An Increase in Housing Demand Sparked by Lower Rates

 It is reported that the share of prospective buyers increased by 5 points in a single quarter at the end of 2022. The retreat in mortgage interest rates during the first quarter of 2023 (from the 20-year peak reached in the fall of 2022) led a record share of adults in the US. 

This meant that 18% of adults said that they plan to purchase a home within a year. The share rose in every region across the country from the last quarter of 2022 to the beginning quarter of 2023. The Northeast rose from 11% to 19%, the Midwest from 10% to 14%, the South from 14% to 17% and the West from 14% to 23%).

This also was the case with first-time buyer share which also rose in all four regions between the last quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. The Northeast saw an increase from 64% to 66%, Midwest 58% to 67%, South 60% to 68% and the West from 62% to 75%.

These results are derived from the Housing Trends Report (HTR). This report is produced by the National Association of Home Builders’ Economics team. The team measures prospective home buyers’ perceptions about the affordability and the availability of homes for sale in their market. The Housing Trends Report runs every quarter to track changes in buyer’s perceptions over time.

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Brasa Will Open A New Location

If you live in Old Metairie then you are familiar with Brasa. The steakhouse will be expanding and will now have a second larger location in New Orleans. The new location will occupy the old Morton’s steakhouse in the Canal Place shopping center.

Owners Edgar Caro and Antonio Mata will renovate the space and hope to open its doors in October 2023. Brasa is a local concept that was the idea of the business partners. They want to change the space to have a Latin American flare. The original Old Metairie location was named Brasa Churrasqueria and is now called Brasa South American Steakhouse. ” This is the same menu, concept and vibe as Brasa, but we can do more here,” explains Caro.

The renovation will start with putting in open windows that will bring in tons of natural light. The space will also be painted in brighter colors and there will be tropical plants added for the Latin American design. They will add a huge dry-aging case and a display of high-end spirits at the entrance when you first walk into the restaurant. There will also be a dedicated lounge and three private dining rooms. The biggest change will be the added outdoor dining patio by the Canal Street Entrance.

“The idea is to keep the bones of Brasa, the essence of Brasa, and bring it here to downtown New Orleans,” Caro says. “We’re very excited about being part of the revitalization down here.

The partners are excited and look forward to the opening. They know that the downtown location will bring in the tourists who tend to spend more money when on vacation. The new location will add Wagyu steaks and grilled oysters among other seafood dishes.

“This will be the flagship for us,” Mata says. “I think we paved the road for what we want Brasa to be with the first restaurant, and it’s been successful. Now we’re ready for this,” added Caro.

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The Best Trees To Use for Your Backyard Oasis

 During the pandemic, your home became your live, work and play space. Outside living really became almost a necessity. Professionals in the industry have some great ideas on what to use for planting when it comes to your backyard oasis.

“Using plantings adds more color, texture, and in some cases movement to the garden, which can be enjoyed from indoors and out. You also can attract wildlife to your space, such as songbirds and pollinators. That’s a joy if you love observing nature up close,” says Kat Aul Cervoni of Staghorn NYC and The Cultivation by Kat.

Trees are the perfect addition for a nice private outdoor living space. Here are some privacy trees and large shrubs that are perfect for the job.

Skip Laurel

A skip laurel is a beautiful evergreen that will bloom white flowers in the spring. It has glossy leaves and grows extremely fast and works in the shade. These trees can grow in most any type of soil and are deer resistant.

Cryptomeria

A crypotemia tree is a fancy name for a Japanese cedar. This tree is known for its texture and will grow over thirty feet tall. When you plant this tree, make sure to plant it with plenty of space due to its massive size when full grown.

Rhododendron

These evergreen bushes produce beautiful flowers that will bloom in late spring. The blooms can be in a wide variety of colors ranging from coral to lavender. These bushes do like part-time shade.

Juniper

These wonderful shrubs come in a variety of colors that are from blue-green to gold. They also come in many different shapes and sizes making them a great choice. Many use these shrubs as a privacy screen. The plant also has clusters of blue-green fruits that give it a bit of a unique look.

