New Homes

2019 and the Return to Normalcy

December 30, 2018 By Rick Jarvis

2019 is going to be a transitional year.

In the same way that you might take your foot off of the gas when you see a yellow light in the distance, 2019 will likely be a year where we see some segments of the real estate market lose a bit of their momentum.

‘A Return to Normalcy’ was a phrase used by Warren Harding during his presidential campaign in the 1920’s to define the period of recovery after WWI …

For many, a slower pace will feel extremely odd. All we have known for the past 5+ seasons is rampant price increases and bidding wars. That said, 2019 is likely the year that the frothiest behaviors will subside –– at least in some segments (which we will touch on in a few paragraphs.)

In reality, what we are beginning to see is not a market in decline, but rather <gasp> the leading edge of a normal market.

Disclaimers

First, I need to disclaim a few things.

Nothing in this post is guaranteed to happen tomorrow, or probably even the next day –– most of the observations are longer-term in nature and represent a shift in direction, but not a bootlegger’s u-turn.
Also, recognize that an individual house value behaves differently than a set (or segment) of houses. Colors, condition, architectural style, yard, appliances –– they all matter to individual buyers and sellers and can impact the value of an individual home. But the behaviors being discussed below refer more to how groups of homes behave in the aggregate.
And lastly, any number of unforeseen events could change things –– and fast. Politics, trade wars, real wars, oil prices, and/or natural disasters all have massive impacts on our economy as a whole. And corporate acquisitions, sales, and/or relocations can all have impacts on our region, specifically.

So with that bit of throat clearing, I proudly bring you the ‘What is Going to Happen in 2019’ prediction post (and if you want to see how I did in prior years, you can find 2018’s post here.)

A Return to Comparative Normalcy

What is normal, anyway? Well, we wrote about that very question at the end of 2018. But the takeaway is that ‘what is normal’ is more of a relative question than an absolute one.

via GIPHY

If you asked ‘1993 Rick’ what I thought of a 5% interest rates and 5% appreciation, I would have been giddy with the excitement of how many properties we were about to sell. But when you ask ‘2019 Rick’ the same question, I think, ‘Yeah, 5% rates and 5% appreciation is sure going to be slower than the 4% rates and 10% appreciation of 2016.

The lesson –– it’s all relative.

Does Anyone Remember?

To give you an idea of what a historic version of normal will look like, imagine a market with the following metrics:

6 to 8% mortgage rates (instead of 3.5%)
3 to 4% annual appreciation (instead of 8 to 10%)
45 to 60 day marketing times (instead of 7 to 14 days)
2 to 4% seller discounts (instead of multiple buyers with escalator clauses)

You see, the period from 1990 to 2005 looked a lot different than 2005 to 2018.

If you asked 1993 me what I thought of a 5% interest rates and 5% appreciation, I would have been giddy with the excitement of how many properties we were about to sell…

And, yes, I get it that many of the inputs are different (demographics, population trends, preferences, architecture, inventory, regulation, materials), but the period of 2005 to 2018 was about as unprecedented as one could imagine.

Honestly, I think a little more stability in housing is a good thing. NASDAQ levels of volatility in housing just isn’t healthy for anyone.

Segments Matter

So in our end of the year meeting at One South, we spent a lot of time on the idea of market segments. Segmenting (stated differently) is nothing more than looking at smaller samples of how connected sales behave, and not aggregating all housing into one analysis.

Pro Tip here –– If you ask an agent, ‘How’s the market?’ and they don’t ask a qualifying statement like ‘Which segment?’ or ‘What area are you referring to?’ then you need to find a new source of your information.

In the same way that New York’s housing market behaves differently than Orlando’s, the new construction market in western Chesterfield should behave differently than Bellevue does –– and this will be key in understanding the new market.

Segments and the Impact of Population

For years, the City of Richmond’s population was in decline. Chesterfield and Henrico were experiencing explosive growth, but the City was not.

Around 2000, the City population trend officially reversed.

In the latter 1990’s, you could feel it starting to happen. VCU was gobbling up properties by the handful and many of the long ignored Downtown neighborhoods began to see construction activity and new businesses popping up.

The population of Henrico and Chesterfield now need to compete with the City for residents and can no longer sustain their growth based on the City’s exodus.

When the 1990’s gave way to the 2000’s, the City’s population began to stabilize at just below 200,000 residents. As we now enter 2019, the population of the City is approaching 230,000, and (by most studies I have seen) is projected to continue to grow.

The Impact of Growth

For the last 5 years, extremely tight City inventory levels and incredibly competitive bidding wars (the worst we saw in 2018 was 18 offers on one house near Carytown, no joke!), especially at the lower price points, has been the norm.

What do you get when your supply is fixed and demand increases? Price appreciation, that’s what.

The growth rate within the City has not only equaled the growth rates of the surrounding counties, but might have actually exceeded them. Any agent who works the more urban markets will tell you that the impact of the growth has been dramatic.

So as long as this trend continues, if you own property in the City, you are probably sitting pretty.

