YEAH, THOSE EXOTIC ANIMALS, AS WELL AS A FEW OF THEIR FRIENDS FROM THE FORGOTTEN FRIENDS REPTILE RESCUE IN LANCASTER COUNTY WILL BE UP FOR ADOPTION HERE THIS COMING WEEKEND. MY DAUGHTER NAMED THIS ONE PATRICK PATRICK IS ONE OF A DOZEN EXOTIC ANIMALS TAKEN IN THIS WEEK AT THE FORGOTTEN FRIENDS REPTILE RESCUE. THE PLATED LIZARD IS ALSO ONE OF THE MOST UNIQUE, SO IT’S OUR FIRST ONE WE’VE EVER HAD IN 20 YEARS. SO IT’S A VERY FUN FOR US WHEN WE GET TO EXPERIENCE A NEW SPECIES. PATRICK, ALONG WITH NINE BALL PYTHONS, ANOTHER LIZARD AND A SCORPION CAME HERE AFTER THEIR OWNER UNEXPECTEDLY PASSED AWAY. THE FAMILY TOLD US THAT THEY JUST WANTED THESE ANIMALS TO GO TO A GOOD HOME. THAT WAS THEIR BIGGEST CONCERN. THEY KNEW THEIR SON LOVED HIS REPTILE SO MUCH. THE REPTILES HAVE BEEN WELL TAKEN CARE OF AND ARE ALL IN GOOD HEALTH. PROBLEM IS, THE RESCUE DOESN’T HAVE THE ROOM TO KEEP THEM. SO FOR THE FIRST TIME IT’S HOLDING AN ADOPTION EVENT THIS WEEKEND AND I EXPECT WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A LOT OF PEOPLE. WE’RE ALREADY GETTING A LOT OF EMAILS AND INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK MESSAGES. ANYONE INTERESTED IN. TAKING ONE OF THE PETS HOME WILL HAVE TO FILL OUT AN APPLICATION AND PAY A SMALL ADOPTION FEE, SO IT’S NOT. ABOUT MAKING MONEY. IT’S NOT ABOUT PEOPLE TRYING TO FIND A RARE COLOR MORPH, BUT IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE FINDING A FOREVER HOME FOR SOME OF THESE PETS THAT REALLY NEED ONE. NOW I GOT TO SPEND A LITTLE TIME WITH PATRICK THIS AFTERNOON. HE IS A REAL SWEETHEART. I ALSO HELD ONE OF THE BALL PYTHONS. ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL. SO ALL OF THESE ANIMALS WILL BE UP FOR ADOPTION THIS COMING WEEKEND. RIGHT HERE AT THAT FISH PLACE. THAT PET PLACE ON CENTERVILLE ROAD, ITRILLIONUNS SATURDAY FROM 11 UNTIL THREE. GUYS, I DON’T KNOW IF I WERE YOU, I’D PUT AN APPLICATION IN NOW. OH, YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. ANNE LORI IS VERY INTERESTED. WELL, I WANT TO KNOW, DID YOU HOLD THE SCORPION. I DID NOT HOLD THE SCORPION. THAT ONE WAS A LITTLE BIT SCARY. UM, BUT REALLY, THE LIZARDS AND THE PYTHONS, UM, THEY WERE KIND OF SWEET. YEAH. OH, I’LL TELL YOU THERE. WE HOPE THEY ALL FIND FOREVER HOMES. AND I THINK THEY WILL. THERE’S A LOT OF FOLKS THAT BE INTERESTED, LO
Rescued reptiles need new homes
The Forgotten Friends Reptile Rescue in Lancaster County took in a dozen exotic animals earlier this week. The animals were left behind after their owner unexpectedly passed away.Now, the nine ball pythons, two lizards, and a scorpion are in need of new homes.According to Jesse Rothacker with the Forgotten Friends Reptile Rescue, “The family told us he just wanted these animals to go to a good home. That was their biggest concern. They knew their son loved his reptiles so much.”Rothacker said the reptiles have been well taken care of and are all in good health.Right now, though, the rescue doesn’t have enough room to keep them. So, it’s holding an adoption event this weekend.”I expect we’re going to have a lot of people. We’re already getting a lot of emails, Instagram and Facebook messages,” Rothacker said.Anyone interested in taking one of the pets home will have to fill out an application and pay a small adoption fee. “It’s about people finding a forever home for some of these pets that really need them,” Rockacker said.The adoption event is planned for this Saturday, Feb. 3 at That Fish Place, That Pet Place on Centerville Road in Lancaster. It runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Forgotten Friends Reptile Rescue in Lancaster County took in a dozen exotic animals earlier this week. The animals were left behind after their owner unexpectedly passed away.