Chastetree

A unique tree that grows fast and has beautiful purple blooms with accented gray-green foliage. It is not as well known as many trees but it can make a great privacy screen growing up to 15 feet wide. Note: if you want a spreading multi-trunk display, prune every season.

Yew

This tree comes in many different kinds that are both tall and low-growing. The tall yews are perfect for borders and privacy screens. If you live in a colder climate, then these are perfect because they are extremely cold-hardy and many can tolerate shade.

Serviceberry

Another beautiful tree that has white flowers that give off a nice fragrance during the spring. The flowers which bloom in the spring will turn into deep purple berries in the summer. Many pick these berris naad use them for making jam. This tree will grow up to 25 feet tall and also gives beautiful fall colors.

Arborvitae

These trees grow in different shapes that include round, columnar or pyramidal. They also come in many different sizes ranging from a couple of feet tall to over thirty feet tall. These do not require much maintenance as they do not need to be sheared to keep their shape. These fast growing trees are hardy but the deer love to eat them!

False Cypress

These trees are very pretty and have fern-like needles and graceful limbs. This is another low-maintenance plant and comes in many varieties. They are mostly pyramidal in shape and are great to use for privacy screens.

Hemlock

A graceful tree that has soft, feathery foliage and is great in colder climates because it likes extreme cold. It can tolerate some shade but also likes the sun and it grows to be very tall. There are some dwarf varieties that will also go well in a nice backyard.

Hydrangea

This shrub is another fast grower and is very colorful. The beautiful flowers come in tons of sizes and colors that last from summer to late fall. They make great additions to your garden or yard.

Cedar

These trees are very popular and have an elegant form with unique pine cones. There are many varieties and they are perfect for a border. These trees can also grow in pots and are great for a patio area.

Rose of Sharon

This plant is a shrub with beautiful tropical looking flowers. They work as nice privacy borders and bloom in the late summer. They will give your area a beautiful and pleasant look and atmosphere.

Using trees and shrubs for privacy brings visual interest and beauty to your outdoor space. “A green screen provides a more dynamic element to your space – something that grows each year and changes with the seasons, which I find gives a person a beautiful way to observe the passage of time and feel more connected to nature,” says Cervoni.

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A Shift in Single-Family Market Share

 Overall we have seen across the county that single-family housing starts have slowed this year. In fact, the largest drop (percentage basis) has been seen in the larger populated areas. The hugest decrease was seen in the large metro-outlying counties which went from 23.6% in 2021 to -12.1% in 2022. Multi-family growth has been on the rise everywhere except highly densely populated areas according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Home Building Geography Index (HBGI).

We have seen changes since the pandemic in single-family marketing. A lot of people have been moving out of densely populated urban areas due to the pandemic. From the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2022, we saw a huge increase in Micro Counties from 6.0% to 7.4%. The biggest loss was in large metro-core counties which went from 18.4% to 16.0%.

Multi-family has remained in the positive and is above historical levels. In fact, six of the seven submarkets had growth above 15.0% during the last quarter of 2022. The smallest growth rate was seen in large metro-outlying counties which went to 35.7%. The trend is the same as single-family construction where even though it is still positive, there has been a drop since the fourth quarter of 2019. In fact, Large Metro-Core Counties went from 41.7% in 2019 to 36.7% in 2022.

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Housing Market Report for the Beginning of the New Year

 The New Year rang in with home values dropping 0.1% which made the average home value at $329,542 according to the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). This is down from the record-high of 18.8% that was reported last April.

This Zillow Home Value Index was the first reported on the new version. The new version is now based on the neural network-driven Zestimates that Zillow produces for nearly every home in the United States. So this means that the ZHVI closely tracks the vitality in the market when it is changing very fast and will be able to report a better picture for higher-priced sellers.