The Behavior of Various Segments

Now when we compare pricing for various segments, what we tend to see is the areas where pricing is the most affordable and closer to the urban core have appreciated the most dramatically. Areas that are further out and/or more highly priced are the ones where pricing has gone up at a slower rate.

Now, with all general statements, there are going to be exceptions, but overall, the statement holds true. Take a look below at 5-year appreciation rates in different areas of the Metro.

Appreciation_Rates_ — These figures only include resale properties, not new ones.

As you can see, the appreciation rate differs greatly.

Does that mean that you have made a mistake or are subject to deflation in the coming years if you live in a suburban area with new construction? Not at all. It just means that you shouldn’t expect that your neighborhood will behave the same as the one with a lower price point or on the other side of town.

And the Reasons, Please?

What do Fox Hall, the Deep Run High School District, and Hallsley all have in common? Fairly high prices to begin with and a great deal of new construction nearby.

What do the Museum District, Bon Air, and Church Hill have in common? Relative affordability and great difficulty in building new homes on any sort of scale.

Simply put, we can’t build houses where we need them most AND we can’t build them at the prices that the market can easily afford.

As we have stated many times before, the ability to provide housing is easiest where land is plentiful. So in areas south and west of Route 288, as well as points east in Henrico, where large tracts of undeveloped land are available, it is far easier to create new communities of scale.

Building is Getting Harder

But as any builder will tell you, not only are they being forced to build further away from the urban core, their costs are skyrocketing (both materials and labor) and the mandates placed on them by the counties are increasingly burdensome.

Take a look at the chart showing what has happened to the cost of construction (labor + materials). The builders aren’t lying when they tell you how much their costs have increased.

Furthermore, the arrival of several national builders is going to change the way new homes are sold in Richmond. DR Horton, Schell Brothers, and Stanley Martin each have the financial backing to build more homes in a quarter than most of the local builders could hope build in a year. The big national builders can gobble up lot inventory, they have their own sales force, and have the capital to build new models for each section of the communities in which they sell.

The Return of Strategic Mortgage Decisions

Let’s shift from home prices to borrowing money.

For the better part of a decade, choosing a mortgage product has been pretty much a no-brainer:

What mortgage product do you choose when 30-year fixed rates are at 3.5%? You take the 30-year fixed rate because of the 30-year guarantee.
What mortgage product do you choose when 30-year fixed rates are at 4.5%? You take the 30-year fixed rate because of the 30-year guarantee.
What mortgage product do you choose when 30-year fixed rates are at 5.0%? You probably still take the 30-year fixed rate because of the 30-year guarantee.

But what happens when 30-year fixed rates are at 6.25% but a 5 year adjustable is at 5% and you only plan on being in your home for 5 to 7 years? The question becomes trickier, doesn’t it?

Welcome to the new (ok, old) world of mortgage finance.

In the 1990’s, we saw clients make the fixed vs adjustable mortgage decision all of the time.

But since rates cracked the 5% floor in 2010, taking the risk of an adjustable mortgage seemed unnecessary.

Where are we currently? We enter into 2019 with rates hovering around the 5% mark. And while no one can claim to be a master of perfectly predicting interest rates, the majority of industry experts feel that 30-year rates between 5.3 and 5.8% (or even as high as 6%) by year’s end are a real likelihood.

So as the spring market emerges and the demand for money increases, the shrewd buyers will keep an eye on the mortgage products OTHER than the 30 year fixed rate mortgage to see how large the spread is.

At some point, the spread between fixed and adjustable mortgages may justify selecting shorter term mortgage products –– especially when the expected hold period is less than 10 years.

Cue the ARM (the Adjustable Rate Mortgage)

Wait, did you just say that ARM’s are good?!? I thought that ARM’s were the thing that caused the financial crisis in 2008?!?

Well, if you don’t underwrite an ARM properly, then yeah, an ARM is not a good product. But no mortgage is safe if it isn’t underwritten correctly –– ARM or otherwise.

So let’s not blame the ARM, let’s blame the true culprit –– shoddy underwriting.

The blue is the percentage of loans underwritten in each year since 2001 that were considered Sub Prime. As you can see, the percentage of Sub Prime is far lower than in the years preceding the crash in 2008.

In the financial crisis of 2008, a great deal of focus of was placed on the Sub Prime mortgage industry. And there was no more abused loan product by the Sub Prime industry than the ARM.

Today’s Arms are Actually Underwritten

The difference today is that the ARMs issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA are underwritten properly and also contain caps on the adjustments so that extreme swings in interest rates do not dramatically increase the risk of default. The Sub Prime ARM’s were neither underwritten with any rigor, nor were they capped in such a way as to minimize risk. (And in many cases, they were designed to fail, but that is another topic for another day.)

As an example, a 5/5 adjustable with a 2% cap means a mortgage with a fixed rate for 5 years with a maximum adjustment of 2% at then end of year 5, with another 5 years of the new rate before another adjustment. Is that overly risky? Not when applied correctly it isn’t.

What makes an adjustable mortgage product appealing? The rates tend to be lower –– especially the higher that the 30-year fixed rate becomes.

