Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Local CBS interview this week

The latest from the local CBS affiliate (CBS4):


Snip: 

“We know that vacancy in single family rentals is very, very low, two percent or so. Vacancy in apartments is about 4.3 percent. Those are very low levels,” said McMaken.
That is one factor putting pressure on housing demand. Another is cost.
“Colorado is consistently in the top three of the places college grads say they want to move. People are moving here. They’re staying here. Because where else are they going to go?” said McMaken.


Monday, December 10, 2012

Fox31 Clip: Multifamily Construction

From last weekend:


DENVER — This year in Denver, more than three thousand building permits have been issued to developers putting up apartment buildings, which in turn means there are thousands of construction jobs which need to be filled by skilled workers.
“Construction jobs didn’t bounce back after the initial drop off following the financial crisis, we had just seen a long steady decline that happened from 2007 really until very recently when we started to see construction jobs tick back up,” said state housing expert, Ryan McMaken. “But if job growth were really good, we’d probably be seeing far more demand that we’re seeing now.”


Friday, November 30, 2012

Latest Scholarly Publication

I'm a contributor to the upcoming Encyclopedia of Modern Political Thought, coming soon from SAGE Publications.

I'll be providing the entry on Conservatism.

At $350.00 per multi-volume set, you'll be needing a copy for your night stand.


Friday, November 9, 2012

More clippings from today and yesterday

Boulder County, state foreclosure filings on pace for lowest year since 2006(Daily Camera)
"Completed foreclosures continue to head down at a steady pace," said Ryan McMaken, economist for the Colorado Division of Housing. "As home sales and home prices, rise, it's getting a little easier to avoid that final foreclosure sale through a short sale or even a conventional sale." Weissmann noted that Boulder County saw just six such sales last week while many other Colorado counties are recording double digit auction sales each week.
County foreclosure sales see big drop(Ft. Collins Coloradoan)

“Larimer County continues to see improvement in employment, foreclosures, home sales, vacancies and rents (from an owners’ perspective),” said Ryan McMaken, economist for the Colorado Division of Housing. “Looking at all of that and the fact that Fort Collins/Loveland has low unemployment, it’s not terribly surprising that the foreclosure situation continues to improve.”
Fewer homes auctioned off(Pueblo Chieftain)
Ryan McMaken says foreclosure sales fell nearly 24 percent in the first three quarters of 2012, compared with the same period last year. There were about 12,000 foreclosure auction sales through September, down from 15,000 in the first nine months of 2011, the agency said. 

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Latest foreclosure data release, Nov. 8

I released the state's foreclosure data today.

9News picked it up:


Also, The Den Post:
Foreclosure sales in Colorado down 23.6 percent so far this year  
Foreclosure auction sales through September were 11,898 compared to 15,565 in the first nine months of 2011."Completed foreclosures continue to head down at a steady pace," said Ryan McMaken, economist for the Colorado Division of Housing. "As home sales and home prices, rise, it's getting a little easier to avoid that final foreclosure sale through a short sale or even a conventional sale."

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

October 30, 2012 clippings

Denver Post: Denver metro apartment vacancies fall; rents rise

Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing, said that a big factor for the low vacancy rate is that apartment construction hasn't kept up with demand. Earlier in the decade people were leaving apartments because they thought they could afford a home. As a result, demand for apartments decreased and little apartment construction happened.
Now, said McMaken, apartments are being built, but still not nearly enough to keep up with household formations among young people along with migration into the city.
Through Sept. 10 of this year, 1,644 apartment units have been added to the market. That compares to 1,146 in all of 2011 and just 498 in 2010.
...
McMaken said that the lowest vacancy rates recorded in the past 30 years were 3.6 percent in both the third quarter of 1982 and the third quarter of 1994 .
 Boulder County Business Report: Apartment vacancy rate low, rents high
"The average rent has grown year over year in every quarter for the past two and a half years, and it has recently begun to accelerate." Colorado Division of Housing spokesman Ryan McMaken said in the release. "The rent growth we're now seeing is starting to look like what we experienced in the days of the dot-com boom."

