MARKET TRENDS BLOG POST

Did You Know?

- 08/19/19

DID YOU KNOW? Tax-wise, the most significant benefits available to investors are the 1031 exchange and 721 exchange, both designated by the IRS that allow for a property to be sold and the funds reinvested into another similar property (or fund) while deferring the taxes owed. (FORBES)

Refinance applications were up a stunning 116% this week compared with a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Millennials were especially reactive to the rate drop. In June 2018, just 8% of millennial mortgage applications were to refinance; the rest were to buy a home. This June that jumped to 14%. (CNBC)

A recent BANKRATE survey asked 1,000 investors: “For the money, you wouldn’t need for more than 10 years, which ONE of the following do you think would be the best way to invest it—stocks, bonds, real estate, cash, gold/metals, or bitcoin/cryptocurrency?”.......and the winner—by a large margin—was real estate. In every other stock market bear market since the 1950s, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose in all but one. And in that lone bear market prior to 2007 in which the index did fall, it did so by just 0.4%. The Case-Shiller index is only 40% as volatile as the overall stock market. Perceptions to the contrary that real estate is riskier than equities derive from the leverage we typically use when purchasing real estate. Note carefully that the risk comes from the leverage, not real estate inherently. (Marketwatch)

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