And while the spread between fixed-rate and adjustable rate products is not quite to levels that justify the switch, it might not be too far off in the future.

So if your loan officer suggests you take a look at an ARM, don’t reject the idea simply out your memory of 2008. An ARM, like a screwdriver or a shovel, is simply a tool. When you use a tool appropriately, they tend to work quite well.

Since 1991

So we (Sarah and Rick) have been in real estate –– as agents, brokers, lenders, developers, owners, and rehabbers –– for longer than we would like to admit. And consequently, we have had front-row season tickets to the booms, several busts, and each subsequent recovery.

We have had front-row season tickets to the booms, several busts, and each subsequent recovery…

What does that mean? It means our advice is based on experience that dates back to the early 1990’s.

In 1991, the median sales price of a home in the US was $120,000. It is now $315,600
In January of 1991, 30 year mortgage rates were 9.56%. They are now 4.75%
In 1991, the average rent was $649. It is now $1,450.
In 1991, there was no Zillow and no Trulia. As a matter of a fact, there was not even an online MLS

What else does it mean? It means our team is extremely excited to see times ahead where good decisions will rule the day, and not just momentum.

We love the fact that strategic decisions about mortgage are required, and not just blindly electing a 30-year mortgage, regardless of the situation
We love the fact that the need to make purchase decisions under multi-offer pressure will likely subside
And we love the fact that the data now exists to really help demonstrate the best course of action, and decisions are made based on information, not conjecture

Welcome to 2019, the leading edge of normal.

It’s Okay to Pay More

June 26, 2018 By Rick Jarvis

I know it sounds like it goes against everything in your core. Real estate is negotiable and a good deal means a big discount. Right?

Well, that is not necessarily true any more.

Price is Not Value

The price of anything — a house, a car, a gallon of milk — is the owner’s estimate of what they think their product can command.

But the value is what the market is actually willing to pay.

Ask yourself this: If every house on the market was simply labelled as ‘available’ with no set price, how would you, as a buyer, behave? In this market, that might be the best way to think about it.

Musical Chairs, Sorta …

Do you remember the game of musical chairs — where there is always one more person than there are chairs. Well, instead of ten people and nine chairs, imagine the game with ten people and one chair.

This is what the market has become. It’s a ridiculous comparison, of course, but it applies. Low supply and high demand means prices rise — and right now, the supply of homes has never been lower.

Show Me the Numbers

The fact there is an inventory shortage is pretty well known. The issue is very few understand how extreme it has become.

Check out how much the market has changed:

In May of 2008, there were 11,000 homes on the market and 1,200 under contract (a 9 to 1 ratio.)
By May of 2011, there were 8,800 homes on the market with 1,200 under contract (a 7.3 to 1 ratio)
By May of 2017, the numbers were 3,800 and 2,300. The ratio had fallen to a never before seen 1.65 to 1.
And now in March of 2018, 3,000 and 2,100 is where we stand for a ‘you have got to be kidding me’ ratio of 1.42 to 1.

And when you look at some of the mature urban markets, especially those that are supposedly affordable, those markets have actually inverted with more houses under contract than there are homes available!

Per the chart above, the Museum District and Windsor Farms area has only one house for every three buyers! (April 2018 shows 18 active listings vs. 56 pending sales.)

Competition is fierce, to say the least.

There is No Fix

Here’s the bad news, there really isn’t a fix.

For one, we are not going to build our way out of this problem.

Housing can only be built (in any substantial quantity) in areas where there aren’t already houses. In other words, the only place we can build houses is in the outer suburbs — further and further away from the urban core. And for many, what is quickly becoming a 40 or 50 minute commute simply isn’t an option.

On top of that, the price of home building materials has never been higher and the labor pool has never been smaller, resulting in correspondingly large cost increase in new construction.

Two, owners where houses are few and far between are electing to simply stay put. Why? Because once you sell a home, you have to go buy another one – and why would any seller in their right mind sell their home only to have to go and buy another one in this crazy market? Especially if they have a 3% 30 year mortgage and their equity is rising as rapidly as it is?

The situation we are in is going to be here for quite some time.

The Lesson — Don’t Mistake Tactics for Strategies

The decision to buy or sell is a strategic one. But how you buy or sell is a tactical one.

Paying over asking price does not mean you or your agent is a bad negotiator — nor does waiving inspections, or appraisals, or offering rent-backs (provided you are not putting yourself in financial danger!) All it means is that you are doing what you can to secure an asset that is in demand.
We get it, the inventory crisis is causing some of the most extreme market conditions in history, which is unnerving to navigate. And yes, we fully acknowledge that it takes a time or two to really figure out what you need to do to win.

But just know that the smartest people in any room want to own the most valuable assets available and will do what it takes to secure them. And for the best houses in the best neighborhoods, there is going to be intense competition. You have got to come correct if you want to win the battle.

I know it is difficult to hear, but today’s market doesn’t resemble the markets of the past – even the very recent past. Make sure to adjust yesterday’s strategies to today’s conditions and don’t mistake paying asking price or above with a poor decision.

