Ralph B. McLaughlin Profile picture
Senior Economist @RDC_Economics. Formerly @haus, @trulia, @corelogic. FAA Certified Flight Instructor and Commercial Pilot.
Nov 3, 2021 8 tweets 2 min read
Some initial thoughts: (1) scaling a lipstick flipping business was going to be difficult for anyone in the space, especially when home prices became volatile. Zillow Quits Home-Flipping Business, Cites Inability to Forecast Prices - WSJ wsj.com/articles/zillo… (2) There’s a reason most successful flippers are local and focused on value add - doing major renovations shields a flipper from price fluctuations and forces equity. Doing little is akin to short term speculation.
Nov 2, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read
CHPI update for the week ending October 29th: asking price for the most common home falls below $350k, inventory drops again, and Florida markets are booming. Thread: haus.com/resources/the-… Asking price for the most common U.S. home fell below $350k last week, the first time since May of this year. The seasonal downturn in home prices is clearly in full effect. infogram.com/1p7lp5n0qj9zd2…
Aug 21, 2020 13 tweets 4 min read
My family and I evacuated from our home in Groveland last night because of the #MocFire. It was an arduous experience to say the least, but will share some thoughts in the hopes it will be of use to those who evacuate from other current/future fires. Thread: You’re never as prepared as you think you are and it will take longer than you expect. And fires can move extremely quickly. The #MocFire started quite a distance from our home (HWYs 120 & 49).That’s a 30 minute drive from our house. Within a few hours, it was at our doorstep.
Jul 28, 2020 6 tweets 2 min read
A very wow homeownership report today. MASSIVE jump in the homeownership rate this was a rare significant increase. The rate jumped by nearly 4 percentage points to 37.9%. Highest since 2008. Here's a thread on why this happened during a pandemic Essentially there was a massive boom in the number of homeowners combined with a very large drop in the number of renters. Basically one of the largest changes in both numbers in decades (possible ever, but will check on this on report back in another tweet).
Feb 26, 2019 23 tweets 3 min read
Massive housing data release day. Here’s a thread on points that catch my eye. Housing starts down pretty sharply. Both MF and SF, but more for MF. 16% YOY. None of the numbers are statistically significant.