Denver Business Journal: Denver apartment vacancy rate hits 12-year low
“The average rent has grown year over year in every quarter for the past two and a half years, and it has recently begun to accelerate,” Ryan McMaken, Division of Housing spokesman, said in a statement. “The rent growth we’re now seeing is starting to look like what we experienced in the days of the dot-com boom.”

Friday, October 19, 2012

Fort Collins-Loveland metro area has highest apartment rents in state

Fort Collins-Loveland metro area has highest apartment rents in state (Denver Post, 10/19/2012)


...
Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing, said that apartment rents in the Fort Collins-Loveland area rose to an average of $996 in the second quarter of this year, the most recent period for which data is available.
That's higher than the $979 for the Denver metro area, which traditionally has the state's highest rents.
McMaken noted that the figures are for metro areas only. "Fort Collins-Loveland is probably not higher than Aspen," he said.
...
"It looks like the two are converging again, so they could reverse themselves," McMaken said. "They have similar rents now because they're the two markets with the most growth and the lowest vacancies."
McMaken said the vacancy rate in Fort Collins-Loveland was 3.5 percent in the second quarter, close to the 3 percent figure that is considered "very low." Denver's vacancy rate in the second quarter was 4.8 percent.
"There's been a ton of new construction in Loveland, and that area has a lower unemployment rate than Denver — substantially lower, in fact," McMaken said.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Coloradoan article on homeownership

Home ownership: An American dream in decline (9/1/12)
While home ownership rates have fluctuated, they are retreating to more reasonable levels before a spike in the early 2000s — levels Weiler called “an aberration.” Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Division of Housing in the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, agreed home ownership is not going away, just stabilizing. Rates “were at unsustainable numbers for awhile,” he said. Back in the ’60s when the country experienced real wealth growth, home ownership topped out at 65 percent, he said.
In the ’90s, numbers jumped again when “more people were able to get into more homes by adopting more debt,” he said. “It wasn’t part of a larger issue where income was growing so everyone was running around buying houses.” And it’s likely the rate will go up again as rental units shrink and rents rise, McMaken said. “Eventually rents will get so high due to low vacancies people will become very interested in buying,” he said. “That will drive up sales prices then we will see owners of single-family rentals begin to sell them rather than rent them out.”

Denver Post, September 2012

Foreclosures up 4 percent in Colorado metro counties (9/21/12)

"With all of the slowdowns and administrative delays that pushed foreclosure filings down so far last year, I expected a larger increase in filings this year," said Ryan McMaken, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing. "Instead, new foreclosures are only up slightly this year, while completed foreclosures really dropped off, reflecting last year's big drop in new filings."

Thursday, August 30, 2012

The DBJ on rents, August 2012

The DBJ on rents:

Meanwhile, vacancy rates statewide fell to an average of 4.9 percent in the six metro areas tracked by the report. That rate is the lowest statewide average since 2001, when a 4.3 percent rate was logged in the first quarter. Vacancy rates below 5 percent are considered a tight market.
“We’re now seeing signs of the kind of general rent growth across all metros that we haven’t seen since 2008,” Ryan McMaken, spokesman with the Colorado Division of Housing, said in a statement. “Limited supply is an issue. New units are on the way, but there’s a lag on that, and some metros aren’t seeing much new construction at all.”

DP reports on the market effects of fires

The DP reports on the market effects of fires:


According to Ryan McMaken, Community relations director for the Colorado Division of Housing, many people displaced by the High Park and Waldo Canyon fires might soon be looking to snap up single-family rentals.

Although that expected surge probably won't affect the official vacancy rates for next quarter — the survey's sample size is so large, and single-family homes aren't taken into account when calculating rental-vacancy rates — McMaken said rental prices in areas close to where the homes burned will probably be driven up.

