It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. I walked the skyways to get home from a recent trip to the Union Depot. It was cold that day but mostly I chose the skyway as a way to avoid traffic from an event at the Xcel Center.
The photos are of the skyway between 4th and 5th street at Robert Street. There is often art in the skyways. I liked this but didn’t notice the eye until I got home and looked at the pictures. In fact there are two dragons. Now go find them and have a great weekend.
Skyway downtown St. PaulSkyway dragon
Next time I walk that skyway I am going to stop and talk to the dragon.
Here we go some fresh numbers for single family home sales in St. Paul during the month of March. Home sales are down due to the lack of homes for sale. Overall prices are up slightly.
Homes are selling faster when compared with February. Must be spring.
Those low mortgage rates and the recent mortgage interest rate increases have caused people with low interest rate mortgages to stay put. Who wants to trade in their 2 to 4% rate for 7% or 8%?
Higher interest rates are also making housing more expensive which is contributing to inflation which is why interest rates are being raised.
Rates are likely to go down this year. This is an educated guess but once rates are around 6% people will be more interested in moving again which will increase demand and drive up home prices.
Higher home prices will contribute to measures of inflation which will prompt the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates.
The boomer housing sell off is going to be gradual but will drop 9.2 million homes in the next 10 years . . according to Freddie Mac.
Declining boomer ownership will free up 9.2 million homes by 2035, a Freddie Mac report found.
The 32 million homes owned by boomers will drop to 23 million by 2035, when the oldest members of the group are pushing 90.
Homeownership rates “gradually starting to decline as households age beyond age 75,” the report said.
“The offloading of homes will accelerate in the 2030s as boomers reach the ages of 70 to 80, Freddie Mac said, based on an analysis using American Consumer Survey data. The 32 million homes owned by the generation as of 2022 will drop to 23 million in 2035, when the oldest boomers will be close to 90 years old.” [Business Insider]
. . . but don’t start making plans or knitting little things because this model is based upon the trends of former generations and so far the baby boom generation has been unpredictable and doesn’t always follow their elders.
When my husband and I bought our first home the cost of renting was about the same as the cost of buying. When we bought a house we go an additional bathroom and a little more space so I suppose buying a house was the more cost effective option.
Right now home prices are high and so are interest rates and at the same time rents are coming down slightly. If you like to pay interest on a mortgage and pay top dollar for a house now is the perfect time to buy. If you are looking for a more flexible affordable option renting might be the way to go.
When interest rates go down there is going to be a home buying frenzy which will drive home prices up further.
Homeownership is a wonderful thing but the timing is important too. Houses generally appreciate in value but not always and they lack liquidity.
It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. it is also good Friday which isn’t meant to be fun but it can be.
My husband and I were talking about spring break. Neither of us ever went anywhere when we were kids during spring break. When I was in college I worked at a job during the breaks. I needed the money to pay my tuition. I was privileged because I had a roof over my head rent free and generally had enough to eat. I think I was well into adulthood before I learned that spring break is a thing and even a right of passage for college students.
I never heard the term “gap year” until a few years ago. Apparently people take a year off in between high school and college and travel. I could have taken a gap year. I never thought of it, nor did I know anyone who was taking a gap year. I may not have been able to travel for a year but I probably could have traveled for a few months.
Now that I am older and wiser I am thinking about taking a gap year. Most people near my age are thinking about retiring. I think a gap year would be more fun and at this point I have earned it.
You might be privileged if you had a gap year or if you get to travel during spring break.