The Inventory Divide, and Why it Matters

May 17, 2018 By Rick Jarvis

A Home is an Asset

For those who know me, I’m not about the ‘house of your dreams’ narrative – I am pretty objective in my approach. I want my clients to understand the underlying value of what they are purchasing and not allow emotion to override logic.

Statue of Liberty — America is the land of opportunity, right?

That said, I fully acknowledge there is a powerful emotional aspect to buying a home. Regardless of whether it is your first, third, or even the twentieth home, each connect you to a specific period in your life. Selling a home feels like closing a chapter, and when you buy one, a new chapter begins.

Sticks, Bricks, and a Vehicle for Wealth Creation

In the simplest sense, a home is nothing more than a stack of sticks and bricks on some dirt that keeps your stuff dry …

Yet despite the emotional attachment, in the simplest sense, a home is nothing more than a stack of sticks and bricks on some dirt that keeps your stuff dry. While we want to attach value to the colors of our walls, the shape of our exterior, and the brand of our appliances, in the grand scheme of things, housing is no different that any other asset whose value goes up or down given economic conditions.

And 2007 through 2011 notwithstanding, owning a home has created more wealth for the masses than any other asset class in history.

This is what has me worried.

No Crash on the Horizon

To begin, I am not worried about another crash. I have lived through two of them (1987 – 1992 and 2007 – 2011), and the current market looks nothing like the last two that crashed.

The current market looks nothing like the last two that crashed …

In both of the prior crashes, the economy was overheated and there was a tremendous oversupply that had been created to try to keep pace with a dizzying demand.

Currently, the economy is solid, employment is high, inflation is still shockingly low, and while the world is never fully at peace, there is relatively little global unrest (at least compared to prior periods) – and inventory is at all time lows.

Is there a correction coming? I think that some are beginning to predict a slight pullback at certain price points in 24 to 36 months. But I firmly believe that a crash is not imminent.

The Housing Divide

A home is quickly becoming an asset that only the wealthy can afford …

No, my worry is as follows — the price of housing is at the precipice of exceeding affordability for the average American, preventing an entire segment of the population from ever having access to home ownership.

[ And this recent article in The Atlantic seems to back the same narrative – especially Section 6 ]

In effect, a home is quickly becoming an asset that only the wealthy can afford, and, over time, will lead to a deepening of the divide between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’

Take a look at this chart.

Never has the discrepancy been greater, and I think that is a tragedy.

The blue line represents home ownership levels. In other words, what percentage of the population owns their own home.
The green line represents the median price of a new home.

Notice a trend??

Pricing is accelerating despite historically low ownership levels. The obvious implication is that as prices rise, fewer people will be able to buy – and we can see this playing out right before our eyes. Right now, due to a host of factors which we will touch on below, housing prices are increasing at a rate that is pushing ownership beyond the reach of far too many people.

Never has the discrepancy been greater, and I think that is a tragedy.

Time to Build More, Right?

An economist would argue that the problem will solve itself: As prices rise, more producers will be attracted to the market and supply will increase.

But that simply isn’t happening.

Take a look at this chart showing the number of new homes being built:

Again, notice a problem?

Despite the fact that housing is undersupplied and pricing is accelerating, we are still drastically under-supplying a market that desperately needs relief.

The Problem is Systemic

The problem is about price AND location …

Perhaps the underlying problems were already manifesting themselves as early as 2000 and we simply didn’t see it as the rapid price increases were masked by a insanely lax lending standards. But the issues are more than visible now.

Effectively, the problem is about price AND location. We cannot add supply at anything approaching a reasonable cost, and we absolutely cannot do so in areas where the populous wants to buy.

Issue One – Construction Costs are at an all time high

Building costs are through the roof (no pun intended.) Construction material costs have skyrocketed and the construction labor market pool simply isn’t there, causing extreme wage pressure.

When your material costs are up 30% and your labor pool down 50%, costs spike. And I don’t see an quick solution.

Issue Two – Governmental Mandates Mean Higher Costs

The collective increases become substantial – and the end user ends up footing the bill!

Each bill that is passed to make housing better is done so with good intentions – I honestly believe that. No one wants the US to build substandard and inefficient housing – AND no one wants to see another financial crisis, either.

However, each time Congress, the state legislature, or our local board of supervisors adds another layer of regulation, the cost to build a home goes up.

Each increase in the building code or protection baked into the financial markets is done so with the aim of increasing the quality, safety, accessibility, and energy efficiency of our housing stock. But with each mandate comes increased expense. A percentage point here and an increased fee there never seems like a lot on its own, but over time, the collective increases become substantial – and the end user ends up footing the bill!

Issue Three – Demographic Shifts

Demographics show a population that increasingly wants to live in cities. Urban schools are getting more funding, the commutes are shorter, public transportation is expanding its reach, and the entertainment districts are improving. But yet, the city is the hardest place to build houses.