"I would assume, since most of them are losing their homes in a certain area, they're going to want to be near that in the process of rebuilding," McMaken said. "However, they might have a hard time locating a specific kind of property they need. If they have animals, that means there can be a small amount of properties in demand for the next year or 18 months.
"It's going to have an effect, but it's going to be limited and show up in a limited way in our larger metrowide numbers," McMaken added.

Colorado Daily, August 7

The Colorado Daily did a nice piece on rental in Boulder recently:

Ryan McMaken, of the Colorado Division of Housing, said a survey taken on June 10 revealed a zero vacancy rate for properties in Boulder's campus area -- including rentals between Pearl Street and Baseline running north and south; and Pleasant View Road and Fourth Street going east and west.

"It's pretty rare to see something this low," McMaken said, noting that  Boulder has not had a vacancy rate of zero since at least 1994. 


My 4:40 AM interview with 9News

I did an interview around 5:30 this year with 9News, but this one was the earliest yet: 4:40 AM. When it's that early, they let you do it by phone.


Fortunately, they re-use the footage later because, well, who is up watching the news at this hour?

Thursday, August 2, 2012

9News interview on foreclosures: August 2, 2012

Today's 9News interview. Gregg Moss was very kind to have me on again this morning.



http://www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1767637374001

AP picks up my foreclosure story today

Some great coverage today of my foreclosure report:

Boulder County has low foreclosure rate

Boulder County Business Report - ‎2 hours ago‎
DENVER - Boulder County had the lowest home foreclosure rate of any metro county in Colorado in the first quarter of 2012, according to a report released Thursday from the Colorado Division of Housing. Boulder County reported a foreclosure rate of one ...

Q2 foreclosure auction sales drop from one year ago

Bizjournals.com - ‎3 hours ago‎
Foreclosure auction sales in Colorado in the second quarter hit their lowest level since 2007, with 3784 completed auctions, down from 5333 in the second quarter last year, according to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing.

Colorado Foreclosure Auction Sales Down

CBS Local - ‎4 hours ago‎
According to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second quarter hit the lowest level reported since the division began compiling foreclosure data in 2007. There were nearly 3800 foreclosure auction sales, ...

Colorado Foreclosure Auction Sales Down

KKTV 11 News - ‎4 hours ago‎
DENVER (AP) -- New foreclosure auction sales were down 26 percent in Colorado during the first half of 2012 compared to the first half of 2011. According to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second ...

Foreclosure-auction sales down 26 percent in Colorado

9NEWS.com - ‎4 hours ago‎
DENVER - The Colorado Division of Housing says auction sales during the second quarter hit the lowest level reported since the Division began compiling foreclosure data five years ago. There were 3784 foreclosure auction sales, or completed foreclosures, ...

Foreclosure auction sales down 26 percent in CO

9NEWS.com - ‎4 hours ago‎
DENVER - The Colorado Division of Housing says auction sales during the second quarter hit the lowest level reported since the Division began compiling foreclosure data five years ago. There were 3784 foreclosure auction sales, or completed foreclosures, ...

Colorado foreclosure auction sales down

KKCO-TV - ‎4 hours ago‎
According to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second quarter hit the lowest level reported since the division began compiling foreclosure data in 2007. There were nearly 3800 foreclosure auction sales, ...

Colorado foreclosure auction sales down

CBS News - ‎5 hours ago‎
According to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second quarter hit the lowest level reported since the division began compiling foreclosure data in 2007. There were nearly 3800 foreclosure auction sales, ...

Colorado foreclosure auction sales down

MSN Money - ‎5 hours ago‎
According to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second quarter hit the lowest level reported since the division began compiling foreclosure data in 2007. There were nearly 3800 foreclosure auction sales, ...

Colorado Foreclosure Auction Sales Down

KMGH Denver - ‎5 hours ago‎
According to a report released by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second quarter hit the lowest level reported since the division began compiling foreclosure data in 2007. There were nearly 3800 foreclosure auction sales, ...

