Is Now A Great Time To Build a Single-Family Home?

According to the Census Bureau’s 2019 Survey of Construction (SOC), the time it takes to complete a single-family house from authorization to completion of construction is 8.1 months. Broken down it is a little more than a month from authorization to start and around 7 months to complete construction. The time is not always the same and will vary due to the geographic location and whether the house is a custom build or built for sale.

Spec homes (homes built for sale) took the shortest time to complete (7 months) in 2019 from obtaining the builder permit to the final inspection while custom builds took 13.5 months. Homes that were built by hired contractors took around 9.8 months which was shorter than built-for-rent homes which took around 12 months from authorization to completion.

The graph shown depicts the time it took according to the data collected in 2019. The longest were homes built by owners on the owner’s land taking about a month and a half to obtain permits and begin construction to a little over a year to completion. Homes built for rent come in next just under 2 months from authorization to start to just over 10 months from the start of construction to completion. Homes built by hired contractors on an owner’s piece of property took a little over 9 months to complete with a little under a month from permits to start and about 8 months to completion. Spec homes took around 7 months with one month for permits and 6 months until completion.

As mentioned earlier, demographics play a role in the amount of time it takes to build a single-family home from obtaining permits to the final inspection. Middle Atlantic (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York) took the longest coming in at 12.3 months, New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut) took on average 11.9 months, Pacific (California, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington) took 9.8 months, East South Central (Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi) took 9 months, East North Central (Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois) took 8.7 months, West North Central (Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri) took 8.2 months, Mountain (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico) took 7.8 months, West South Central (Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas) took 7.4 months and South Atlantic (Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida) came in at the shortest only taking 6.9 months.

So far, it looks like the 2020 Survey of Construction (SOC) will be on the right track. The pace of single-family starts in August was the highest production rate since February of this year.

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Home Sales and Prices Are Still on the Rise

As the summer data is being recorded, home prices and home sales continue to rise. It’s no surprise with the low mortgage rates and increases in pending home sales.

The S&P Dow Jones Indices’ S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index data rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of 4.7% in July, after a 1.8% increase in June. As for a year-over-year basis, there was a 4.8% annual gain seen in July. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported in their Home Price Index a 13.1% rise in the seasonally adjusted annual rate and a year-over-year 6.4% rise in the FHFA Home Price NSA Index in July. In fact, July reported a record largest monthly gain in existing homes sales. Home sales appreciation is mostly due to the huge demand and lack of home inventory.

As for the metro areas across the country, all but one saw home price appreciation in July. Los Angeles, CA saw the biggest increase at 14.5%, Portland, OR came in at 13.1%, Seattle, WA and Boston, MA both had an 11.6% increase, San Francisco, CA had a 9.9%, San Diego, CA a 9.8%, Washington, DC a 9.5%, Charlotte, NC a 9.0%, Phoenix, AZ an 8.4%, Atlanta, GA and Tampa, FL both at 5.6%, Cleveland, OH a 5.5%, Denver, CO a 5.2%, Dallas, TX a 4.9%, Minneapolis, MN a 3.8%, Las Vegas, NV a 3.7%, Miami, FL a 3.6% and Chicago, IL a 2.3%. New York, NY had a -3.9% decrease in July.

In July the National Association of Realtors‘ Pending Home Sales Index rose 5.9% to 122.1. It also reported a 15.5% sales increase on a year-over-year basis. In fact, all four regions saw an increase from 0.9% in the South to a 25.2% in the Northeast. This is a record high that has not been seen since 2014.

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Coronavirus Boost VA Loan Activity

The housing market has been going strong through the coronavirus pandemic so it’s not a surprise that real estate and real estate financing are also doing well. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reports that VA Loans are through the roof.

As of 2020’s third-quarter (which includes the months affected by the pandemic), the VA has issued 331,071 loans  showing a 113% increase year over year. This time last year, VA Loans were numbered at 155,685.

Across the country, VA Loans were reported at high numbers with the top metro areas for growth during the pandemic being Honolulu, San Diego, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. In the South the highest metro area was Baltimore-Towson at 171.56% year over year, in the Northeast Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington came in at 109.81%, in the Midwest Colorado Springs reported 125.13% and in the West, the highest for all four regions was Honolulu at 205.65%.

