Analysis Topic: Housing Market Price trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
U.S. Housing Busts and Obama's Report To Congress / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: DK_Matai
The 2012 Economic Report of the US President published by the Whitehouse for the Congress contains a startling chart in chapter 4 "Stabilizing and Healing the Housing Market". Red = The Great Unwind: start 2007; Blue = New England bust: start 1989; Orange = California bust: start 1990; and Green = The Great Depression: start 1930. What does comparing housing busts in US history suggest?
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Friday, February 17, 2012
Obama's Housing Market Refi Program Won't Work Because the FHA is Insolvent / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
In his State of the Union address last month, President Barack Obama outlined a plan to let homeowners, especially those underwater, refinance older mortgages to take advantage of today's low rates.
While serious political impediments stand in the way of the Obama refi plan, one reason it won't work is that it relies 100% on the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
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Friday, February 17, 2012
U.S. Housing Market Starts, Jobless Claims, and Wholesale Price Index – Mixed Bag / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
January Housing Starts: It is a Multi-Family Story
Total housing starts increased 1.5% to an annual rate of 699,000 in January. The entire gain came from an 8.5% jump in starts of multi-family units to an annual rate of 191,000. New construction of single-family units slipped 1.0% to 508,000.
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Arbitraging Fed Policies With U.S. Rental Housing Market Cash Flows / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Dan_Amerman
By forcing interest rates to record low levels, the Federal Reserve has effectively vaporized most interest income along with most of the ability to benefit from compound interest, with devastating results for many retirees, retirement investors and pension funds.
However, in the process of creating artificially low interest rates for an entire economy, the Fed has also opened up unusually profitable opportunities for individual investors with certain types of investments. Record-low interest rate levels are the most powerful of six different factors that are currently working together to increase owner cash flows from the purchase (or refinancing) of investment real estate in the United States.
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Wednesday, February 01, 2012
UK Buy-to-let Mortgage Market Blooms / Housing-Market / UK Housing
By: MoneyFacts
Moneyfacts research has shown that the availability of buy-to-let mortgages has risen over recent months. There are currently 486 buy-to-let mortgage deals available, compared to 386 last February.
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Friday, January 27, 2012
The Next U.S. Housing Market Bailout / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Mike_Whitney
Why are housing prices falling when the number of houses on the market continues to decline? Usually, when supply shrinks, then prices rise, right? So, why isn’t that happening now?
The reason is that housing market never completely cleared, which is to say that the Fed’s interventions and the manipulation of inventory by the banks prevented the market from finding a bottom. So, now– a full 6 years after the peak in home sales in 2006–the real estate depression continues while prices drift lower still. And–here’s the bad part–no one knows how much farther prices will drop, because the existing inventory of homes on the market (according to the Wall Street Journal) is presently 1.89 million while the shadow inventory (according to CoreLogic)… is “1.6 million units” which represents another 5 months supply, “the same level as reported in July 2011.”
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Friday, January 27, 2012
U.S. Housing Market Sales of New Homes Dips by 2.2% / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Sales of new single-family homes fell 2.2% to an annual rate of 307,000 in December, putting the annual average at 303,000 units. The tally of sales of new single-family homes in 2011 is the lowest on record (see Chart 1).
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Home Depot Options Strategy to Play the Housing Market Bottom / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Money_Morning
Larry D. Spears writes:
After more than two years of false starts, the battered U.S. housing market may have finally found a bottom.
If so, that prospect offers options investors a chance to earn higher returns on lower costs using a Home Depot (NYSE: HD) straddle. (More on that later...)
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
U.S. Housing Market Sales of Existing Homes Slow Growth, Price Declines Moderating / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Sales of existing homes rose 4.6% to an annual rate 4.61 million units in December, which takes the annual sales to 4.293 million units. Sales numbers of 2009 and early part of 2010 reflect the impact of the first-time home buyer program. The cycle low for sales of existing homes excluding the swings related to the first-time home buyer program was 3.77 million units for all homes and 3.39 million units for single-family, which occurred in November 2008. With reference to this benchmark, sales of existing single-family homes have moved up 21% in roughly three years.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Demand Outweighs UK Mortgage Choice / Housing-Market / Mortgages
By: MoneyFacts
Moneyfacts research of the residential mortgage market reveals the choice of mortgages on offer has increased from 2,527 to 3,180 over the last 12 months. At the peak of the banking crisis in 2009, the number of mortgages fell to just 1,209.
The increase in numbers came despite a combination of rises and falls across the range of the loan-to-value tiers. Today, the 60% loan-to-value tier offers the most choice but the high deposit required limits its attraction.
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Monday, January 16, 2012
U.S. Housing Market the Greatest Contrarian Investment Play of 2012 / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Investment_U
“Real estate prices may be bottoming out.” – Robert Shiller
Over the weekend, I attended the annual American Economic Association (AEA) meetings in Chicago, and ran into Yale economist and long-time friend Robert Shiller at a luncheon.
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Saturday, January 14, 2012
U.S. Housing Market Foreclosure-to-Rental Screwjob / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Mike_Whitney
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke wants US taxpayers to purchase more of the garbage loans and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that the big banks still have on their books. (Cash for trash) That’s the impetus behind the Fed’s 26-page white paper that was delivered to Congress last Wednesday. The document outlines the Fed’s plan for ‘stabilizing the housing market’, which is a phrase that Bernanke employs when he wants to provide more buy-backs, giveaways, subsidies and other corporate welfare to big finance.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
US Housing Sector Returns / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Donald_W_Dony
The latest evidence of the rebounding US economy appears in the housing sector. This once battered area has recently jumped to life with housing related sectors providing the best performance on the S&P 500.
Over the last three or four months, industry groups that supply home construction, equipment, financing and renovations have lead the charge on the recovery.
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Distressed Properties Continue to Hold Down U.S. House Prices / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
The CoreLogic Home Price Index inclusive of distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales) fell 4.3% from a year ago after showing a decelerating trend in the three months ended October. Excluding distressed properties, the CoreLogic Home Prices fell only 0.6% from a year ago and it shows of stabilizing (see Chart 4).
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Friday, January 06, 2012
Hidden Mortgage Tax Gives Congress Another Way to Pick Your Pocket / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
Americans had better enjoy the extra $40 they'll continue to get in their biweekly paychecks for the next two months, because most of them will be paying for it many times over in the form of higher mortgage costs.
Lost in the contentious debate over the payroll tax cut extension - a 2% cut in U.S. workers' Social Security tax - was the devious way Congress devised to pay for it.
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