Colorado foreclosure auction sales down

Ventura County Star - ‎6 hours ago‎
According to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second quarter hit the lowest level reported since the division began compiling foreclosure data in 2007. There were nearly 3800 foreclosure auction sales, ...

Colorado foreclosure auction sales down

Northern Colorado 5 - ‎6 hours ago‎
According to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second quarter hit the lowest level reported since the division began compiling foreclosure data in 2007. There were nearly 3800 foreclosure auction sales, ...

Colorado foreclosure auction sales down

KGWN - ‎6 hours ago‎
According to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second quarter hit the lowest level reported since the division began compiling foreclosure data in 2007. There were nearly 3800 foreclosure auction sales, ...

Colorado foreclosure auction sales drop during second quarter

The Republic - ‎6 hours ago‎
DENVER — New foreclosure auction sales were down 26 percent in Colorado during the first half of 2012 compared to the first half of 2011. According to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second quarter ...

Foreclosure auction sales down in Colorado

Denver Post - ‎6 hours ago‎
New foreclosure auction sales were down 26 percent in Colorado during the first half of 2012 compared to the first half of 2011. According to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing, auction sales during the second quarter of 2012 hit ...

Foreclosure sales fall sharply in area, state

Colorado Springs Gazette - ‎7 hours ago‎
The number of troubled properties in the Pikes Peak region that were auctioned off after falling into foreclosure dropped sharply in the first half of this year, which follows a statewide trend, according to a Colorado Division of Housing report released Thursday.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Clippings, June 2012

Denver Post, June 15: "

"Colorado's completed foreclosures hit five-year low in May" 
 "Foreclosure auction sales have now been down 19 of the last 20 months, comparing year over year, and for now, we can say fewer people have been losing their homes to foreclosure this year when compared to other years since 2007," said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Division of Housing.
"On the other hand, filings continue to rise, and since some of those filings will turn into re-possessed homes in the future, we can see that foreclosures haven't gone away yet."

Denver Business Journal, June 15: "

"Colorado urban foreclosure sales down, but filings up, in May"
“Foreclosure auction sales have now been down 19 of the last 20 months, comparing year over year, and for now, we can say that fewer people have been losing their homes to foreclosure this year when compared to other years since 2007,” Ryan McMaken, spokesman with the Colorado Division of Housing, said in a news release. “On the other hand, filings continue to rise, and since some of those filings will turn into repossessed homes in the future, we can see that foreclosures haven’t gone away yet.”

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Clippings, April-May 2012


Denver Post, May 24: 
Vacancies in Denver-area rental houses at historic lows
Vacancies in for-rent condos, single-family homes and other small properties across metro Denver rose slightly during the first quarter although the market remained tight with a vacancy rate of 1.6 percent.
"The vacancies we do see are due to little more than turnover, so this tells us that most of the metro area rental homes are filling up, and are doing so rather quickly," said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing.

Denver Post, April 27:
Colorado foreclosure auction sales down 25% in first quarter
"Foreclosure activity continues to trend down in Colorado, even when compared to early 2011 which itself saw a big drop from the 2010 totals," said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing.

"Toward the end of 2011, we saw employment and home prices stabilize while home buying appeared to increase, so these foreclosure numbers likely reflect those factors," said McMaken.

Denver Business Journal, April 26:
Sharp drop in Colorado foreclosures in Q1
“Foreclosure activity continues to trend downward in Colorado, even when compared to early 2011, which itself saw a big drop from 2010 totals,” Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing, said in the report. “Toward the end of 2011, we saw employment and home prices stabilize, while home buying appeared to increase, so these foreclosure numbers likely reflect those factors.”

Denver Business Journal, May 10:
Home/condo vacancy rate is at 1.6 percent
 “With a vacancy rate below 2 percent, you’re essentially dealing with 100 percent occupancy,” Ryan McMaken, division spokesman, said in a news release. “The vacancies we do see are due to little more than turnover, so this tells us that in most of the metro area, rental homes are filling up and are doing so rather quickly.”