Now, the nine ball pythons, two lizards, and a scorpion are in need of new homes.
According to Jesse Rothacker with the Forgotten Friends Reptile Rescue, “The family told us he just wanted these animals to go to a good home. That was their biggest concern. They knew their son loved his reptiles so much.”
Rothacker said the reptiles have been well taken care of and are all in good health.
Right now, though, the rescue doesn’t have enough room to keep them. So, it’s holding an adoption event this weekend.
“I expect we’re going to have a lot of people. We’re already getting a lot of emails, Instagram and Facebook messages,” Rothacker said.
Anyone interested in taking one of the pets home will have to fill out an application and pay a small adoption fee.
“It’s about people finding a forever home for some of these pets that really need them,” Rockacker said.
The adoption event is planned for this Saturday, Feb. 3 at That Fish Place, That Pet Place on Centerville Road in Lancaster. It runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The federal Liberals reported receiving $39.5 million, an amount that was swelled by $25 million in public funding from the Australian Electoral Commission for the 2022 election.
The data shows that the big four consultancies continued to split donations among the major parties.
PwC donated $369,973, EY $227,000, Deloitte Touche Tomatsu $177,126 and KPMG $163,200 in 2022-23.
PwC announced in July it would stop making political donations, and will make none in the 2023-24 financial year.
Other notable corporate donors included the Pharmacy Guild ($355,780), drugmaker lobby group Medicines Australia ($255,096), the Minerals Council ($231,080), Macquarie Group ($202,950), liquor retailer Endeavour Group ($169,546), gas producer Santos ($169,090), Tabcorp ($161,150) and Westpac Bank ($150,349).
Mr Palmer stood out as the biggest individual donor, with his company Mineralogy providing $7 million to the UAP. The party has just one federal representative, Victorian senator Ralph Babet.
Cardboard king Anthony Pratt scaled back his donations but was still Australia’s third-most generous benefactor. Pratt Holdings donated $1,010,500, all to the Labor Party.
In an indication of the growing profile of third-party campaigners, the second-biggest donor was Perth-based business Hadley Holdings, which gave $1,025,000 to right-wing advocacy group Advance Australia. The AEC’s records do not indicate who owns Hadley Holdings.
Advance Australia, which played a key role marshalling the No campaign to the Voice referendum, reported receiving $5.1 million.
Climate 200, the political fundraising body behind the success of the teal independent MP movement, also remained popular with donors, reaping $4.7 million.
The fourth-biggest individual donor was Marcus Catsaras from the NSW Central Coast, who gave $1 million to Climate 200. Sydney share trader Robert Keldoulis donated $702,113 to Climate 200.
Donations for the Voice referendum campaign will be publicly reported in April.
Last year was a challenging one for many agents in the US real estate market.
Limited stock numbers, rising mortgage rates charting close to 8 per cent and increasing prices dampened buyer enthusiasm.
Sales were slower for many agents, with Redfin noting the number of homes sold dropped 18.3 per cent in the year to November.
However, the Eklund Gomes team, at Douglas Elliman, remained relatively resilient.
Headed by former Million Dollar Listing star, Fredrik Ekland and John Gomes, the 80-agent team racked up $3.77 billion in sales.
Key sales included 64 University Place in Greenwich Village, which Ekland told The Hollywood Reporter he and Gomes bought into themselves and the 28 condominiums sold with record pricing in record time.
