The Zelman Buzz

In recent years, iBuyers have gained notable attention and become a widespread topic of debate. Effectively the new-age version of “We Buy Ugly Houses”, which has been around since 1989, iBuyers charge sellers 7-10% of their home value in exchange ...

Every month, we track interest in built-to-rent construction, along with other acquisition channels, in our proprietary survey of single-family rental operators. Over the last year, interest in partnering with homebuilders on built-to-rent ...

In 2018, the national unemployment rate averaged 3.9%, the first year below 4.0% since 1969, which has been a positive for wage growth and potential entry-level homebuyers. However, the other side of that coin has been a shortage of labor in ...

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), personal consumption expenditures totaled $13.9 trillion in 2018, up 4.7% year over year versus a 5.0% increase in disposable income, which was aided by wage growth and tax reform. The BEA ...

Approximately 34% of young adults are living in their parents’ home, more than at any point over the last 50-plus years, which has remarkable consequences for housing demand. While this fact is well understood and has spawned many questions ...

In February, we analyzed state-to-state migration patterns of 25-29 year old households – the heart of the Millennial generation – showing that the catalyst to bring a young adult to a state often differs from ...

In 2007, 66.1% of 30-39 year old households lived in a single-family dwelling, inclusive of owned and rental homes. This was the peak of the decade, with the share dropping each of the next eight years as the Great Recession unfolded and aftereffects ...

Public REITs Invitation Homes (INVH) and American Homes 4 Rent (AMH) are the two largest single-family landlords in the country, owning almost 81,000 and 53,000 homes, respectively. While each company controls less than 1% of national single-family ...

According to the latest Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS) from the Census Bureau, the national homeownership rate improved again in 4Q18, reaching 64.8% versus 64.4% in 3Q18. This now marks the highest level since 1Q14 and represents the eighth ...

Historically, the housing and auto markets have been highly linked given the big-ticket nature of the consumer purchases and the dependence on credit for the majority of buyers. For example, from 1990-2016, auto sales and housing starts have ...