HOUSINGNEWS REPORT
LEAD ARTICLE
Private Lending Goes Public
BY PETER MILLER, STAFF WRITER
For many people the investment real estate market is off-limits. They can’t buy and they can’t invest because they lack access to traditional lenders, the banks with big vaults and lots of ATMs. The Urban Institute estimates that some 5.2 million potential borrowers have been unable to qualify for residential mortgage financing in recent years because of overly strict qualifying standards. For investors, especially flippers, the situation is
worse simply because they represent more lender risk.
Association of Realtors, existing-home prices were up 5.9 percent from a year earlier, “the 72nd straight month of year-over-year gains.” For most property owners the numbers have been pretty good but for a few the returns are spectacular: home flippers had an average 49.8 percent return on investment (ROI) in 2017 according to ATTOM Data Solutions.
This is a problem because for many Americans the most direct route to personal wealth has been real estate. Residential equity reached $14.4 trillion in the fourth quarter according to the Federal Reserve, a record. Freddie Mac reports that since 2009 home prices are up 37 percent nationwide. In February, said the National
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APRIL 2018 | ATTOM DATA SOLUTIONS
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