THE BYTE

Welcome to the BYTE, where we serve up the latest home and tech news from the last week for you to sink your teeth into.

This week we’re taking a BYTE out of dream homes, hurricane season, construction spending, popular social media platforms, and the hot summer selling season. Dig in!

Generally

Dreamy
American’s weighed in on their dream home and ideal neighborhood.

Live Your Dreams
Homes.com asked people to build their perfect home. The 2018 American dream home consisted of 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, hardwood floors, an open kitchen, and walk-in closets. Millennials went a little crazier with their dream homes wanting them to be 4,000-5,000 sq ft with a hidden room, library, and wine cellar. Whereas boomers just wanted a fireplace, and lots of windows and storage in a 1,500-2,000 sq ft home.

Ally Home asked people to describe their perfect neighborhood vibe. 36% of people said they wanted a neighborhood that was “Quiet and Quaint” and 28% were looking for a “Modern Millennials” vibe. You can probably guess what age group the second group fell into. 25% said that ample outdoor space was important. What nearly everyone (88%) could agree on was that the vibe of the neighborhood was important in deciding where to live and 73% said they’d even settle for a smaller house or pay more for the house if the neighborhood was perfect.

So It Begins

Hurricane season officially started June 1^st, but many places are still recovering from last hurricane season, especially Houston. An estimated 25,000 Texas households are still displaced and trying to bounce back from the estimated $125 billion in property damage. Last year held the 2^nd and 5^th costliest hurricanes on record, Harvey and Irma. The 2018 hurricane season should be quieter than last year according to IBM with fewer storms overall. IBM also said that they can only predict the number of storms, not where they will land, so fingers crossed the storms stay out over the water and don’t hit land.

Take Notes

Spendy
The Commerce Department announced that home building construction spending rose at the fastest rate since the mid-1990s. Residential construction spending jumped 4.5% in April. Total construction spending in the U.S., including residential, non-residential, and government hit an all-time high of $1.3 trillion, a 7.6% increase from April 2017.

What Are The Teens Up To?
Pew Research posted the results from its “Teens, Social Media & Technology” survey and showed that most teens (85%) think YouTube is the most valuable social media service. The rest of the top five are Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter. 3 years ago Facebook held the #1 spot and YouTube wasn’t even in the top five.

Heating Up
As the temperatures start rising around the country so are the home prices. Compared to this time last year home prices are 6.5% higher. The biggest year-over-year price increases came out of Seattle (13%), Las Vegas (12.4%), and San Francisco (11.3%). Until inventory increases or demand falls, most are predicting that prices will continue to rise.

Totally Unrelated

And The Winner Is…
The winner of Britain’s Got Talent was crowned last night. The Lost Voice Guy took home to title, here is his final performance.