Tag Archives: chicago
Low housing supply in the US squeezing affordability
Rental affordability is as bad as it's ever been across the United States, in part because there are not enough new, affordable homes to meet demand, new research suggests. Overall, renters can expect to spend 30.1% of their income on rent, while home buyers can expect to spend about 15.3% of their monthly income on a mortgage payment, according to a study by real estate analyst Zillow. It also found that affordability is worst in fast growing cities that have fallen behind in building homes to keep up with population growth. The firm’s latest rental index is up 3.4% year on year to $1,355 per month while its property price index is up 4.9% to £178,700. Affordability is best in places that either have slow population growth such as Detroit or have met new growth by building new housing units. Chicago, for example, permitted 906 new housing units in 2012 and 2013 for every 1,000 new residents between 2013 and 2014. The index report says that in Chicago renters can expect to spend about 31% of their income on rent, while homebuyers there can expect to put 13.9% of their income toward house payments. It suggests that it is easy to see how San Francisco has become one of the country's least affordable housing markets. Zillow's analysis showed that for every 1,000 new residents, there were just 193 new housing units permitted. Residents of the San Francisco metro can expect to spend 44% of their income on rent, or 39.2% on a monthly mortgage payment. The short supply is no secret to policy makers. The mayor of San Francisco, for example, has pledged to add 30,000 housing units by 2020 and a Boston city report made a similar recommendation to meet demand with 53,000 new housing units by 203o. ‘As the economy continues to improve, more Americans are slowly moving off of their buddies' couches and out of their parents' basements into homes of their own, first likely as renters and then eventually as home buyers,’ said Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries. ‘Unfortunately, the supply of affordable homes, especially affordable rentals, is insufficient in many areas to meet this growing demand. As a result, the competition for those homes that are available can often be fierce, driving up prices and contributing to worsening affordability,’ he explained. ‘More construction will help ease the crunch, and getting a mortgage is also getting easier, which will help more current renters transition to home ownership and further ease rental inventory shortages. But these fixes won't happen overnight,’ he added. Since 2000, rents have grown at roughly twice the pace of incomes. Partially as a result, the percentage of Americans citing cheaper housing as a reason they moved to a different home has almost doubled since then, from 5.6% to 9.6% currently, according to the US Census Bureau. Over the past several years, renting, historically a budget minded choice, has become increasingly less affordable. Meanwhile, recovering home prices, along with historically… Continue reading
Latest data suggests a sustained slowdown in US property prices in main cities
There has been a sustained slowdown in residential real estate prices in major US cities, according to the most recent published data from the S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices. The 10 city and 20 city composites each a slowdown with annual returns of 6.7% in July, falling from the previous month's 8.1% and 8% annual returns, respectively. Nineteen of the 20 metropolitan area indices saw year on year returns worsen, despite continuing to post annual increases, ranging from 0.9% growth in Cleveland to 12.8% growth in Las Vegas, compared to July 2013. Miami and San Francisco were the only other metro indexes that surpassed 10% year on year increases in home prices, posting gains of 11% and 10.3%, respectively. On a month on month basis, just three of the 20 metropolitan areas posted a positive change in seasonally adjusted home prices, while three had no change and the remaining 14 dropped month over month. Las Vegas, Dallas and Charlotte in North Carolina each had positive growth rates in seasonally adjusted home prices compared to June, ranging from 0.1% to 0.3% growth. At the other end of the scale, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco saw the largest decreases month on month, ranging from growth rates of negative 1% to falls of 1.6%. ‘The broad based deceleration in home prices continued in the most recent data,’ said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones, but pointed out that despite the dropping growth rates, home prices continue to rise at two to three times the rate of inflation. ‘The slower pace of home price appreciation is consistent with most of the other housing data on housing starts and home sales. The rise in August new home sales, which are not covered by the S&P/Case-Shiller indices, is a welcome exception to recent trends,’ he explained. Sales of new single family homes in August increased month on month and year on year, according to the most recent data released jointly by the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate for new single family homes in August was 504,000, 18.0% above the revised July rate of 427,000, and 33.0% above the August 2013 estimate of 379,000. Three of the four regions saw a rise in new home sales on a month on month basis, with the West representing the largest growth since July, posting a 50% increase to a rate of 153,000 units sold. The West's year on year increase of 84.3% from the 83,000 annualized new home sales rate in August 2013 was more than triple the annual growth of any other region. The Northeast saw a large gain in new home sales month on month, with an August annual rate of 31,000 homes, a 29.2% increase from July. The region's year on year performance, however, fell 3.1% from the 32,000 unit sales rate the previous year. The South's pace of 262,000 new homes sold in August represented a 27.2%… Continue reading