Eklund Gomes Team Chief Executive Officer Julia Spillman also revealed about 25 of the team’s agents wrote more than $1 million in commissions last year and many agents had a better year in 2023 than they did the previous year.
So, how did they do it?
- They went nationwide
Eckland told Hollywood Reporter the team didn’t put all its eggs in the one basket, and that operating in various states meant what they missed in a down market they picked up in a more buoyant one.
“All the markets had the same challenges because of the interest rates, but they all performed differently,” he said.
“Florida, of course, was very strong, New York is starting to come back with a vengeance, LA is defrosting and becoming very, very active in the last two weeks alone, the same with Texas, we’re seeing a lot of activity there.”
Eckland had taken time to expand and establish themselves in the various markets, in addition to being costly, but now they were building their numbers up.
“By being nationwide, it really allows us to hedge because if the market is not doing so well in California, as it was not, then we focus our business in Florida, where it was raging,” Gomes agreed.
- Active in various property price points
Once again the team opted for a multi-hit wonder strategy.
Rather than every agent working in the super prime price bracket, the team diversified.
“Some people are focused on high-end rentals, some people are focused on $1-3 million homes, some on $3-5 million, some people do $5-20 million,” Gomes says.
“It’s a balanced mix, and that to me is intentional and strategic.”
- A new development focus
The team also excelled in the niche area of new developments, as evidenced by the University Place sales.
“We’ve been lucky to have some of the best addresses and the most iconic new development projects,” Eckland says.
A 113-acre Vancouver property along the Columbia River in the Columbia Business Center has sold for $96 million — a record-setting sale for the market.
The sale is the largest single transaction by price for industrial land on record in the Portland Vancouver market, according to a statement from real estate group Newmark.
“This sale represents the rare opportunity to own an industrial site of scale in a market with a dearth of developable land,” said Nick Kucha, Newmark’s vice chairman. His team and a team from Colliers represented the seller in the transaction.
Newmark couldn’t disclose the name of the buyer but said it has owned a portion of the property since 2006.
The 27 buildings on the property were not sold in the transaction.
Local development company Killian Pacific reportedly bought the buildings and a portion of the property at the Columbia Business Center in 2006, according to Columbian archives.
“As an 18-year partial owner, they have decided to purchase the property in its entirety to continue their long-term stewardship of the site,” said Alexa Nestlerode, public relations and communications manager at Newmark.
The Columbia Business Center is one of Vancouver’s few heavy industrial zones. The property lies between state Highway 14, BNSF Railway and the Columbia River. Tenants have access to not only the railroad and highway but also the business center’s barge slips.
The Columbia Business Center is a mix of old and new buildings. Some date to World War II when the location was home to the Kaiser shipyards.
The Columbia Business Center, totaling 220 acres, includes light industrial, flex and heavy industrial space, as well as outside storage and assembly space.
Among the business center’s tenants are Thompson Metal Fab, Skyline CDL School, Columbia Distributing and Vancouver Steel Painters.
Gennadiy Kovalev, CEO of Skyline CDL School, said he hasn’t heard about the sale. He hopes it won’t impact his business.
“It would be financially destructive to us,” said Kovalev. Commercial drivers license schools need to be inspected by state and federal regulators, he added. So a move would not be easy.
Kovalev said his school is important to the community. The school affordably trains many people switching careers and immigrants.
The Columbia Business Center has also landed at the center of a controversy involving the Interstate 5 Bridge Replacement program. The proposed new bridge would have 116-foot clearance.
A number of the business center’s tenants, including Thompson Metal Fab, have relied on using the current bridge’s full 178-foot clearance.
“If the Interstate Bridge Replacement vertical navigation clearance were lowered to 116 feet it would permanently, materially adversely impact the viability of Columbia Business Center for existing and future uses,” Lance Killian of Killian Pacific said in a 2022 letter to the Coast Guard about the bridge project.
For now, the business center will likely remain as is.
“From the depth of our understanding, the buyer intends to continue operating the site in its current condition without disruption for tenants, as they have for the last two decades,” Newmark’s Nestlerode said.
