Grant Trevithick Pro-Tip - Where to buy real estate

Best Places To Invest In Real Estate

Grant Trevithick Carrollton Real Estate Investor here with another pro-tip when it comes to finding a good place to buy real estate.

We will look at some of the best places to invest in real estate in 2022 in this article. Real estate remains an appealing asset class for investors because of the opportunity to earn recurrent income from rentals. If market conditions are favorable, your monthly rental income can fully offset the costs of mortgage servicing. Interest rates remain low, so debt remains affordable. Record-low mortgage rates and a scarcity of available inventory kept the US housing market strong in terms of buyer demand in the past two years. The strong housing demand is still driving prices insane despite the higher mortgage rates in 2022.

The US housing market remains a hot seller's real estate market, with annual price growth reaching record highs and inventory continuing to fall. Because it's a seller's market, expect a bidding war if you're looking for a new house in 2022. If you are an investor, you must crunch the numbers to determine the best cities to invest in real estate in 2022. During the pandemic, prospective homebuyers around the United States are paying top dollar for homes, with remote employees and their desire for more lavish homes fueling the market.

And, while home values in the United States are expected to rise by only 2.9 percent in 2022, at a notably more moderate pace, buyers will continue to face a seller's market, according to Realtor.com. For as long as there is a lack of homes for sale, the balance of would-be owners unable to find affordable entry-level housing will be predisposed to transition into single-family rentals. That means rental demand will continue to increase in 2022.

Affordability challenges will keep prices from advancing at the same pace we saw in 2021 even as ongoing supply-demand dynamics mean prices continue to grow nationwide. Zillow’s home value forecast expects annual home value growth to begin a gradual cool down late this spring. It forecasts 14.9% growth over the next 12 months.

Many regions of the country are experiencing huge booms in demand and the price of homes is rising sharply as a result — higher than the rate of inflation. That has made many homes unaffordable for their potential buyers. All these factors are influencing more and more people to choose to rent a home instead of buying one or to stay in their rental longer than they had originally hoped. This has resulted in favorable data in the single-family rental market, which is primed for investment opportunities in 2022.

According to the National Home Rental Council's market index, the single-family rental market remains robust as renters flock to the suburbs. If you can access credit, or otherwise have money to invest, consider real estate and purchase a single-family rental property. However, you must do thorough research to choose the best places to invest in real estate in 2022. All real estate is local so you much understand the local factors that can affect your investment in the future. Choosing single-family rental homes for investment is a great option. They provide an affordable and flexible option to meet the needs of families and individuals in search of quality housing.

“The single-family rental sector is having its moment,” according to Arbor's newly-released Q3 2020 Single-Family Rental Investment Trends Report. The pandemic boosted outward migration from big cities to suburbs, which further boosted the demand for single-family homes. Rent collections have remained stable, new demand has hit generational records and rents have seen upward pressure, according to the report.

That's good news for the future of single-family rental investors. Single-family rental starts totaled 40,000 units in the last 12 months. While down slightly from pre-pandemic levels, it shows the activity in the market. SFRs offer a 6% to 8% cap rate, much higher than a typical apartment investment. SFR cap rates ticked down to 6.5% in the third quarter of 2020, down 18 bps from the prior quarter. However, Arbor's report has a positive outlook on the sector for 2022.

It says that the asset class was the best positioned to grow through the pandemic. However, it also warned that landlords still have hurdles ahead in terms of rent collections and the ongoing pandemic that has hurt the economy. According to the Census Bureau, in the third quarter of 2020, single-family rentals had an average 95.3% occupancy rating, a 100 basis point increase from the first quarter of the year. This is the highest occupancy rate since 1994 for single-family rentals. The data reflects both rising user demand and landlords prioritizing tenant retention.

For comparable owner-occupied single-family housing units, occupancy rates sat at 99.1% in the third quarter — the second-highest reading on record, topped only by the immediately preceding quarter, measured at 99.2%. This demand could lead to a shortage of single-family rental homes. However, recently investors and developers have shown a renewed commitment to operating and developing these properties.

Large investors are gravitating toward it. As of now, institutional investors account for only 2 percent of the 90-million unit market, according to NHRC. This is meager as compared to the US multifamily sector, where more than 50 percent of ownership is held by institutional investors. Hence, the single-family rental market remains an emerging market for both individual and institutional investors.

How To Choose Best Places To Invest In Real Estate In The World?

You may be located anywhere in the world, but the basic principles of the real estate business remain unchanged – you want to choose those places for your investment properties where the return on investment is high. To maximize the returns from your real estate investment you want to buy property in places with the following features:

High rental occupancy: Check how much of the available housing stock in an area is vacant;

High rentals relative to your mortgage repayments: The more of your mortgage you can cover from rentals, the better; and a low tenant default rate: The last thing you want is to buy property in an area when tenants frequently miss rent payments.

Real estate investing requires in-depth research. Market timing also matters as some cities have exceptional rental income prospects, but a very tight inventory. In that scenario, it becomes very difficult to find and close a deal that fits your investment criteria. Therefore, you need to act fast and wisely.

Don't take any uninformed decision without evaluating the fundamentals of the real estate market you intend to purchase in – is it growing, stable, or declining? Are you planning for the short-term capital gains or the long-term buy and hold? To make it easy for you, we recommend contacting an investment counselor who can help you to invest in some of the best real estate markets in the United States.