Malaysia says jet crashed in sea; bad weather halts search
Malaysia says jet crashed in sea; bad weather halts search (Reuters) / 25 March 2014 Theories range from a hijacking to sabotage or a possible suicide by one of the pilots, but investigators have not ruled out technical problems. Bad weather and rough seas on Tuesday forced the suspension of the search for any wreckage of a missing Malaysian jetliner that officials are now sure crashed in the remote Indian Ocean with the loss of all 239 people on board. Citing groundbreaking satellite-data analysis by British firm Inmarsat, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Monday that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished more than two weeks ago while flying to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, had crashed thousands of miles away in the southern Indian Ocean. Recovery of wreckage of the Boeing 777 could unlock clues about why the plane had diverted so far off course. Theories range from a hijacking to sabotage or a possible suicide by one of the pilots, but investigators have not ruled out technical problems. An international air and sea search in the area on Monday spotted several floating objects that might be parts of the plane and an Australian navy ship was close to finding possible debris, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.( Click here for full text of official statement from Malaysia Airlines ) But the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said gale-force winds, heavy rain and low cloud meant planes could not fly safely to the zone on Tuesday, and waves of 6 metres (20ft) or more forced the navy ship from the area. “AMSA has consulted with the Bureau of Meteorology and weather conditions are expected to improve in the search area in the evening and over the next few days. Search operations are expected to resume tomorrow, if weather conditions permit,” AMSA said in a statement. The search site is far from commercial flight paths about 2,500 km (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, a region of deep, frigid seas known as the Roaring 40s where storm-force winds and huge waves are commonplace. “This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites,” Malaysia’s Najib said. “It is therefore, with deep sadness and regret, that I must inform you that, according to this new data, Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.” SMS TEXT Some relatives of those on board first received the news that the search for survivors was over in a Malaysia Airlines SMS message which said: “We have to assume beyond all reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and none of those on board survived.” There were hysterical scenes at the Beijing hotel where many of the relatives of those on board were staying. Most of the passengers on the flight, from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, were Chinese. A group reportedly representing families issued a statement describing the Malaysian airline, government and military as “executioners” who constantly tried to delay and deceive them. “We will take every possible means to pursue the unforgivable crimes and responsibility of all three,” said the statement on the microblog of the Malaysia Airlines MH370 Family Committee. Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that it would make arrangements to fly relatives to Australia once it had approval from the investigating authorities. Abbott said he expected the families to travel to Australia soon. “They will find a welcoming country that is more than willing to embrace them in this difficult time,” he told reporters. COSTLY DIFFICULT INVESTIGATION Najib’s announcement opens the way for what will be one of the most costly and difficult air crash investigations ever. Normally, an official investigation can only begin once a crash site has been identified. That would give Malaysia power to coordinate and sift evidence. Malaysia has faced heavy criticism over the progress of the search and its informal investigation, especially from China which had more than 150 citizens on board the plane. Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng immediately demanded Malaysia hand over all relevant satellite-data analysis showing how Malaysia had reached its conclusion about the fate of the jet. Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said the Malaysian statement moved the search to a new phase. “It moves it to a stage where we are now investigating an accident, a loss of an aircraft and some new decisions will have to be taken now about the direction of future operations,” Truss told reporters. “Malaysia needs to take control under the Chicago convention of those investigations.” The United States said it was sending an undersea Navy drone to Australia, in addition to a high-tech black box detector, to help in the search. A vendor stands next to newspapers carrying headlines of the missing Malaysia Airlines, flight MH370, as he waits for customers in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Tuesday, March 25, 2014. – AP The so-called black boxes – the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder – record what happens during flight. Black boxes carry locator beacons but they fade out after 30 days. Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens less than an hour after taking off on March 8. No confirmed debris from the plane has been found since. Investigators believe someone on the flight may have shut off the plane’s communications systems. Partial military radar tracking showed it turning west and re-crossing the Malay Peninsula, apparently under the control of a skilled pilot. Najib said Inmarsat had been performing further calculations on data gleaned from faint pings picked up by satellite that initially only narrowed the search area to two massive arcs. The Inmarsat analysis had narrowed the search area “but it’s still a big area that they have to search”, said Stephen Wood, CEO of All Source Analysis, a satellite analytic firm. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