Human8, the notable human-driven consultancy, has announced the appointment of Amy Perifanos as the new global Chief Portfolio Officer (CPO). Prior to this role, Amy worked as the VP of Commercial Solutions, North America.
This strategic appointment marks Human8’s next big move towards consolidating its position as a consultancy that champions positive change. With her new role, Perifanos is set to drive Human8’s future growth by optimising and enhancing its global portfolio.
Camille Nicita, CEO of Human8, expressed her enthusiasm for Amy’s appointment and detailed the relevance of her past experience, “Amy is no stranger to driving success. As VP of Commercial Solutions in the US and a key member of the US Leadership team, she has played a pivotal role in shifting our organisation from a traditional marketing research firm to a game-changing consulting agency. Amy’s purpose-driven style and her strong entrepreneurial spirit will serve us well in this role and on our Global Leadership Team. We are thrilled to see her in this new role.”
As the CPO, Perifanos will bear the responsibility of identifying and fostering value-added solutions. This approach will ensure brands comprehend, activate, and implement what matters to their customers and other key business stakeholders. She also holds an integral role in talent development. She will fortify Human8 consultants to adequately address current, as well as future, client challenges.
Perifanos conveyed her enthusiasm to undertake this new responsibility and stated: “I am excited to embark on this journey and feel passionate to elevate our portfolio strategy, including the consultative skills of our people, to new heights. I’m ready to make a significant contribution to the future of Human8, leading us forward as a human-driven consultancy and helping our clients to leverage their businesses in the best way possible.”
With Amy Perifanos joining the Global Leadership Team of Human8, the firm continues to nurture the next set of leaders who will shape the business future. As a human-oriented consultancy, Human8’s commitment to fostering positive change in its clients’ business processes resonates in this new appointment. Perifanos’ appointment affirms the consultancy’s faith in transformative leadership and its passion to make brands human-centred by grasping and acting upon people’s needs and cultural nuances.
PLAYA DEL CARMEN — LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman’s message to his entire staff in relation to the news of the Strategic Sports Group’s $3 billion investment in the PGA Tour to create a new for-profit entity was simple: onward.
In a letter obtained by Golfweek sent just days before the start of the 2024 LIV Golf League season at Mayakoba’s El Camaleon Golf Course in Mexico, Norman wrote to his staff to not just hype up LIV Golf’s third official season, but to also downplay any negative impact the SSG investment may have on LIV’s future.
An excerpt from the letter:
As you may have seen, the PGA Tour made an announcement this morning about an investment partner. Let me make one thing very clear: nothing announced by other tours or investment groups changes LIV Golf’s positive trajectory or future plans.
We started LIV Golf with the goal of creating something new, taking the game to a global, diverse audience and driving innovation while growing golf’s fanbase. More investment in golf is a great thing for the game and for us. It’s a positive development for our players, our fans, and for the long-term future of the game.
Golf is now viewed as an asset class. We proved this was possible and are now in a unique position to mold and drive this incredible growth opportunity. This broader interest and commitment to the game, and investment in its future, would not have happened without the emergence of LIV Golf as an innovative force in the golf ecosystem.
Norman said the league was “moving full steam ahead” into 2024 and beyond and that he has “never been more confident in the league, the people involved, and our supporters all over the world.”
Just seven months ago the Tour announced a framework agreement with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to create what we now know today as PGA Tour Enterprises. The Tour confirmed in a release on Wednesday that progress has been made in ongoing negotiations with the PIF, LIV Golf’s financial backers, on a potential future investment. That same release also stated that PGA Tour Enterprises allows for a co-investment from the PIF in the future, “subject to all necessary regulatory approvals.”
The previous deadline of Dec. 31, 2023, to come to an agreement was missed, but both sides have ventured on. The PGA Tour now has more money to spend and LIV has new assets in former Tour players like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. As Norman would say, onward they go.
Declining rates and a strong economy may embolden potential home buyers and could help the housing market turn a corner from last year’s doldrums when record high home loans costs and elevated pricing kept both buyers and sellers out of the market.