Colorado Springs Gazette, April 26:
Foreclosure activity slows in Pikes Peak region during 1st quarter
“Several mountain counties are still dealing with growth in foreclosure activity, and may not have peaked yet,” Housing Division spokesman Ryan McMaken said in a statement accompanying the report. “The Front Range, however, which drives the overall statewide totals, looks like it peaked back in 2010.”

Denver Post, April 23:
 "Rental housing in general since 2009 has become more scarce for many households as vacancies fall and rents rise," said Ryan McMaken, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing. "But when one is at the lowest income levels, the impact of the growing demand for rentals can be especially severe as once-affordable units are priced out of range." 

Denver Business Journal, April 23:
  "Rental housing in general since 2009 has become more scarce for many households as vacancies fall and rents rise," Division of Housing spokesman Ryan McMaken said. "But when one is at the lowest income levels, the impact of growing demand for rentals can be especially severe as once-affordable units are priced out of range." 

Boulder County business Report, April 23:  
Those figures typically indicate low-income renters are being hit hard by a lack of inventory and are forced to pay a disproportionately high percentage of their income in rent, and that likely is true in Boulder County, McMaken said. But the local numbers could be influenced by other factors. Some renters could be willing to pay a premium to live in Boulder, he said. "For those people who choose to do whatever it takes to live in Boulder, they're going to pay a lot," McMaken said. 

 Denver Post, April 19:
"Release totals are up quite a bit since the middle of 2011, and this is not surprising since mortgage rates have continued to drop in recent months and home-purchase activity has begun to pick up," said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the state Division of Housing. "Numbers are still down significantly from where they were 10 years ago, but the first quarter seems to be one of the most active quarters for home loan transactions since 2008."  

Ft. Collins Coloradoan, March 16:
Larimer County experiences surprising spike in foreclosure activity
"For the most part, over the last 18 months, Larimer County has seen larger decreases in activity than other parts of the the state," said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing, which released its February foreclosure filings .. 

KUNC, March 14:
 “This doesn’t mean the larger overall trend is stopping,” says Ryan McMaken, an economist with the state Division of Housing. “And that larger overall trend is down from the highs of 2009 and 2010. That looks like that’s going to continue, but it looks like we might be facing several months – maybe 6 to 9 months – of short-term increase in foreclosures as the lenders deal with inventory that’s been building up over the last 18 months or so.” 

Pueblo Chieftain, March 1:
"Filings were up a bit in February . . . and this may reflect a renewed effort by lenders to process foreclosures," housing division spokesman Ryan McMaken said. 

Denver Business Journal, March 15:
  “The vacancy rate went up slightly year-over-year. That doesn’t mean much, though, because when you’re looking at vacancy rates below 3 percent, the bottom line is that the market is tight,” McMaken said in a statement. “For many people, it’s not easy to buy a house right now, so they’re renting.”

Denver Post, March 15:
Vacancies scarce in rental houses in metro area, rents rise
Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the the Division of Housing, said that although the vacancy rate went up slightly year-over-year, "that doesn't mean much because when you're looking at vacancy rates below three percent, the bottom line is that the market is tight. "For many people, it's not easy to buy a house right now, so they're renting," he said.

Denver Business Journal, March 14:
Foreclosure sales at 5-year low in Colorado urban counties 
  “Foreclosure auction sales have now been down 13 of the last 14 months, comparing year over year, and this continues a trend of diminished foreclosure filings that we’ve been seeing since the fall of 2010,” Ryan McMaken, a spokesman with the Colorado Division of Housing, said in a press release.

“On the other hand, filings were up a bit in February compared to last year, and this may reflect a renewed effort by lenders to process foreclosures in the wake of the recent legal settlement with the states and the feds,” he said. Fort Collinsn Coloradoan, February 24: Fort Collins/Loveland vacancy rates down; rents up The Coloradoan Few cities were prepared for the shift because they were so focused on single-family home construction, McMaken said. But's that no longer the case.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

9News on single-family rents

9News was nice enough to let me call in for a 5:10 am interview on single-family rent levels.




