Category: US Housing
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
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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Tuesday, December 20, 2011
U.S. Housing Market Overview / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Mike_Stathis
The real estate market continues to show little signs of life. Despite record-low mortgage rates and a collapse in home prices, builders see little demand for new homes due to the record-high overhang of existing homes on the market, including the record-high level of foreclosed properties (4.29% of all active loans) which have continued to gain most attention from buyers due to much lower prices.
Even more disturbing is that the fact new foreclosures are outpacing foreclosure sales by a factor of 3 to 1. This means that the existing home inventory due to foreclosures is growing by 3 times the rate of foreclosure sales.
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Friday, December 09, 2011
U.S. Household Net Worth Posts Second Quarterly Drop / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Household net worth fell 4.1% in the third quarter (see Chart 2), after a 0.2% drop in the second quarter; year-to-date, net worth of households has dropped 2.5% to $57.35 trillion. Lower equity prices were the main reason the decline in net worth, while real estate made a positive contribution.
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Wednesday, December 07, 2011
U.S. House Prices Show a Small Improvement in October / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
The CoreLogic House Price Index fell 3.9% from a year ago in October; excluding distressed homes, home prices dropped 0.5%. The CoreLogic Home Price Index of non-distressed properties rose 0.9% in October vs. September. The good news is that the pace of decline has slowed and the price index of non-distressed homes is almost stabilizing on a year-to-year basis (see Chart 8).
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
U.S. October New Home Sales Reports Positive Aspects / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Sales of new single-family homes increased 1.3% in October to an annual rate of 307,000, with gains in sales recorded in the Midwest (+22.2%) and West (+14.9%). Sales of new single family homes in the Northeast held steady and declined 9.5% in the South. The level of new single-family home sales during October remains close to the record low of 278,000 registered in August 2010 (see Chart 1). Nevertheless, there are many positives to note in the October new home sales report.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Taking a Loss on Your House Sale, Time to Hit the Reset Button on Life / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: DailyWealth
Dr. Steve Sjuggerud writes: "We're going to have to write a big check to get out of our house," a friend told me.
He's moving far away from here.
Monday, November 28, 2011
U.S. Foreclosure Fraud in a Nutshell, How Average Joe's Home Was Stolen / Politics / US Housing
By: LewRockwell
Bill Butler writes: The untold story in the foreclosure crisis unfolding across America is that, following a foreclosure perpetrated by one of the October 2008 Bailout Banks (e.g. Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo) Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac suddenly appear as the record owner of Average Joe’s home. These federal government sponsored entities then go into local housing court and get a court order authorizing them to evict Joe. If Joe resists, these supposedly charitable institutions obtain a writ ordering the local sheriff to forcibly remove Joe from his home.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Gold House Price Ratio Falls To Historic Low / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Dan_Amerman
In gold terms, an average single family home in the United States can now be purchased for only 18% of its pre-bubble price in 2001. The term "pre-bubble" merits emphasis: the average house can be purchased at an 82% discount (in ounces of gold) not from the peak real estate values of 2006, but the much lower home prices of 2001, before the real estate bubble began.
Friday, November 18, 2011
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims, Improvement is Small but Notable / Economics / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Initial jobless claims fell 5,000 to 388,000 during the week ended November 12. Initial jobless claims have dropped during four out of the last six weeks and they are close to the low of 375,000 for 2011 registered during the week ended February 26 (see Chart 4). The initial jobless claims reading of the latest week is a noteworthy improvement. However, larger declines are necessary to say with confidence that the labor market has crossed the threshold of concern.
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Friday, November 18, 2011
U.S. Housing Market Sideways Trend Reflects Underlying Soft Labor Market Situation / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Builders broke ground to construct new single-family homes (+3.9%) in October, but starts of multi-family units slipped 8.3%. Total housing starts fell slightly (-0.3%) to an annual rate of 628,000 in October. The important point to note is that total and single-family starts of new homes continue to hover around levels seen in the past recession (see Chart 1), which are also historical lows. Starts of single-family units stood at 430,000 in October 2011 vs. 353,000 in March 2009 (historical low).
Monday, November 07, 2011
Obama's Housing Plan: Subsidizing the Terminally Stupid / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
President Obama on Oct. 24 announced yet another housing bailout.
This time, borrowers who are underwater by more than 25%, are on time with their payments, and have Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac mortgages dating before March 2009 will be allowed to refinance their home mortgages at cheaper rates.
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sales of New U.S. Homes Rose in September, But Trend is Unimpressive / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Sales of new single-family homes rose 5.7% to an annual rate of 309,000 in September, the second highest level for the year after the 316,000 mark seen in April. The picture is less impressive when we put things in a historical perspective. The 3-month moving average of existing home sales at 302,000 has held nearly steady since mid-2010 (see Chart 1) after the first-time home buyer program expired.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
U.S. August Home Prices Small but Noteworthy Improvement / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller Price Index held steady in August compared with July. On a year-to-year basis, the index fell 3.8%, the smallest decline since February 2011. The FHFA House Price Index of August dropped 4.0% from a year ago, the smallest reduction since December 2010.
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Will Modified Program to Alleviate U.S. Residential Housing Mortgage Problems Raise Consumer Spending? / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, announced a modification of the original Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) passed in 2009. The main objective is to make refinancing easier for people with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. HARP allows borrowers whose mortgage is worth more than the current value of their homes to refinance and take advantage of the low interest rate environment. CoreLogic estimates that currently 22.6% of mortgages (10.8 million mortgages) exceed the current value of homes (also referred to as under water mortgages or mortgages with negative equity).
Friday, October 21, 2011
U.S. Housing Sector Needs a Supportive Nudge / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Sales of existing homes, inclusive of condos, fell 3.0% in September to an annual rate of 5.03 million units after an 8.4% increase in August. Sales of existing single-family homes dropped 3.6% to an annual rate of 4.47 million units in September vs. a 9.0% jump in August. As Chart 1 indicates, sales of existing homes are far from the peak registered in 2005 and are very close to cycle lows seen in 2008 (The wide swings in home sales in 2009-10 are related to the temporary first-time home buyer credit program).
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
A Decade of Household Deleveraging? / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
The recent trend of consumer spending is lackluster and, in fact, worrisome such that Chairman Bernanke has mentioned it in speeches over the past month. Real disposable personal income has posted a meager 0.3% gain in August 2011 (see Chart 1) and consumer spending shows a noticeably decelerating trend. The obvious reply to answers about the reasons for soft growth in consumer spending is related to lack of hiring.
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Monday, October 03, 2011
U.S. The Housing Market is Finally Bottoming, Here's How to Play It / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
The housing market remains a drag on the economy, but there are indications that it is finally starting to bottom.
Prices have stopped declining, and there is even some sign of life in sales.
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Monday, October 03, 2011
U.S. House Prices, Expect Lower Lows / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Bill_Bonner
Cash is still king. Cash is king because non-cash is a commoner and a loser…it’s losing its value. An article in the Financial Times, for example, tells that:
“US inflation expectations at lowest point in year.”
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Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Case-Shiller Home Price Index - Noteworthy Improvement, But Durability is Uncertain / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller Home Price Index held steady in July, matching the readings of the prior two months. These readings are a significant improvement after the string of declines of home prices seen for an extended period (see Chart 1). The gains in 2009 and 2010 are related to the first-home buyer program which was in place only for a short period. The encouraging news is that the FHFA House Price Index shows price gains for each of the four months ended July and the Core Logic House Price Index posted increases in three out of the last four months.