Voice for Real Estate 47: Youth, Trolls, CMBS, Sales

Youth, Trolls, CMBS, Sales

Stephen Gasque Voice Over: 

The real estate profession - is getting younger!
NAR takes tough action to stop a patent troll
And signed contracts jump to their highest level in 10 years
These stories and more on The Voice for Real Estate
Hi. I’m Stephen Gasque of the National Association of Realtors.
There's been big change in the average age of real estate
professionals. In just one year, the median age of Realtors
dropped - from 57 last year, to 53 this year! That’s according to
the 2016 NAR Member Profile, released a week and a half ago.
What’s driving the decrease? Well, Realtors under the age of 30
have more than do0ubled in the last year, from just 2 percent if
all members to 5 percent, and the share of Realtors 65 and
older dropped significantly—from 25 percent to just 16
percent.
As a result of the change, 20% of Realtors today—that’s one
out of every five—have been in the business just one year or
less. And a third of all Realtors have been in the business three
years or less. NAR’s Jessica Lautz has more on what this trend
means to your business.
[QUOTE]
Of course, young people make up the largest share of buyers
today, too. Thirty-five percent of all buyers are millennials—
those born since the early 1980s. What are their most popular
cities? Well, two of the cities they’re flocking to are Austin,
Texas, and Denver. NAR’s Nadia Evangelou has more on what
makes these and other cities so popular with this large and
mobile generation.
[QUOTE]
Other cities in the Top 10 for millennials are . . .
[SWOOSH]
And now - the latest on NAR's fight against patent trolls!
Companies or individuals which demand money from
businesses - saying they hold the patents on the tech the
businesses use every day. Well, last week NAR fired back at one
patent troll that’s been trying to make money off real estate
companies. NAR filed a petition with the United States Patent
and Trademark Office challenging the validity of the company’s
patent. The company claims its patent gives it the right to
demand money whenever a brokerage sends an email to a
customer --- letting them know a new listing is in the market or
that listing data has changed. NAR says the technology behind
that service is widely available and doesn’t qualify for patent
protection. NAR's Deputy General Counsel Ralph Holmen has
more.
[QUOTE]
The Patent Office is expected to respond to the petition this
summer. When it does, it will indicate whether it believes NAR
has provided enough evidence to warrant a ruling on the
patent’s validity. But it could be six months before all appeals
are exhausted and a decision is final.
[SWOOSH]
Commercial mortgage-backed securities are critical to financing
office buildings, retail centers, and other commercial properties
all across America. But a rule coming out at the end of this year
would hurt this type of financing. The reason? Lenders would
have to increase the amount of money they set aside for every
loan they package into securities - for sale on Wall Street.
That’s why NAR has been working with lawmakers in the House
and Senate to expand an exemption that’s already in the law
for these types of loans. NAR’s Erin Stackley has more.
[QUOTE]
A key House committee has already passed a bill that would
expand the exemption and now NAR is now making the case in
the full House and the Senate.
We’ll keep you updated on this effort, designed to maintain
liquidity in commercial real estate.
[SWOOSH]
NAR’s pending home sales index—which measures contract
signings rather than closed sales—just reached its highest level
in 10 years. It’s up more than 5 percent from the previous
month and now stands at a level of 116.3, almost 5 percent
more than a year ago. There’s also great news for closed home
sales. They’re up for the last two months and they now stand at
a 5.45-million sales pace. That’s a solid increase from this time
last year. Historically low interest rates and strong job growth
are what’s driving the market gains. Here’s NAR’s Chief
Economist Lawrence Yun.
[QUOTE]
Yun says there are two trends we need to watch. The first is
inflation. It’s low now—only about 1 percent—but monthly
rental rates continue to outpace wage gains, and gas prices
could start going up soon, too. The second trend is continuing
low supplies of homes for sale. That’s pushing up home
prices—another inflation driver.
[SWOOSH]
That’s our show for the week of May 30. You can get more on
everything we talked about today at The Voice for Real Estate
page on REALTOR.org. Thank you for joining us, and we hope
you join us again as we bring you the latest news on The Voice
for Real Estate.