KUSA - Our recovering Colorado economy means it's very much a landlord's market on the rental front. That's what a new report from the Colorado Division of Housing is showing.
We spoke with Ryan McMaken of the Colorado Division of Housing. He said vacancies in for-rent condos, single-family homes, and other small properties across metro Denver rose slightly during the first quarter although the market remained very tight with a rate of 1.6 percent.

Interview with Colorado Public Radio

Rents are at historic highs in parts of the Front Range, and it’s prompting renters to look at buying. The problem is, there aren’t a lot of affordable homes on the market these days. Ryan McMaken, an economist for the Colorado Division of Housing, speaks with Ryan Warner.

Listen here.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

On Foxnews today

Foxnews is running a story on rent increases today in which I was featured in my capacity as an economist.

Featured Videos Shattered Dreams: Rising rents May 16, 2012
 Increasing costs cause disturbing trend

Also: Featured Videos Rising Rents a Growing Problem May 16, 2012 - 1:46
Many moving in with family or friends




Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Summer 2012 Class at CU-Denver

The class web site for my summer class, which I'll be teaching at CU-Denver, is now up.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Recent Clippings, April 1, 2012

Denver Post, March 27, 2012

"Jefferson Park apartment project in Denver's Highland to include 332 units, retail space"

While there are a number of apartment projects under construction in the nearby Highland neighborhood, nothing suggests that the area is in danger of being overbuilt, said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing.

The downtown vacancy rate is 4.4 percent and the vacancy rate for northwest Denver is 5.5 percent.

"I don't see anything in our data that would raise any red flags for this project," McMaken said.

The rental rates also are consistent with those throughout the metro area. Of the 108,000 apartments included in the survey, only 3 percent lease for $1,500 or more, McMaken said.

"It gets higher the closer you get to downtown," he said.

Recent clippings: Christian Science Monitor

My latest at the Christian Science Monitor:

"The Pentagon is a gas guzzler"

The Pentagon spent $17.3 billion on oil in 2011, a 26 percent increase from 2010. This despite the Pentagon's public efforts to "go green."

By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / March 12, 2012

"Half of Americans don't pay income tax. So what."

The increase in reliance on government assistance is the problem, not a lack of people who pay income tax.

By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / February 25, 2012

"Why we're paying more for corn"

Thanks to government subsidies supporting a specific type of corn farm, land value is increasing, and prices are going up. The same is true of other federally supported crops.

By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / February 24, 2012

Monday, March 19, 2012

Clippings: 9News on home purchases



Housing prices flat in Colorado and the West

By the way, I look absolutely horrible in that screenshot. So, as Exhibit B, I have included a charming picture of me and my saintly mother, which also shows what a magnificently devoted son I am:

Monday, March 5, 2012

March 1: Fox31 story on apartment rents

Fox31 covered apartment rents last week. The story is here.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Clippings, February 15-20, 2012

KUNC: Feb 16, 2012
Ryan McMaken, an economist with the state Division of Housing, says while that’s a good sign, it’s not clear yet how the recent multi-state, multi-billion dollar foreclosure settlement will impact that trend.

“I’m now hearing that a lot of these servicers had been holding back a little bit in terms of foreclosure processing as they waited for the outcome of the Attorney General’s agreement, the settlement that came down last week. And so now some people are expecting those numbers to come up a little bit.”

Denver Business Journal, February 16, 2012
“Foreclosure filings during January fell to levels well below any other January since 2008, and this continues a trend of diminished foreclosure filings activity that we’ve been seeing since the fall of 2010,” Ryan McMaken, a spokesman with the Colorado Division of Housing, said in a press release. “In year-over-year comparisons, foreclosure filings have now fallen for 14 months in a row, which suggests a well-established trend at this point.”

