Improving Markets for Real Estate
Posted:
Monday, January 16th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
The real estate scene has been keeping tabs on the national employment rate since four years ago when the bottom fell out of the housing boom, the index being an important indicator of economic strength and individual buying power. In November 2011 the Bureau of Labor Statistics released figures showing that the unemployment rate was on the decline. It is now 8.6 percent after 120,000 new jobs were created, mainly in the hospitality, retail trade, health care, and professional and business services sectors. Construction employment, however, showed little movement.
Nevertheless, that’s cause for some high fives for those pursuing their real estate licenses—from agents taking up Minnesota real estate CE to agents working through their New York real estate CE.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) believes that over half of single-family builders are putting off new construction until financing improves. “Restoring the flow of credit to housing is critical for the industry to rebound, provide jobs and boost the economy,” said NAHB chairman Bob Nielsen.
The NAHB builder survey revealed the following observations from the respondents:
- 77 percent believed that lenders were lowering what they were willing to lend.
- 75 percent reported seeing the allowable loan-to-value ratio being reduced.
- 66 percent encountered lenders who were unwilling to make any new real estate loans.
- 63 percent found lenders who required a personal guarantee or collateral that was unrelated to the project.
In the meantime that credit lines are being sorted out and strengthened, Agentcampus.com, a top real estate CE provider, is providing all the necessary real estate courses and real estate continuing education that an agent needs for a fully recovered market that’s bound to arrive sooner than later.
