Category: US Housing
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Friday, September 23, 2011
U.S. House Prices Rise for Fourth Month / Housing-Market / US Housing
The FHFA House Price Index rose 0.8% in July, marking the fourth monthly increase. The Core-Logic House Price Index also has posted gains in the each of the four months ended July (see Chart 5). Both these price indexes show a moderation of year-to-year price declines (see Chart 6), with the July drop being less negative than the June readings.
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Thursday, September 22, 2011
Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Recover, But Level Still Close to Recession Low / Housing-Market / US Housing
Sales of all existing homes rose 7.7% to an annual rate of 5.03 million units. Single-family unit sales were stronger (+8.5%). Regionally, sales of existing homes increased in all four regions, with the nearly 19% jump in the West as the largest gain. From a year ago, sales of existing single-family homes have posted double-digit gains in July and August because of a base effect. Sales of existing homes in July-August 2010 fell sharply after the first-time home buyer credit program expired. Therefore, the year-to-year comparisons partly exaggerate the trend of existing homes sales.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
U.S. Home Construction Declines, Permits Post a Small Gain / Housing-Market / US Housing
Construction of new homes and apartments fell 5.0% to an annual rate of 571,000 during August after a 2.3% drop in the prior month. Starts of both multi-family (-13.5%) and single-family starts (-1.4%) fell in August. The disappointing news is that the level of housing starts continues to hover at recession lows. The nearly 30% drop of housing starts in the Northeast and a 3.3% drop in the South brought down the headline, while housing starts rose in the Midwest (+2.6%) and West (+2.2%).
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Thursday, September 08, 2011
Time To 'Invest' in Real Estate Again? / Housing-Market / US Housing
“And they shall grind the face of the poor…” ~ Isaiah
The markets were closed yesterday. Which was a good thing. The lights were out in Congress. Economists went to barbecues. Central bankers stayed home with their families. And investors didn’t bother to check their blackberries to find the latest prices.
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Tuesday, August 30, 2011
U.S. Pending Home Sales Index Slips in July / Housing-Market / US Housing
The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) of the National Association of Realtors fell 1.3% in July, after two monthly gains. The PHSI leads actual sales of existing homes by 1-2 months. The July drop of the index bodes poorly for actual sales of homes in August and September. Sales of existing homes have posted declines in three out of the four months ended July. The level of existing home sales is close to recession lows even after two years of economic recovery.
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Sales of U.S. New Homes Still Holding Close to Recession Lows / Housing-Market / US Housing
Sales of new single-family homes fell 0.7% to an annual rate of 298,000 in July following downwardly revised readings for May (309,000 vs. 315,000) and June (300,000 vs. 312,000). The level of new home sales is close to the record low registered in August 2010 (see Chart 1).
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Wednesday, August 03, 2011
U.S. Housing Market Rebound Unlikely Anytime Soon / Housing-Market / US Housing
David Zeiler writes: Dragged down by such anchors as a bulging pipeline of foreclosures and a dearth of buyers, it will be many more months - if not years - before a housing market rebound takes hold.
Symptoms of the limping U.S. economy, primarily an unemployment rate above 9% and weak consumer confidence, along with much stricter lending rules, have helped keep buyers scarce.
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Monday, August 01, 2011
The Next Down Leg of the U.S. Housing Bear Market has Begun / Economics / US Housing
Now that the latest round of quantitative easing (QE) has ended, it's time to take stock of whether inflation or deflation is likely to gain the upper hand going forward.
The Fed's monetary stimulus efforts of the last three years have done nothing to help what is arguably the biggest symptom of long-term deflation, namely the housing market. It's important to recall that the final "hard down" portion of the 60-year cycle of inflation/deflation cycle began with a collapse of real estate prices. The real estate bear market has been the chief evidence of deflation in the U.S. for the housing market prior to the crash represented the biggest form of savings for most Americans.
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Tuesday, July 26, 2011
U.S. Housing Market in Gold, 70% to 80% Price Crash / Housing-Market / US Housing
Inflationary or deflationary depression, it's like the long boom of affordable mortgages never happened...
SO IS the U.S. housing market nearing its low? Priced against gold it just might be.
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Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Fall, Partly Due to Cancellations / Housing-Market / US Housing
Sales of existing homes declined 0.8% to an annual rate of 4.77 million units in June. The cycle low for sales of existing homes, excluding the swings related to the first-time home buyer credit program, is 4.5 million units, recorded in November 2008. Effectively, sales of existing homes have risen 6.0% from the cycle low mark (see Chart 1). Sales of single-family homes held steady at 4.24 million in June, up 5.5% from the cycle low reading of 4.02 million in November 2008.