Sacramento Bee, February 16, 2012 (Associated Press)
Housing division spokesman Ryan McMaken says there have been some indications that lenders have been delaying foreclosure proceedings until after the deal was finalized.

Denver Post, February 16, 2012
January 2012's filings total was the lowest January total reported in five years, according to Ryan McMaken, a spokesman with the Colorado Division of Housing.

"Foreclosure filings during January fell to levels well below any other January since 2008, and this continues a trend of diminished foreclosure filings activity that we've been seeing since the fall of 2010," said McMaken.

Two commentary articles of mine were picked up by the Christian Science Monitor:

Hillary Clinton's new job: At the world bank?
Christian Science Monitor
By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / February 20, 2012 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a news conference at the State Department in ...

Spanish real estate bust leads to ghost towns
Christian Science Monitor
By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / February 17, 2012 A lone joggers runs past apartment blocks in Sesena in the Toledo Provence near Madrid, Spain.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Clippings, February 1-3, 2012

Denver Post, Feb 3:
New data released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Housing showed a vacancy rate of 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. That was down from 5.5 percent in the same period of 2010. The last time the fourth-quarter vacancy rate was lower than 2011's was in 2000, when it hit 4.7 percent.

Division of Housing spokesman Ryan McMaken said that the fourth quarter normally is a "high vacancy quarter."

"Usually if anybody moves out, no one moves in," McMaken said

"The overall median rent in the Denver area has now increased year over year for eight quarters in a row, and the median rent has increased by almost $60 over that time," McMaken said. "The rent growth we're now seeing is more robust than what we saw during the last expansion between 2002 and 2008."

Denver Business Journal, Feb3

The Q4 rate -- the lowest for the quarter since 2000 -- was up from the third quarter’s 4.9 percent vacancy percentage, but vacancy rates tend to rise in the fourth quarter from earlier in the year, said Ryan McMaken, division spokesman and economist.

Boulder County Business Report, Feb 3
"The overall median rent in the Denver area has now increased year over year for eight quarters in a row, and the median rent has increased by almost 60 dollars over that time," Colorado Division of Housing spokesman Ryan McMaken said in a news release. "The rent growth we're now seeing is more robust than what we saw during the last expansion between 2002 and 2008."

Colorado Springs Gazette, Feb 2
For the first seven months of 2011, the reduction in filings was largely because of lenders who slowed their processing of notices in response to criticism they received the previous year for allegedly reckless handling of foreclosure paperwork, said Ryan McMaken, a Housing Division spokesman.

However, the final five months of the year saw a stabilizing of home sale prices and other slight improvements in the housing market, which contributed to the overall reduction in foreclosure activity, he said.

In 2012, McMaken expects another reduction in foreclosure filings statewide, although not as dramatic as last year’s.

Lenders who delayed some of their foreclosure filings last year might turn around and ramp up their activity this year, McMaken said.Yet, “there’s enough slowly returning strength” in the housing market so that overall filings in 2012 should continue to decline, he said.

Loveland Reporter-Herald, Feb 2
Ryan McMaken, a spokesman for the state Housing Division, said the slowdown can't be attributed completely to improvements in the real estate market. "Many lenders slowed down the processing of foreclosures during the first half of 2011 to deal with legal issues," McMaken said in a press release.

He added, "Nevertheless, we do know that mortgage delinquencies are down and that home prices are stabilizing, so that also helped to push down foreclosure totals."

Denver Business Journal, Feb 2
“Foreclosures really slowed down during 2011, but not all of that was due to improvements in the real estate markets. Many lenders slowed down the processing of foreclosures during the first half of 2011 to deal with legal issues,” Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Division of Housing, said in the new report.

“Nevertheless, we do know that mortgage delinquencies are down and that home prices are stabilizing, so that also helped to push down foreclosure totals,” McMaken added.