An incredible 20,000 people came to Richmond in 5 years – and we built a mere 854 houses for them

To give you a sense of the problem – per the 2010 census:

The population in the city of Richmond increased 9.3% from 2010 to 2016, or by roughly 20,000 residents.
In the same time frame, MLS tracked 854 new home sales within the City of Richmond.
- Stated differently, 854 new homes / 20,000 new people = 4.2%
For comparison’s sake, Chesterfield built just under 5,000 new homes in the same frame, or closer to 17% of their need.

Somehow, I don’t think 4.2% of the overall need being satisfied by new housing is going to fix the problem.

Issue Four – Gentrification

If you really want to see a mind-blowing statistic, look at these screenshots straight from the Richmond MLS.

The northeast section of the City of Richmond (Highland Park, North Church Hill, Union Hill) is in the midst of one of the most rapid price increases in the history of the city.

Inside of this zone:

This happened to prices in 5 years:

While that benefits some owners, it leaves many others wanting.

The New Normal

It is easy to build another million dollar home on a cul-de-sac in the latest community 10 minutes further out than the last one – but that is not the cure.

Am I saying that everyone should own a home? Hardly. We tried that once (2007) and it didn’t seem to work out very well.

But I do believe that a housing model in which ownership is reserved for only the elite is an equally dangerous model. America is the land of opportunity and when the idea of owning a home becomes an unattainable pipe dream, that is not a good answer either.

Look, it is easy to build another million dollar home on a cul-de-sac in the latest community 10 minutes further out than the last one – but that is not the cure. We have got to solve the need for reasonably affordable / attainable housing in neighborhoods that aren’t 45 minutes from the urban core.

The next generation of potential homeowners deserves the same opportunity as prior generations did to use housing as a fundamental way of building wealth. Everyone wins when our population has the ability to determine their own financial destiny.

2018 Housing Predictions and the Coming Affordability Crisis

December 22, 2017 By Rick Jarvis

The Next Crisis in Housing, and the 2018 Predictions

Each year, as December comes to a close and the promise of the new year begins, I try to share my thoughts on what the next 12 months will bring. And while I am not an economist, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night … does that count?

(And here are 2017’s predictions, if you care to see how well we did)

I love data and what it can tell you if you look a little bit deeper. Furthermore, when you can add empirical evidence to anecdotal, you get some powerful intel about not only where the market is headed, but why it is headed where it is.

What the next 12 months will bring is important for all of us to know — from renters in Shockoe, to homebuilders in Chesterfield, to land owners in Goochland — in order to place our real estate holdings in the best position possible.

And just so you know, the words we will hear repeatedly in 2018:

Inventory
Interest rates
Affordability
Millennial

Inventory — Richmond, We Still Have a Problem

Unless you have been living under a rock (which also appreciated by about 4.8% last year), you have heard about the inventory crisis. Bidding wars are up, ‘Days on Market’ are down, houses are going for more than their asking prices on a regular basis, and everyone is clamoring for more inventory to help fix the problem.

If this chart doesn’t illustrate the extent of the problem, nothing can. This shows the available housing supply over the last 10 years.

In the aggregate, inventory levels are off by well over half from the heights in 2008 through 2010, and that doesn’t even look at the sub markets individually.

Now lets look at the buyer pool. The chart below tracks the number of houses that go under contract in any given month over the past 10 years (i.e. — absorption of housing)

Do you notice a trend?

The rate of sales, while not up anywhere as much as the inventory is down, it is still up by about 30% from the 2007-2011 period. As a matter of fact, there are actually more houses selling now than there were in 2007 and 2008.

So, just to reiterate:

↑ Absorption is up by about 30%
↓ Inventory is down by 60-70%

Yeah, that pretty much explains the price increases.

While I think we all recognize the inventory issue, unless you look at it critically, the deeper message is lost. What has really been happening is that population is realigning where it wants to live, impacting housing availability differently in individual sub-markets.

The Fall and Rise of the City

In the late 1980’s, Chesterfield, Henrico, and the City of Richmond were all populated equally with just over 200,000 residents each. Only a decade later (by 2000), the City’s population had fallen below 200,000 while both Chesterfield and Henrico had exploded to over 260,000 residents each.

It was an incredible shift.

Where Are the New Urban Houses?

But if you fast forward to today, what do you see? You see a city with a population growing at the same rate as the surrounding counties, if not slightly faster. And while growth of the urban core brings with it many positives, it poses a big problem with what is a fixed supply of housing.

Take a look at the table below — despite the same basic rate of growth in population, the number of new houses being built in the city accounts for anywhere from 4 to 6% of the overall market. When you compare that to 15 to 21% of the sales in Chesterfield being newly constructed homes, you begin to see the extent of the problem.

Year	New Homes in the City	Resale in the City	%	New Homes in Chesterfield	Resale in Chesterfield	%
2012	83	2110	3.9%	550	3588	15.3%
2013	121	2356	5.1%	723	3785	19.1%
2014	113	2370	4.8%	729	3818	19.1%
2015	108	2461	4.4%	828	4467	18.5%
2016	150	2629	5.7%	934	5039	18.5%
2017	154	2672	5.8%	1022	4819	21.2%

All cities, not just Richmond, lack sufficient land to develop housing with any scale. And when the population begins to seek housing in the urban environment, it puts pressure on the fixed stock of available housing. When supply is fixed and demand rising, you get rapid price increases. When supply can be added to offset demand, you might still see prices rise, just not at the same rates.

