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 nar.realtor. 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.