretary Carson’s reflections on the Fair Housing Act.

“It was a seminal moment in our country’s history when the ideals of equality and fairness were embodied in a law that continues to shape our communities and our neighborhoods 50 years later. But the promises of the Fair Housing Act require our constant vigilance to confront housing discrimination in all its forms and to advance fairness on behalf of those seeking their American dream.”

President Lyndon Johnson signs the Fair Housing Act into law with co-sponsors, Senators Edward Brooke (left) and Walter Mondale (right)
President Lyndon Johnson signs the Fair Housing Act into law with co-sponsors, Senators Edward Brooke (left) and Walter Mondale (right).
Co-sponsored by Senators Edward Brooke and Walter Mondale, the Fair Housing Act sought to end residential segregation and ensure all Americans had access to safe and decent housing. The Act originally prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing based on color, race, national origin and religion. Later, the Act was amended to prohibit discrimination based on sex, disability and familial status.

Today, HUD and its state and local partners enforce the Fair Housing Act and support a broad range of education and outreach activities. HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity continues to take action against individuals and housing providers that engage in discrimination. Last year alone, HUD and its partner agencies received more than 8,000 complaints alleging discrimination based on one or more of the Fair Housing Act’s seven protected classes.

Every year, HUD, local communities, fair housing advocates, and fair housing organizations across the country enhance the public’s awareness of their housing rights, highlight HUD’s fair housing enforcement efforts, and emphasize the importance of ending housing discrimination.

HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.
More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet
at www.hud.gov and https://espanol.hud.gov.