Richmond’s Affordable Housing

So where is the problem the most acute? In the affordable urban markets, that’s where.

The table below shows the number of sales in excess of $300,000 in the north and eastern quadrants of the city of Richmond, long a bastion of affordable housing. The number of transactions over $300,000 has increased from 15 to 129 in the past 5 years — nearly a 900% increase!!

Compare this to west/central Chesterfield and, while you still see a problem, a 264% increase to be exact, it’s not quite as dramatic. Furthermore, the ability for Chesterfield (or Henrico, or Hanover) to manage their affordability issue is far greater as they still have hundreds of thousands of acres to develop to relieve the pressure.

Primary Year	Number of Sales Above $300,000 in NE Richmond City	Number of Sales Above $300,000 in West Central Chesterfield
2012	15	318
2013	29	379
2014	38	451
2015	56	620
2016	88	812
2017	129	842

The Problem Becomes a Crisis

In my opinion, this lack of urban housing will make 2018 the year Richmond’s affordable housing problem becomes an affordable housing crisis.

So if you are looking for urban housing, especially a more ‘affordable’ home in the city, here are some strategies you should employ to make your efforts as successful as possible:

get started earlier than normal
steer clear of online lenders as sellers — ok, seller’s agents — hate Quicken and USAA. Oh and their rates are the same, if not worse, so don’t believe the hype
expect to be involved in a bidding war
don’t rely solely on last year’s comparable sales to dictate predict pricing
act with urgency

(And if you want to read a reeeeeallly deep dive on affordable housing, you can do so here — The Affordable Housing Post)

Interest Rates

I think we have all been dreading the day when rates will rise. Sorry, but I’m calling it. Rates will rise in 2018 and continue to do so until they return to ‘normal’ levels in the coming 3 to 5 years.

Why? The economy is actually pretty healthy. Tax breaks, North Korea, and bipartisan bickering aside, we are doing pretty well, at least economically. Yes, we have crushing debt that our children’s children’s children will have to deal with, but all in all, employment is solid and the economy is growing at a decent pace.

So what is a ‘normal’ interest rate? I think the new normal remains to be seen as the inputs have all changed, but 6% to 7.5% or so for 30 year mortgages is what I think most industry veterans would consider to be ‘normal.’

Inflation

One of the primary drivers of interest rates (ok, mortgage rates) is inflation and when the market sees that inflation is creeping up, the price of money rises to hedge the loss of buying power over time. Stated differently, when you borrow money, each dollar you repay the bank has lost a little bit of its value. And while dollar today will have a similar value tomorrow, how much buying power is lost 5, 10 or 30 years in the future? You get the picture.

So the more inflation the market expects, the higher rates will rise, and as you can see, the trend line, while still below historical norms, seems to be moving up more than it is moving down.

And when you take the same chart and add historical mortgage rates, you see what is a pretty strong correlation. As inflation expectations rise, the interest rates tend to do the same thing (at least once the housing market stabilized in 2013.)

So if you want to know where the mortgage rates are headed? Keep an eye on the inflation expectation in the market. It will tell you (most) all of what you need to know.

Rising Rates — Good or Bad?

So are rising interest rates a bad thing? Does it matter if that rates are in the 5’s, 6’s, or <gasp!> even in the 7’s if the economy is roaring? If salaries are up, the stock market is at record highs, and profits are everywhere, does a mortgage payment 15 to 20% higher than today really matter?

As you can see, the percentage of our collective incomes that we spend on housing is not nearly as out of whack as it was in the years preceding the bubble — and that makes me feel good.

Do you know what else makes me feel good? The amount of housing debt we currently have outstanding relative to where we were. (And, for what it is worth, I am yet to see a chart that better illustrates the ‘bubble’ and the impact of it’s bursting …)

The bottom line is that we are still well below the debt levels of the bubble, and we are spending less of of our incomes on housing.

And also know that, as rates rise, people will begin to use loan products with built in rate adjustments to offset the increased mortgage payments.

Which leads us to …

Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) and 2018

Wait, did I just say adjustable rate mortgage?!? Isn’t what that got us in trouble the last time?!? Aren’t those loan products evil, and dangerous?!? Oh no, we are doomed!

Don’t panic …

In 2008, these were the reasons we developed a bubble, not the existence of the adjustable rate mortgage:

Credit score requirements were essentially non-existent
Verification of salary, job history, and liquid assets, all of which should have been confirmed by underwriters and processors, were not
Intentionally fraudulent (think — criminal) underwriting was far too common
Down payment requirements were as low as 0% (or even lower in some cases — do you remember the 125% mortgage?!?)
Many loans were interest only
No rate caps during each adjustment period

So when you allow someone with no liquid assets, a shaky job history, and basically no skin in the game to buy a house with a payment that will not only double in a year, but never pay down the debt, then yeah, you have a big problem.