Denver Post, Feb 2
"Foreclosures really slowed down during 2011, but not all of that was due to improvements in the real estate markets," said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing. "Many lenders slowed down the processing of foreclosures during the first half of 2011 to deal with legal issues.

"Nevertheless, we do know that mortgage delinquencies are down and the home prices are stabilizing, so that also helped to push down foreclosure totals," said McMaken.

...

Although foreclosure filings have fallen for the past two years, foreclosure activity remains at unusually high levels, said McMaken.

"Foreclosure sales at auction have basically been flat for the past five years and totals are still twice what we'd consider to be normal," said McMaken. "We expect more progress to be made in 2012, although the task of dealing with the existing inventory of properties in foreclosure is likely to extend beyond this year."

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Clipping: January 31, 2012

From the Denver Post:

Ryan McMaken, economist and spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing, said the Alliance approach to today's rent vs. buy mentality makes sense.

Some high-end renters prefer the added amenities — swimming pool, clubhouse, security and well-equipped gym — that come with the monthly rental price. Others don't know whether a job transfer will take them out of the market. "They don't want to get too attached to a property," McMaken said.

And then there's the whole issue of the flat housing market and the potential of not being able to get the money out of a house that the buyer puts into it.

"If you bought a house in '08, it's going to be several more years till you get back your money as far as equity goes," McMaken said.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Clippings: January 25, 2012

In The Denver Post
Mortgage loan payoffs hit 10-year low
January 25, 2012
"Real estate activity perked up a bit during the fourth quarter, which would reflect some very recent growth in employment and some mild increases in home prices." said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing. "But overall, the fourth quarter's activity wasn't enough to keep 2011 from being another flat year."


The Colorado Springs Gazette
January 25, 2012
Mortgage loan payoffs fall in Springs area
But if there’s a sign of good news, it’s that mortgage payoffs in El Paso County totaled 8,023 in the fourth quarter of 2011 — an increase over each of the first three quarters of last year and a possible indication that housing activity is picking up, said Housing Division spokesman Ryan McMaken. The other 20 counties in the report also saw increases in the fourth quarter when compared with the third quarter.

“After two years of declines in mortgage rates without any big increases in activity, the fact that we did start to see some activity in the fourth quarter is a hopeful sign,” McMaken said.

Still, he cautioned, it will take several quarters to know if a trend is under way. The fourth-quarter numbers might suggest that more people have been able to afford a down payment or have accumulated enough equity in their homes that they can refinance, McMaken said.

“It’s just been very difficult for people to either purchase, to sell or to refinance, and that has just basically really pushed down the amount of release activity,” he said. “So if it’s pushing back up, it just might suggest that those trends are reversing themselves a little bit.”

Colorado Springs Business Journal
January 25, 2012
Statewide mortgage payoffs lowest since 2000
“The surprise really is that in spite of three years of declining interest rates, there hasn’t been activity,” McMaken said.

He said one explanation could be that most of the people who are eligible and qualified for refinancing probably did it in 2009 when rates first dropped. Of course, many people would not be qualified for refinancing today because real estate values have declined and they don’t have enough equity in their homes to get loans on the amount they owe.

There is also little activity in home sales as buyers aren’t motivated.

“It’s not like 2005 when everyone ran saying ‘if we don’t buy now, we’re going to be priced out because real estate always goes up,’” McMaken said. “We all thought that way.”

Now the reverse is true, and buyers aren’t rushing to get into the market.

The mountain communities are exceptions to the low deed release rates reported in the rest of the state, McMaken said. Those areas are still suffering, but there is more activity there than there is along the Front Range and in counties where home prices are the lowest like Weld and Pueblo counties.

Friday, January 13, 2012

My latest in the CSM

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Serious debt problems will continue, experts say

Over the past 10 to 15 years, total debt outstanding in the US has grown as a much faster pace than population, and little has been done to deal with the debt in spite of widespread unemployment, flat personal income, and declining collateral values.

By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / January 13, 2012

Read the full article.