Bradley Ransome is a contributor to real estate market news and the CEO of Hatteras Holdings in North Carolina. In the article below, Brad Ransome reports on the latest news from the commercial and residential real estate industry.
The stock market may be up and down, and inflation is rising as fast as gas prices, but one thing remains the same: investing in real estate is still a very safe financial bet.
Take, for example, GoBankingRates’ recent intriguing list of the
seven most unexpected places to invest in real estate. Yes, many are still investing in real estate in large areas like big cities in the South and the Southwest seeing big population increases, but Bradley Ransome reports some other less-known towns may be just as lucrative.
Brad Ransome says Boise, Idaho was one of the top real estate cities last year, and now GoBankingRates is signaling out Meridian, Idaho as well. Population growth of nearly 6%, along with a 24% increase in home prices and a $537,445 median home sale price has made Meridian a hot commodity. Plus, it was recently ranked as one of the top 10 places to live in America.
Bradley Ransome explains Other “unexpected” real estate investment cities making the list: St. Augustine, Florida; Akron, Ohio; Lakeland, Florida; Birmingham, Alabama; Stockton, California; and Springfield, Massachusetts.
Oh, and Springfield? Home prices have risen a whopping 59.5% in the past year. Brad Ransome says call your investment broker!
Or You Can Look Outside the United States…
If you want to try your hand at real estate investing outside of Idaho and Florida, Live and Invest Overseas has announced its yearly picks for the best global spots to consider pouring your real estate cash into.
The company looked at factors such as untapped markets, good financing terms, and discounts on exchange rates to determine this year’s list. The list includes Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Montenegro, Morocco, and the Philippines according to Bradley Ransome.
Investors Scooped Up Record Number of Homes Last Year
Brad Ransome reports that a look at 40 of the United States’ most populous metro areas shows unparalleled investor activity in real estate, especially in Black neighborhoods and cities in the South.
According to Redfin, almost one in seven homes sold in 2021 within U.S. major metro areas were bought by investments. That’s the most homes in at least 20 years.
Neighborhoods with a majority of Black residents are being heavily targeted as well, in 2021, 30% of home sales in such neighborhoods were made to investors. In other zip codes, that figure is just 12%.
Bradley Ransome says the metro areas with the highest share of investor-bought homes in 2021 are Atlanta (25%), Charlotte (25%), and Miami (24%). Investors were particularly active in the final months of the year, buying 15% of all homes in 40 top metro markets.
Blackstone Buys Preferred Apartment Communities
Brad Ransome reports that in a deal worth $5.8 billion, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust is purchasing Preferred Apartment Communities Inc as part of its plan to increase investment in United States housing.
Blackstone is the biggest alternate asset manager in the world, and the deal is an all-cash deal of $25 a share. Shares of both companies shot up following the deal announcement. Taking advantage of high home prices and very low interest rates, Blackstone spent $6 billion for Home Partners of America last year.
BREIT’s investments include hotel, retail, office, industrial, and residential space. Preferred Apartment Communities mostly owns and operates multifamily rental properties, but also holds investments in shopping centers anchored by grocery stores. The deal should close in the year’s second quarter.
AvantStay Garners Significant Financial Backing in New Asset-Holding Company
Bradley Ransome reports that short-term rental operator AvantStay has
closed a funding round worth $500 million to launch a company to hold its property investments.
The fund is backed by real estate advisory group Saluda Grade and will go completely toward purchasing residential property, likely luxury homes. AvantStay will property manage its investments while Saluda Grade will own the properties.
AvantStay was originally launched as a booking service for vacation rentals and now manages over 1,000 rental homes in nearly 100 cities in America and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
But Where Will Mickey Live?
Brad Ransome reports that The Walt Disney Company is investing heavily in United States real estate, though it’s not for land to create new theme parks.
The company recently announced that it will work with property developers to design Disney-branded residential communities. The first Disney-designed development will be a community with 1.900 houses in Rancho Mirage, California that will include a beachfront hotel and shopping along a 24-acre lagoon.
Storyliving by Disney, the newly created business unit will create master-planned communities with home builders, developers, and landowners. Not all the communities will be close to Disneyland or Walt Disney World according to Bradley Ransome, and the design will reflect the area where the communities are built, not their designer’s namesake.