The ARMs of Today

The adjustable rate loan products today look nothing like the adjustable rate products of 2006-2008. Today’s ARMs have realistic rate caps (meaning how much they can rise is limited), less frequent adjustment periods (every 3 years, 5 years or 7 years), and are underwritten to higher standards for income, debt, job history, and down payment.

So don’t worry, the adjustable rate mortgage that will soon reappear will be strategically used by buyers who are making a bet about how long they will live in a home, and not as bait to lure ill-prepared buyers into a ticking time bomb.

And the chart (below) showing homeowner ship rates in the US would seem to corroborate that statement.

The mortgage practices that created the 2008 bubble seem to not be in practice today.

Home Building

I’m worried about Richmond’s home building industry.

Huntt’s Row was a 8 units upscale town home project in Richmond’s Fan District.

Am I worried it is going to crash? No, not at all. I think you might see a little softening at some of the upper price points, but nothing to worry about.

Am I worried about the land developers? Not really, provided they have enough Xanax to deal with the public process that rezoning and development has become. But headaches aside, creating lots right now is not where the danger is (like it was in 2008.)

Then who am I worried about? I am worried about Richmond’s smaller and mid-sized, LOCAL homebuilders right now. They are in trouble if they don’t understand what is coming at them and adjust their business models.

Subs Rule

So imagine you are a subcontractor — bricklayer, carpenter, plumber, roofer, etc. — and you are bidding a job in Richmond for a local homebuilder. You turn on CNN and see Hurricane Harvey flooding out Houston ($200B in damage), followed immediately by Irma ($67B in damage) cruising up the gulf coast of Florida flooding out houses and ripping off roofs. And then a few short months later, you see that California is completely on fire (and still is as we write this article) with entire communities going up in flames instantaneously.

So what do you do? Do you pack up the van and move to Houston, Tampa, or Santa Barbara to set up shop for the next several years while rebuilding beachfront mansions on the insurance company’s dime? Or do you simply add 20 to 30% to your bid knowing that many of your competitors are already on 64W or 85S to do exactly that.

In 2008, when new homebuilding essentially ceased, much of the homebuilding labor pool disappeared. They retired, got other jobs, or simply left the business altogether. So when you combine an already reduced labor pool with a sharp demand increase in extremely affluent markets (i.e. — California / Florida’s gulf coast) destroyed by recent natural disasters, you can imagine the impact not only on the price of labor, but of materials.

The Big Guys Have Arrived

And if a spike in labor and materials is not reason enough to stress, Richmond now is home to two new regional / national homebuilders who bring efficiencies and economies of scale that can suck all of the margins out of a market.

DR Horton, the nations LARGEST homebuilder, and Schell Brothers (only #74 if you are scoring at home, but still an extremely large regional homebuilder), arrived in 2017. Stanley Martin, #57, arrived in 2015, and lets not forget about NVR / Ryan Homes (#4 overall) that has been building in Richmond for decades.

DR Horton closed 41,000 houses in 2016, if you care to know…

The big guys come with unlimited buying power to take control of the available lot inventory, the ability to build models that contain every imaginable option to wow the public, a sales organization designed to hook the buyers with low prices and then upgrade the heck out of ’em, the promise of volume to suck up all of the labor, and engineered floorpans that can be built at significant cost savings.

AND (and this is a big AND), the national builders build fast. When they get rolling, they can produce housing at an incredible rate. When the music stops (and it will, but I still don’t think it is anytime soon), overproduction will impact both the rate and the length of the housing adjustment. So when they decide the time has come to cut prices and unload inventory, their actions can really hurt the smaller guys whose pockets are not nearly as deep.

Local vs. National

When compared to the smaller and mid-sized builders that have traditionally populated Richmond’s building scene, you can see how the future for our local guys will be far more difficult.

In 2018, I think you will see a fundamental shift in power from the 5 to 50 home per year local builder to a 100 unit-per-quarter type publicly traded builder, especially at the middle and upper price points, whose production machine will change the way Richmond builds (and buys) houses.

So while home pricing might be going up and demand is still rising, building costs are rising even faster and competition from extremely well funded large builders is rising as well. Much like the impact WalMart and Target had on local retail, the arrival of the big builders will drive down margins to levels that will make building a very dangerous endeavor for those who lack the ability to build at greatly reduced costs.

And I am not ok with that, if you care to know. Maybe it is the prideful Richmonder in me, but I don’t like the idea of national homebuilders determining our local stock of homes and the Richmond stalwarts getting squeezed.

So What Does it Mean for the Local Guy?

It means being nimble, opportunistic, and above all else, smart.

Going head to head with Ryan, DR Horton or even local behemoths like Eagle or HH Hunt is a no-win game. The new way will be more of a hit and run model, seek opportunity where others are not looking, operating in markets where it is difficult to find scale (think — infill and urban markets!), and/or establishing a specific stylistic niche that will cause clients to seek you out.