Mortgage rates peaked at two-decade highs in the fall of last year. This, plus elevated prices of homes, made buying a home the most unaffordable it’s been since the turn of the century.
But rates have been declining over the last few weeks and are now in the mid-6 percent range. And with a robust economy plus higher wages that Americans are seeing, the market will likely see a shift over the coming months, Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told Newsweek.
“When looking back over the last couple of years when market activity picks up, when people feel like housing is a bit more affordable and you see a pickup in activity sale,” he said. “And the economy is strong, meaning the labor market, job market is very, very, good. Lots of jobs, low unemployment. Wage growth has improved and that’s another good strong fundamental.”
The sticking point as to how fast the market rebound hinges on prices, which continue to be elevated, Zandi said.
The median sale price of a home as of January 21 stood at more than $362,000, a 5 percent increase from a year ago in what was the biggest increase since October 2022, according to real estate platform Redfin. The median asking price was also elevated, jumping by 6.5 percent to about $384,450.
“I do think we need to see some moderation in house prices, you know, if not outright declines, then flat prices for a while to allow incomes to catch up and affordability to be restored,” Zandi told Newsweek.
Prices will decline should the used homes market, which has frozen as sellers are reluctant to give up their old rates and replace them with costly home loans. A shift in that segment of the market may improve affordability, Zandi said.
“Once they start moving, and I suspect we’ll see more and more of those folks moving in the coming year, they’ll have to become somewhat aggressive on pricing, they’re going to have to lower their price,” he told Newsweek.
Over the next months, single-family housing construction is likely to recover the quickest due to severe shortages in that space and other segments of the market are likely to catch up as mortgage rates and the economy improves.
“House prices, they’ll be the last to recover,” Zandi said. “I think they kind of go sideways, down, for two to three years to let incomes and mortgage rates catch up and affordability is restored.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
If there’s one question most homeowners have asked themselves at least once it’s, “How much is my house worth?” Whether you’re aiming to figure out what your asking price might be, looking to refinance your house, or you’re just trying to better understand the real estate market in your area, it’s a good idea to figure out the answer. Below, we break it all down with the help of experienced real estate professionals from across the country.
How it’s calculated
There are a variety of different home valuation types and different calculations for each. The assessed value of your home is determined by a government assessor for your property taxes, though the methodologies vary depending on your location. A professional appraiser’s figure is known as the appraised value and is required by mortgage lenders. The appraised value can relate to the home’s curb appeal, square footage, the condition it’s in, and comparable homes (or “comps”) in your area. The appraised value may or may not align with the market value, depending on the state of the market at the time of listing.
The fair market value of your home is the price a home would sell for on the open market. When figuring out your home’s value for the purposes of listing it for sale, a range of elements are factored in, including its location, finishes, and square footage, along with more nuanced details like trends in your area and the market overall.
First steps online
You can’t be the only one asking yourself, How much is my house worth? So, if you’re simply curious about what the value, but not quite ready to sell, or if you are hoping to sell but not prepared to get in touch with an agent, looking into your home value online can be a great starting point. There have never been more tools available to find an estimate of your home value quickly and at no cost. Zillow and Redfin each have their own online home valuation tools, as does Realtor.com and many major banks.
“When sellers are trying to estimate how much their home could sell for, or how much equity they have in their home, the Redfin estimate is a useful tool,” says Redfin Chief Economist, Daryl Fairweather. Fairweather shares that the website also has tools that show you how much home values in your city or neighborhood have changed and how competitive the market is in in your area. Online tools are not without their drawbacks, though. “The Redfin estimate may not account for specific factors, like how well the home has been maintained,” Fairweather explains.
“[The utility of online tools] depends where you’re looking,” says real estate professional Bill Murray, the managing director of Compass Greater Atlanta. “If you’re looking at establishing values in a subdivision, where pretty much all the houses in the subdivisions are the same, then you can pretty much predict the appreciation in the value. When you’re in older neighborhoods, you can’t take a 3,500-square-foot house and a 3,500-square-foot house a block away and assume they’re the same value.” Given the drawbacks of online tools, it’s best to take their estimations with a grain of salt.