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Wednesday, July 20, 2011
U.S. Home Construction Advanced in June, But Inadequate to Declare the Housing Market Recovery is Here / Housing-Market / US Housing
Housing starts rose 14.6% to an annual rate of 629,000 in June, the first increase since March. Construction of single-family units moved up 9.4% to annual rate of 453,000 in June, the highest level since October 2010. These improvements in home building activity are a positive development but the level of total housing starts is about 72% below the peak registered in January 2006 (2.273 million units).
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Thursday, June 30, 2011
Chinese Homebuyers Throw a Life Raft to the U.S. Housing Market / Housing-Market / US Housing
Jason Simpkins writes: From New York to Honolulu, Chinese homebuyers are swooping in to help salvage the U.S. housing market.
Indeed, California, Florida, New York, and even Hawaii have seen a marked up-tick in home sales to Chinese buyers who are exporting their country's real estate boom to the United States, according to Bloomberg News.
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Thursday, June 30, 2011
U.S. Housing Market Few Positives Remain Inadequate / Housing-Market / US Housing
The National Association of Realtors reported an 8.2% jump of the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) in May to 88.8. The PHSI when advanced by two months tracks sales of existing homes closely (see Chart 1).
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Wednesday, June 29, 2011
U.S. House Price Indexes Stability? / Housing-Market / US Housing
Latest reports on home prices are somewhat encouraging. The Case-Shiller Home Price Index (HPI) of April edged down 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis and advanced 0.7% on a seasonally unadjusted basis from March. The seasonally adjusted drop of the Case-Shiller HPI is smallest since July 2010.
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Monday, June 27, 2011
Why U.S. House Prices Are Still Falling / Housing-Market / US Housing
In October 2007, CNBC's Diana Olick called me about Countrywide's so-called plan to modify mortgage loans scheduled to reset to higher rates. Subprime borrowers with a strong payment history would be able to refinance and possibly get prime FHA loans. Current paying borrowers with credit issues would be offered Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans under a new expanded program.
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Friday, June 24, 2011
Disappointing Trend of U.S. Home Sales Leaves Housing Sector at Top of Fed’s Watch List / Housing-Market / US Housing
Sales of new homes fell 2.1% in May to an annual rate of 319,000. The level of home sales is still close to the recession/record low of 278,000 registered in August 2010. Sales of new homes plunged nearly 27% in the Northeast, held steady in the Midwest, fell in the West (-3.5%) and rose in the South (+2.4%).
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Wednesday, June 22, 2011
U.S. Existing Home Sales Decline, Housing Market Slump Continues / Housing-Market / US Housing
Sales of existing homes fell 3.8% to an annual rate of 4.81 million units in May, the lowest level since November 2010. As shown in Chart 1, the sales mark of existing home sales remains close to recession lows after two years of an economic recovery. On a regional basis, sales of existing homes fell in the Northeast (-2.5%), Midwest (-6.4%), and South (-5.1%) but held steady in the West.
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Friday, June 10, 2011
How the Housing Market Can Save the U.S. Economy / Housing-Market / US Housing
Shah Gilani writes: Everyone knows that the U.S. housing market caused the current economic funk.
But here's the irony: The American housing market - a principal actor and victim of a bubble that burst, causing the worst recession since the Great Depression - may now be in a position to save the U.S. economy.
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Monday, June 06, 2011
U.S. House Price Crash Worse than the Great Depression, How Much Lower Will they Go? / Housing-Market / US Housing
I noted in January that the housing slump is worse than during the Great Depression.
The Wall Street Journal noted Tuesday:
Read full article... Read full article...The folks at Capital Economics write in with this gloomy tidbit: “The further fall in house prices in the first quarter means that, on the Case-Shiller index, prices have now fallen by more than they did during the Great Depression.”
Friday, June 03, 2011
How to Fix the U.S. Housing Market / Housing-Market / US Housing
Shah Gilani writes: If this week's economic reports showed us anything, it's the fact that two years into what's supposed to be an economic recovery, the U.S. housing market remains on life support.
But here's what those reports didn't tell you: If the housing market isn't fixed soon, it's going to drag the rest of the economy down into a hellish bottom that will take years, if not decades, to crawl out of.
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