When it comes to generations Generation Z jumped the most year over year between April and June close to 178%. Next came Generation X with a rise of 125%, Baby Boomers jumped 120% and Millennials rose 95%. Out of these reported, refinancing loans made up most of the growth. The VA reported a 296% year over year increase in the third quarter. Millennials made up the majority of refinancing seeing growth of issued VA loans by 463% year over year.

Now is a perfect time for Veterans to take advantage of these record lows. For those with income and employment stability, there’s is no question right now is the time to purchase a new home.

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New Orleans Museum of Art To Get A Famous Mural

“Symbols of Communication” is a large mural that was previously located in the lobby of The Times-Picayune building has found a new home in the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). The mural, by renowned Mexican-born artist Enrique Alférez, will be a permanent feature in the museum’s auditorium.

and died in 1999 at age 99. He was one of the most famously known New Orleans artists in the modern era. He was best known for his sculpting in the art deco style. This love of sculpting stemmed from helping his father as a child carve religious statutes for the church. After attending the Art Institute of Chicago, he moved to New Orleans in 1929.

His work can be found throughout New Orleans’ public spaces such as the Lakefront Airport, the Old Charity Hospital building, Poydras Street and several spots in City Park. His art found throughout the city symbolizes cross-cultural communication which is important still today.

“In a time when communication and mutual understanding is more critical than ever, our hope is that Enrique Alferez’s mural will serve as a powerful reminder of art’s ability to unify and reflect issues of topical interest,” said Susan Taylor, the Montine McDaniel Freeman Director of NOMA.

The three-story-tall plaster mural, “Symbols of Communication” is a huge piece that hangs on the wall and features alphabet symbols from across the world and different times. These include symbols from ancient Roman, Egyptian and Mayan along with alphabets from Egypt, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic. The artwork even includes Morse Code and Braille.

Joe Jaeger, Barry Kern, Michael White and Arnold Kirschman purchased the old Times-Picayune building in 2016. Before they demolished the building in 2019, they had the famous mural removed and preserved for over $200,000. The investors graciously gave the piece to the New Orleans Museum of Art.

The public will be able to see the displayed 50-year old piece starting in January 2021. NOMA Deputy Director Anne Baños said it will take until the opening for the auditorium renovation to be complete.

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New Restaurant Opens In Algiers

This is definitely a tricky time to open a new business in any venture especially the restaurant industry. The pandemic has wreaked havoc in the food serving business and has caused the industry to change the way food is served for a while. Takeout is now the new norm for most restaurants throughout the US. Plume Algiers, a new Indian restaurant, has opened its doors to the community serving to-go boxes of its Indian cuisine along with pop-up space for other restaurants in the area.

Plume Algiers is located in an old Teche Street storefront in Algiers and was planned before the pandemic to be a small 10-seat restaurant with counter service and a 6-seat food bar that looked into the kitchen. The store already included a walk-up window for takeout service a perfect spot for pop-ups. Chef Tyler Stuart, former sous chef at Carrollton Market, and co-owner Merritt Coscia, both met while working at Riverbend bistro. They were inspired to open Plume Algiers after their travels around India.

The unique restaurant’s menu consists of Indian inspired dishes made with locally available ingredients. Dishes include racheado salad which consists of shrimp, crab, cucumber, tamarind with papaya and tandoori lamb that is combined with black cardamom, kokum fruit and bone marrow. Patrons can also enjoy the puffy and toasty naan bread and fried chicken stew with coconut cream.

“This came from dishes we had in our travels, people I cooked with, people who became our friends, and they’re still part of this,” said Stuart. “I send them menus and talk about dishes I’m doing that are from their own regions, get their feedback, work that in.”

Both Stuart and Coscia are friends with many chefs and home cooks throughout New Orleans who run pop-ups in neighborhood bars and Carrollton Market. This also inspired the two to offer Plum Algiers as a space for other chefs to offer their cuisines via pop-up style.

“Having been through the struggle of a pop-up ourselves, we’re trying to put ourselves out there as a space for other people to use,” Coscia said. “We’re trying to help each other. Especially now, it’s important to band together.”

The current pandemic has not detoured Plum Algiers which has successfully hosted many pop-ups such as Kin, the ramen and dumpling spot in Gert Town and Lahpet’s Garden Curry Popup.

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