Trying to beat a national volume builder with endless capital is like trying to beat a Las Vegas casino — over time, the casino always wins. Their cost of capital, cost of labor and materials, access to lots, and sales infrastructure give them a 10 to 15% baked in advantage — and those advantages are really hard to compete with day in and day out.

The Commercial BOOM

Most of you probably realize that One South is a mixed-use firm that offers residential sales, commercial sales, and development representation, and thus we can speak about the commercial market a bit as well.

From Richmond BizSense’s commercial market round up a few months back. It was a good week, to say the least.

The commercial market is rolling, in case you haven’t heard.

Without going into too much nitty gritty detail, pricing on the commercial side is pretty insane. Cap Rates (which represent the ratio of income to price) have shifted significantly in the past 24 months – about a 2 to 3 point shift – especially for multi-family opportunities.

When Cap Rates shift from 7% to 5%, a property that used to cost $1,000,000, will now trade closer to $1,400,000. That’s no small change.

From REIS, Inc, a real estate data provider. This chart shows nationwide Multi-Family cap rates over 5 years.

Why the Shift?

The reasons are many but what is driving the market as much as anything is an influx of out of town buyers who have been priced out of the larger metropolitan areas (D.C, NYC, Charlotte) looking for deals in Richmond. Richmond’s improving profile and exploding local scene, as well as the insatiable appetite for apartments mostly driven by VCU, has given larger regional and national players in the multi-family scene reason to stop in and buy up our buildings. And when they look at our relative value, they feel excited to pick up properties here that are fully leased, well built, and extremely well located.

So to Summarize

If you made it this far, thanks.

And while we covered a lot, we didn’t even touch on rising rents, the Bus Rapid Transit that has physically destroyed Broad Street, the condo market, college debt, or tax breaks, either!

I guess we’ll save those topics for another day.

But don’t worry! Despite rising pricing, 2008 redux is not on the horizon. The conditions that existed in 2008 do not, I repeat, DO NOT exist currently. (And if you want to dive in deeper to the differences, you can read this article — The B Word, Bubble — that we wrote last year.)

Can pricing continue to rise unabated?

If demand outpaces supply, then yes it can.

Are we seeing some some softness in the suburban new home markets at upper price points? Maybe. But as a whole, the market is still significantly undersupplied.

Furthermore, there is neither a fix for the supply issue (other than building more homes further and further from the urban core) nor a likelihood that the first time homebuyer will give up and stay a tenant. As a matter of a fact, I actually think the buyer supply will increase as more and more millennials decide to become homeowners and the supply problem will get worse before it gets better.

Will interest rates rising make housing more expensive to own and temper prices?

Perhaps, but when our wallets are fat and our confidence high, then we buy, even if our mortgage payments take a little more of our disposable income. I don’t think we will see prices flatten until we see 2 to 3 points of increase in long term mortgage rates.

So if you are getting ready to buy …

Prepare yourself.

It is a highly competitive market, especially if you are looking at urban markets or for quality affordable housing.

If you are thinking of selling …

Make sure to extract the correct terms from your buyer that will allow you to re-purchase comfortably and without undue stress (just ask us how!)

And if you decide to build a new home …

And you are buying it from one of the large builders in Richmond with a flashy showroom and highly skilled upgraders, beware. They are reeeeeallly good at their job.

The Winter Market and the Shrewd Buyer

November 28, 2017 By Rick Jarvis

Egg nog.
Endless crowds at Short Pump.
Your favorite team missing the playoffs…?

Its December!

Housing Sale! One Month Only!

Yes, it is that time of the year again. The time when our attention turns to company parties, preparing for the in-laws, and waiting for the first, and possibly only, big snowfall.

Housing, for most of us, could not be further from our minds.

And that is precisely the reason why now is the perfect time to be thinking about housing.

The Numbers are in Your Favor

The chart below tracks inventory (yellow) relative to buyers (purple).

Over the course of the year, the number of listings available at any given time increases anywhere from 20-25%, but the number of homes under contract increases by nearly 100%! In other words, buyers nearly double but inventory only dips by a fraction.

And look at what happened to pricing in the last several springs. The median price increased by $20,000 to $30,000 from the beginning of the year to the latter part of spring.

The graphs shows what happens to pricing as we go through the year. (Remember that these charts reflect the prices on the closing date. In reality, the price was set 45 to 90 days prior when the home went under contract.) As one would expect, when the number of buyers increase, prices tend to rise.

And, finally, check this out:

The percentage of a discount that the seller is willing to take increases substantially as well from well over 99% to just over 97%. Why? They know that if they don’t sell, then they will have to carry the home for 3 to 4 more months. And this is doubly true if the home is vacant and/or new.

What Are You Waiting For?!?

So let’s review:

Inventory, while not as high as the spring, is still extremely reasonable.
Pricing becomes discounted in the fall and winter and accelerates in the spring.
Your competition (i.e. the number of buyers) is down by at least half, if not more.
Sellers are nervous and willing to take far bigger discounts.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like the best time of year to buy to me.

Ask any experienced agent and they will undoubtedly tell you that the winter time is when you can find the best deals and extract the best terms.

Don’t miss out.