Calling in the professionals
For a valuation of your house that is personalized and takes local market trends into consideration, a real estate agent can help you find a price much more realistic than an online tool. Especially if you live in a fast-changing area—whether it be because of rezoning, new infrastructure, or any other change—this specificity is very important.
There is a severe housing shortage as a result of record-high home prices and rents in addition to record-low for-sale inventories and vacancies, according to a new analysis from the Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Research showed that the vast majority of specialists agree that the country’s affordability issues stem from this shortfall.
Their methods can be used to determine why these estimations differ from one another. The lowest estimate on the list, 1.5 million units, comes from the research from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). They found the difference between the total number of unoccupied units for sale or rent that is currently available and the total that would exist under “normal” vacancy rates for each metro area in the nation, which is defined as the long-term average rates.
It’s believed that the NAHB estimate represents a total of all U.S. metropolitan areas should help to partially clarify its lower value. The other two estimates, in contrast to the NAHB number, also include non-metro areas. In addition, NAHB’s approach is different, as it only includes unoccupied properties that are for sale or rent; vacant properties that are seasonal or second homes are not included in the shortage calculation.
Similar to the NAHB forecast, Freddie Mac’s projection of a 3.8 million unit deficit is contingent on how much lower than “normal” the present vacancy rate is. There are still some significant variations between the two computations. The entire nation is included in Freddie Mac’s estimation, not simply major cities. In contrast to NAHB, Freddie Mac’s estimate accounts for an extra 0.4 million units for “missing” households—those that did not form due to the lack of available housing.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) conducted a survey that resulted in the highest estimate on JCHS’ list—an estimated 5.5 million unit deficit of housing. This estimate does not compare vacancy rates, in contrast to the calculations made by Freddie Mac and NAHB. NAR made a comparison between the 1.225 million new homes created year between 2001 and 2020 and the 1.5 million new homes that would have been generated if the historical average annual construction rate for 1968–2000 had continued.
The alternate viewpoint offered by NLIHC emphasizes how the absence of housing that is affordable for lower-income households may require more than adding new construction to meet the nation’s overall housing shortfall. More new housing must be built in order to relieve pressures, especially for higher-income tenants and subsequently for lower-income ones as older apartments trickle down the rental market.
However, in order to fully address the affordability issues faced by millions of people and overcome our country’s housing shortage, a concerted effort will be needed to not only add more units but also more units that are affordable to the most economically vulnerable. This is because there is a significant disparity between the amount of housing that the markets have been able to provide and that which is affordable to the lowest-income households.
To read the full report. including more data, charts, and methodology, click here.
How does the Consumer Price Index account for the cost of housing?
This piece was originally published in May 2022. It has since been updated.
Housing represents about one-third of the value of the market basket of goods and services that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) uses to track inflation in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). A rise in the cost of housing—what the BLS calls shelter—contributed to high inflation in 2022 and 2023. Measuring changes in shelter costs is more difficult than measuring changes in everyday prices like groceries and gasoline. This post explains how the BLS measures changes in the cost of housing for renters and homeowners in the CPI.
How does the BLS calculate the price of shelter?
For rental properties, the BLS counts cash rent paid to the landlord for shelter and included utilities, plus any government subsidies paid to the landlord on the tenant’s behalf. If a unit is owner-occupied, the BLS computes what it would cost to rent that home in the current housing market, known as Owners’ Equivalent Rent (OER). Utilities paid by homeowners are measured separately in the CPI.
Why does the BLS use OER instead of house prices?
The CPI aims to capture the change in the prices of goods and services consumed by households over time. For housing, the BLS wants to capture the change in the consumption value of a home—the price of the shelter it provides—not the change in the value of the home outright. Therefore, the BLS uses changes in the rental value (the OER) to measure the cost of shelter for homeowners. For example, if a family buys a house for $300,000 in 2024 and lives there for 10 years, their shelter consumption is not $300,000 in 2024, and zero in subsequent years—nor is it their monthly mortgage payment, which will vary based on their down payment, the maturity of the loan, and the interest rate at the time they purchased the house. Rather, their shelter consumption is the amount they would have spent to consume the same amount of housing services provided by their owner-occupied home.
