Housing starts fell 14.4% in May May marked a 13-month low in home building, with new residential construction dropping 14.4% from a month earlier, according to the Commerce Department. "Should home completions ramp up, buyers will see some relief in the form of increased housing supply," says Hannah Jones, an economic data analyst at realtor.com®. "Despite lower near-term housing demand, the need for new construction remains pressing to close the sizable decade-long housing supply gap and create a more favorable environment for buyers." Full Story: CNN (6/16),Reuters (6/16)
Technology & Innovations
Reasons to adopt real estate tech now Some real estate professionals are hesitant to adopt property technology due to fears that such solutions are too complicated, costly or just unnecessary, writes Cyrus Claffey, founder of property tech firm ButterflyMX. But technology provides a fast return on investment and "[t]he more efficient building processes are, the more time staff has to retain and attract residents," Claffey writes. Full Story: Entrepreneur (6/16)
Agents using CGI to connect home buyers with properties Computer-generated imagery enables real estate agents to create virtual stagings for existing properties and 3D renderings for new projects, allowing clients to do virtual walk-throughs from anywhere in the world. "Most buyers struggle to find vision when looking at an older home," says Chris Morrison, founder of technology-based real estate brokerage RETSY. "CGI provides visual representations of what a 'dated' home would look like with modern-day fixtures and standards." Full Story: Forbes (tiered subscription model) (6/16)
Fair & Equitable Housing
Mapping Prejudice unveils racial covenants in Minnesota Several homeowners in Minnesota's Ramsey County were surprised to learn their deeds contained racial covenants preventing people of color from buying or renting the property. The revelation was part of Mapping Prejudice's latest effort to turn the spotlight on harmful racial covenants found in many predominantly white neighborhoods despite federal laws that ban housing discrimination. Full Story: Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.) (tiered subscription model) (6/15)
High-value home sales could be taxed more in Los Angeles A measure that would impose higher taxes on property sales worth more than $5 million will go to a public vote in Los Angeles in November. If passed, proceeds would go toward programs to prevent homelessness and build affordable housing. Full Story: Los Angeles Daily News (6/16)
Editor's Note
SmartBrief will not publish June 20 SmartBrief will not publish Monday, June 20, in observance of Juneteenth in the US.
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