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- Nearly half of all renters spent more than 30% of their income on housing
Nearly half of all renters spent more than 30% of their income on housing
Plus: Who owns Texas? Searchable map of who owns every property in the state
🤗 Good morning! Welcome to Tuesday.
Today's newsletter is 680 words — a 2.5-minute read.
1. Search who owns every building, and home in Texas
The Houston Chronicle has created a tool that enables users to search any Texas property, view ownership details, and uncover connections between properties that may not be visible in local records.
The tool consolidates public property data from all 254 Texas counties, covering approximately 13.6 million properties by sourcing data from Regrid, a platform that compiles property tax information.
While some properties may not have postal addresses, details like parcel size and zip code are provided when available. Individuals owning fewer than three properties can request to have their information removed.
2. Homeowners could save hundreds of dollars a month with the expected Fed interest rate cut
The anticipated Federal Reserve interest rate cut after tomorrow’s Fed meeting is expected to provide some relief to homeowners, potentially lowering monthly mortgage payments
Mortgage rates, which have been elevated for two years, may ease as a result, with reductions possibly bringing savings of up to $225 per month for borrowers.
However, industry experts warn that while lower rates could encourage more buyers to enter the market, they won't fully resolve the housing crisis.
The biggest problem the housing market has is supply. The rate-locked inventory is one reason that inflation is so high. If you look at why inflation was sticky, almost all products stopped increasing in price except housing. And at some point, the more you raise rates, the more you constrain the supply of housing.
A MESSAGE FROM DAVE YOUR MORTGAGE GUY
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3. Catch up quick
🏠 New $600M community in Comal County to deliver 800 new homes. (TRERC)
✅ Downtown Austin condos at The Modern Austin Residences are almost done. (MAR)
💸 The purchasing power of $100 in each U.S. state. (VisualCapitalist)
🧑🏿💻 Scam Alert: Domain listing scam targeting NAR members. (NAR)
🏈 Texas is No. 1 in the AP Top 25 college poll for the first time in 16 years. (AP)
🥩 Fun read: H-E-B's Central Market sets Guinness World Record for largest charcuterie board. (MySA)
4. Attorneys seek more than $220M from NAR, HomeServices commission lawsuit settlements
Attorneys for the Sitzer/Burnett plaintiffs have filed their latest request to be paid, and they are seeking one-third of the funds from the two biggest settlements in the commission’s cases.
The fee request, filed on Friday, Sept. 13, applies to the settlements reached by the National Association of Realtors and HomeServices Of America.
NAR and the brokerage giant agreed to pay the largest amounts of all the defendants who have settled to date, with combined damages totaling just under $680 million. Attorneys for the plaintiffs have requested one-third of that sum — more than $225 million.
5. Nearly half of all renters spent more than 30% of their income on housing
Nearly half of all renter households in the US were cost-burdened in 2023, meaning they paid more than 30% of their income towards housing costs, according to new government data.
The data, released on Thursday as part of the US Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey, underscores the gravity of America’s home affordability crisis. Not only has buying a home become prohibitively expensive for many Americans, but so too has renting one.
Housing costs rose between 2022 and 2023 for both homeowners and renters. The median cost of housing for renters rose from $1,354 to $1,406 (after adjusting for inflation).
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