Texas Courts Begin to Allow Evictions
Texas courts are indicating that they will not enforce a federal order that would stop evictions during the coronavirus pandemic. While Congress has approved billions of dollars to help people pay their rent to avoid eviction, many of those tenants have yet to receive any of that money. The Texas Supreme Court did not extend its emergency order, and the Texas Justice Court Training Center issued guidance essentially telling judges it’s not their job to enforce the CDC’s order. Legal aid attorneys are gravely concerned about the tens of thousands (and possibly more) who will be left homeless.
Home Appraisal Gap Causing Trouble For Home Buyers
With the quick turn around in the home market, buyers are entering into bidding wars to secure their dream homes. Homes are selling above appraisal values creating a gap for buyers to make up. Many are tapping into retirement accounts or accepting loans from family in order to purchase their homes. With many sellers waiting in line to purchase one property, buyers must be prepared to come to the table with a substantial amount of money.
Home Price Index Jumps
According to the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, home prices continued their acceleration in January. They jumped 11.2% year over year, the biggest gain in 15 years. Month over month, prices rose in 19 of the 20 cities tracked. Year over year, prices rose in all 20. Detroit data was included in January’s indices for the first time in a year due to interruptions in data collection due to Covid-19 shutdowns.
Weekly Brief – March 29
/in Weekly Brief /by Dave NykanenMichigan’s two largest metro areas are exceptionally different.
I had the opportunity to spend time in the Grand Rapids metro area in the past week. Metro Grand Rapids development is reminiscent of the sprawl in metro Detroit in the 1990s through the early 2000s. New subdivisions and neighborhood shopping centers are under construction in many areas of metro Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids remains in a growth and sprawl mode.
The Detroit metro area, on the other hand, has matured in its development. Development in metro Detroit (excluding, perhaps, northern Macomb County and the far western edges of Oakland and Wayne Counties) is infill or reuse. Redevelopment, rather than new development, is the primary project.
Grand Rapids still has plenty of greenfield development. Those developments have the potential to be less expensive to develop, as there is less assemblage to negotiate, and fewer legacy development issues to resolve (such as utility relocation).
Grand Rapids may, in a few decades, have to deal with the reuse and infill development issues that Detroit currently confronts. However, for the time being, development in metro Grand Rapids raises entirely different issues than development in metro Detroit.
J.C. Penney Updates Store Closure List
/in National /by Tracy WillisJ.C. Penney has updated its store closure list. The company was one of the largest retailers to apply for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection during the pandemic. It announced that it was closing 242 of its stores in May 2020. Since then, the retailer has delayed the closing of 15 stores that were scheduled to be shuttered in March 2021, extending the closing date into May. In doing so, the company added 18 more stores to its closure list.
Weekly Brief – March 22
/in Weekly Brief /by Dave Nykanen