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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 93 working on anywhere from two to 2,000 closings per month. COLORADO Denver Leads Nation in Price Cuts New homes are increasingly being listed with price cuts according to a recent Zil- low analysis that found price cuts for newly constructed housing was more common in the fourth quarter of 2018 than in the first one. More than a quarter of new homes had their list price cut at least once in Q 4 2018, compared with 19.2 percent in the first quarter of the year. And the trend wasn't restricted to new homes. e analysis found that 16.3 percent of all listings experienced a price cut in November 2018. e analysis put this growing trend down to slowing home value growth, rising interest rates, and increased inventory especially in major metro areas. It revealed that the nation's median home was worth almost 1.5 times (49.8 percent) more today than it was at the height of the recession—although "the growth rate of home values has slowed in recent months." Mortgage rates also rose in 2018 after spending five years at historically low levels, the analysis noted. is, along with an increase in for-sale housing supply towards the end of the year, "eventually caused housing demand to fall." "More newly built homes are seeing their list prices drop, but the size of those price cuts has been remarkably steady which suggests that the trend we are seeing is being driven more by price discovery than by desperate sell- ers," said Aaron Terrazas, Senior Economist at Zillow. Regionally, the analysis found that buyers were more likely to find a price reduction in Denver where 40.3 percent of new homes saw a cut on their listing price in Q 4 2018. On the other hand, cities like Austin saw fewer price cuts towards the end of 2018 than at the begin- ning of the year. However, some of the hottest housing markets in the country saw the biggest price cuts on new homes, the analysis revealed. ey included San Francisco and Los Angeles that saw price reductions at 8.5 percent of the listed price. New homes in these cities cost around $2 million even after these cuts. "e housing market cooled in late 2018, particularly at higher price points and in pricier communities where new construction has clus- tered in recent years. Facing high and rising construction costs, builders have few options but to target upmarket while homebuyers are increasingly squeezed by tight affordability and rising interest rates," Terrazas noted. "But the trend could be short-lived. New home building inched upward for most of the past few years, but about a year ago permitting activity began to pull back. With fewer new homes in the pipeline, these price cuts may prove to be a fleeting phenomenon." NEVADA Las Vegas Rent Increases Highest in U.S. Overall rent growth stayed a steady course in November, according to a look at the month's rent increases by CoreLogic. e national rate of rental price increases was 2.9 percent, just barely up from 2.8 percent in No- vember 2017, CoreLogic's Single Family Rent Index revealed. Properties with rent prices less than 75 percent of the regional median saw the biggest jump in prices. In November, rents on these properties were up 3.8 percent year from the year before, even though that rate is slightly down from November 2017's rate of 3.9 per- cent. On the other end of the spectrum, proper- ties with rent prices greater than 125 percent of a region's median rent increased 2.6 percent in November 2018. at's up from 2.3 percent in November 2017. Molly Boesel, Principal Economist at CoreLogic, noted the difference between what rents have been doing and where home prices are heading. "Unlike the CoreLogic Home Price Index, which has seen a slowdown in growth over the past year, U.S. rent growth has remained stable," Boesel said. "However, long-term rent increases have been lower than long-term home price increases." Rent prices increased 17 percent over the past five years. Compare that to the 32 percent increase in home prices over the same period. Lower-priced rentals and homes increase 1.5 to two times faster than higher-priced rentals and homes, according to CoreLogic. "ese lopsided gains between price tiers are common," Boesel said. All that said, year-over-year rent price in- creases have slowed since February 2016, when they peaked at 4.2 percent and stabilized at just all there yet, but there are many aspects of the closing process that are in fact ready to go on- line. Even in states where pen and ink are still required, for instance, it is not too soon to pre- pare for the inevitable shift to how closings will work in the not so distant future. ere are two key things that you can do today to prepare: » Evaluate the software you use: is is one of the most important decisions that you as a lender or title agent can make for your business. Your software should increase business opportunity, decrease roadblocks and communication inefficiencies, and pre- pare your company for fully digital closings. » Work with title companies that are forward thinking: You need to be able to place orders quickly with your title company and efficiently collaborate. You want the capa- bility to send an approved loan application to your title company without having to make any phone calls. While the technol- ogy is imperative, it is equally important to work with a title company that main- tains a commitment to premier customer experience. Using a system like Encompass facilitates both finding title companies and using one origination software to place a title order. Our current reality is a hybrid electronic and physical closing world but we are quickly moving toward an electronic one. Consumer technology is leading the change and more companies are realizing this and making the investment in better client experiences through technology. Taking this step will not only prepare you for the future but is now necessary for sustainable success. Once you have made the investment in technology and change management, the regulations must also be in place. You can stay up to do date on these changes by reading industry publications such as DS News and following your state's legislative process. While fully digital closings are going to happen at some point in the future, the changes you make to your business today can help you both be prepared for that change as well as improve the customer experience along the way. As the head of product expansion and compliance for San Francisco-based Qualia, Charlotte Brown is responsible for regionalizing the company's title and closing software platform nationwide for various regulatory and practice environments. During the past year, Brown has led efforts to expand Qualia's service offering from three states to nationwide, across more than half a dozen underwriters. She has built a team that has helped accelerate her efforts to add thousands of region-specific documents and has been pivotal in enabling Qualia to support title companies

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