The mortgage rates are dipping which is great news for both buyers and sellers in the housing market. Year-over-year home value appreciation is highest in Florida. For the 50 largest metro areas the leaders included Miami (12.8%), Jacksonville (9.3%), Hartford (8.6%), Richmond (8.6%) and Orlando (8.4%). On the other end were Western and tech-centric metro areas the prices were down with San Francisco (-4.9%), Sacramento (-2.6%), San Jose (-2.3%) Austin (-1.1%) and Seattle (0.8%).

Buyers did begin to return to the market at the beginning of the year but the newly pending listings were still 20% lower than the same time last year. January saw a 30% increase from December when it came to newly pending listings. The strongest winter season was still reported pre-pandemic.

Unfortunately, sales were down the lowest this January since 2018. The year began with only 232,000 new listings where it was reported at 328,000 new listings in January 2021. The listing pool will probably stay on the low side due to a much lower “normal” volume of homes listed.

If you are in the market to list or buy a home, it is still a good market. Choosing a local real estate agent to help you with the process is a wise decision, especially in the current housing market.

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Another Drop in Mortgage Rates

 The end of March saw another rate drop for the second week in a row even with the uncertainty stemming from the economy and bank failures. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.42% which was down from 6.60% the week prior. Unfortunately, this is still no match for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate from a year ago at 4.42%.

“Mortgage rates continued to slide down as financial market concerns came to the fore over the last two weeks,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

“If mortgage rates continue to slide over the next few weeks, look for a continued rebound during the first weeks of the spring homebuying season,” replies Khater.

The Fed will still likely boost the rates a little to offset the volatile economy we are currently in. Robust economic data suggested the Federal Reserve was not done in its battle to cool the US economy and would likely continue hiking its benchmark lending rate. The rate was raised by the Feds at the end of March by a quarter point but the Fed also said that the aggressive rate hikes will more than likely stop.

“Depending on the extent of the impact of a tighter banking sector, Powell expressed a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to further contractionary policy. However, the federal funds rate is expected to remain elevated through the end of the year, meaning that a higher interest rate environment is here to stay for the time being, including for home loans,” says Hannah Jones with Realtor.com.

The rate is based on the yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds which will move according to the Fed’s action. Basically, when the Treasury goes up, mortgage rates will also go up and when the Treasury goes down, so do mortgage rates.

“At the current price and mortgage rate level, the typical housing payment on a median-priced home is 43% higher than one year ago,”said Jones.

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Where To Go in Covington To Get Israeli and Lebanese Dishes

 Tavi, located at 330 N Hampshire Street in Covington is a Northshore cousin to Shaya. Chef Fariz Choumali, the executive chef at Tavi, has worked for BRG Hospitality as an executive chef. He and his wife moved to New Orleans after visiting the city and felt like it was home.

“Beirut, where I’m from, shares a French culture and vibrancy with New Orleans. The first time I went to the French Quarter, with its architecture, music and culture, I felt at home. People come from all over the world to eat food here. I knew this city was for me,” explains Choumali.

Tavi opened its doors in January in Covington and shares many dishes with Shaya but he has also added some Lebanese street dishes. “Here we have so many regulars. People were waiting for this food. Covington doesn’t have a place like New Orleans, so our opening was a big deal to the community,” he says.

Tavi is located in a former barber shop that has been converted into the 85-seat restaurant. There is tons of natural lighting along with a 10-seat bar and a wood-fire oven. Tavi is named after one of the partner’s grandsons and is the Hebrew word for good.

Patrons will enjoy foods like buttermilk-soaking fried chicken spiced with turmeric and coriander, hummus, house-pickled vegetables and wild mushrooms with sage brown butter in za’atar-spiced hazelnuts. The Lebanese dishes include arayes, a grilled pita sandwich stuffed with ground kafta or seasoned lamb. Confit chicken is another dish that is cooked in duck fat and served with basmati rice.

The 10-seat bar offers some unique cocktails for patrons. The Road to Kfar is made of sumac-infused tequila, pom liqueur, lime juice and hibiscus syrup. Wines are also served that are Californian, Lebanese, French and Israeli along with beer from Greece and Lebanon.

“I still call my mom with questions about recipes. She can cook everything,” says Choumali.

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