Where does the BLS get data on shelter prices?
The BLS collects rent data for about 40,000 residences through personal visits or telephone calls. The sample is divided into six panels, each of which is sampled every six months on a staggered basis. The first panel is sampled in January and July, the second in February and August, and so forth. Since rents don’t usually change frequently, comparing samples over six months allows the BLS to pick up more meaningful changes. One panel is replaced each year to keep the housing sample representative.
The CPI measures price growth for the same basket of goods and services over time, so the BLS adjusts for changes in the quality of housing over time. The adjustments account for the age of the property, neighborhood improvements, and physical renovations to the home like a new bathroom or air conditioning system.
The BLS uses rent data to impute OER based on rents for comparable rental housing in the area.
What are the potential problems with the estimation of OER?
Finding rental housing that is comparable to an owner-occupied unit can be difficult. Predominantly renter-occupied neighborhoods are often geographically separate from owner-occupied ones—consider a city center versus a suburb. Even within the same area, housing characteristics can vary widely across rental and owner-occupied units—for example, the owner-occupied units in a neighborhood may be single-family homes, while the rental units may be multi-family buildings. Finding comparable rental housing is particularly difficult for large, expensive single-family homes.
Why are rents in the CPI rising much faster than market rents in early 2024?
The measure of the rents in the CPI tends to lag well-known indices of market rents like the Zillow Observed Rent Index and the CoreLogic Single Family Rent Index. CPI rent inflation rose only moderately in 2022, while market rents were soaring (see figure). More recently, CPI rent inflation has been much higher than Zillow and CoreLogic rent inflation.
This lag occurs for a few reasons. First, the market indices capture rents of units currently on the market, not rents for units occupied by continuing renters, like the CPI does. Rents change when leases expire, which typically happens annually. In addition, landlords may be less likely to raise rents to market prices for continuing tenants, and so it might take even longer for rents on all units to catch up with rents charged to new tenants. Second, because the BLS only examines rents every six months, it can’t know exactly when the rent changed. The BLS assumes that the rent increased gradually over the six months, meaning that only about one-sixth of the total observed increase in rent is attributed to the month the unit is sampled.1 For example, if the BLS observed that rent increased from $2,000 per month in January 2022 to $2,400 per month in July 2022—a 20% increase—it would assume that the increase in rent in July 2022 for that unit was 3%, roughly one-sixth of 20%. That means that an unusual increase in rents will only fully show through with a lag in the CPI.
In late 2022, researchers at the BLS and Cleveland Fed introduced an experimental quarterly index of new tenant rent (New Tenant Rent Index) using a very similar method to the Zillow index and data from the CPI Housing Survey. This index tracks market rents by only using observations in the CPI dataset that follow a change in tenant. The New Tenant Rent Index accounts for changes in the price of utilities, depreciation, and remodeling between tenants. Like the Zillow and CoreLogic indices, the New Tenant Rent Index will likely be a leading indicator for the shelter component of CPI.
Indicators of market rents, including Zillow, CoreLogic, and the New Tenant Rent Index, show that rent inflation for new tenants is at or below pre-pandemic levels, while CPI rent inflation remains elevated. This suggests that CPI rent inflation will decline over 2024 or 2025.
How do house prices affect the CPI measure of homeownership costs?
House prices and rental prices are determined by supply and demand factors that don’t always move in tandem. For example, if demand for houses rises because mortgage rates fall, house prices will rise but rents will not. If construction costs increase, on the other hand, the price of both rental and owner-occupied housing would likely rise.
Over time, changes in house prices do predict changes in rents—although the relationship is far from one-to-one and occurs with long lags. Xiaoqing Zhou and Jim Dolmas of the Dallas Fed find that the correlation between house price growth and OER inflation peaks at about 0.75 after 16 months.
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