Category: US Housing
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Tuesday, May 18, 2010
We're Not Out of the U.S. Housing Market Mess Just Yet / Housing-Market / US Housing
Perhaps more than stock and bond investors, precious metals investors must be privy to important macroeconomic indicators. Of the most important is money supply, followed immediately by lending and credit availability. These three factors all come together to establish how expensive or inexpensive paper currencies are and how silver and gold should be relatively priced to their paper counterparts.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
U.S. Housing Market New Home Construction Up, But Building Permits Drop / Housing-Market / US Housing
In the not so bad news category, the government reports that the housing market is rebounding:
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, May 16, 2010
What is The Fundamental Value of Housing? / Housing-Market / US Housing
The spectre of housing bubbles is starting to raise its head again, along with discussions about what the central banks, regulators and/or governments should do about it.
House prices have been going through the roof in China, there is talk about a bubble in Australia and yet over there prices keep rising, Canadian house-prices are looking “toppy” and in Riyadh they are insane.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, May 09, 2010
A "Lost Decade" Ahead For U.S. Housing Market / Housing-Market / US Housing
In its effort to rescue the housing market, the Obama administration has created a Frankensystem which neither allows the market to clear nor solves the intractable social problems of lost equity and foreclosure. Obama needs to step-back and take a look at the mess he's made by following the advice of financial industry reps and bank lobbyists. Housing is in a shambles. The market is presently stitched together with buyer-assistance programs, loan modifications programs, new homebuyer subsidies, foreclosure abatement programs, principal reduction programs, historic low interest rates, "easy-term" financing, and government-backed loans.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, April 24, 2010
U.S. Housing Market Changes Opening Up Surprising Pockets of Investment Value / Housing-Market / US Housing
Boy did last week’s column prompt a lot of comments. And frankly I’m not surprised. Many people thought I was nuts when I called the housing market top in 2005. They simply didn’t believe my prediction that the market would crash, rather than gently level off.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, April 22, 2010
U.S. Housing Market is a Buy Says Rent Ratios, HAI and Cap Rates / Housing-Market / US Housing
In Wednesdays (April 21) NYT, David Leonhardt writes that rent ratios - the market price of a house divided by the annual rent of a comparable house - are suggesting that in many regions of the country, the purchase of a house makes more economic sense than renting a comparable house (In Sour Home Market, Buying Often Beats Renting).
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, April 18, 2010
U.S. Housing Market Crash Update, There's A World of Pain Ahead / Housing-Market / US Housing
The brief period of stabilization in housing appears to be over and the next leg-down has begun. Mortgage rates are edging higher, foreclosures are on the rise, and the government programs that supported the sector, are being phased out. The uptick in bank-owned properties (REO) is adding to surplus inventory and pushing down prices.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Financial Regulators and Insiders had Foreknoweldge of the U.S. Housing Bubble / Housing-Market / US Housing
Greenspan and many other bankers, regulators and industry insiders say that "no one could have known" that we were in a housing bubble.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 16, 2010
How to Sell Your House, Lessons for Today’s U.S. Housing Market / Housing-Market / US Housing
By now you should know I believe the biggest story for the capital markets is no longer housing. It’s interest rates.
But that doesn’t mean I’m ignoring the housing market. Far from it. Heck, you could say I’m more interested in housing than ever before for a simple reason: I have a home to sell!
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 16, 2010
Anatomy of a Housing Market Crisis / Housing-Market / US Housing
"A fool despises good counsel, but a wise man takes it to heart." ~ Confucius, BC 551-479, Chinese Ethical Teacher, Philosopher
Freddie and Fannie certainly had a large role to play in the housing crisis and many may claim that they were the main contributors of the housing crisis which eventually resulted in a market meltdown. Before we proceed let's get some background info on these two chaps.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 16, 2010
U.S. Housing Market Debt, The Government’s Loan Mod Bizarro World / Housing-Market / US Housing
Just when you think that the statistics can’t get any worse for the graduating class of the Obama Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program, they do. Otherwise known as HAMP, this program is apparently designed to convince people who really can’t afford their current debt load that they really can.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 02, 2010
U.S. Commercial Property Market BubbleOmics / Housing-Market / US Housing
Some folks made a fortune after the S&L buying up commercial property for a song, tidying it up, holding it for a few years and then cashing out.
Will history repeat itself?
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 02, 2010
The U.S. Housing Real Estate Bubble the “Experts” Missed / Housing-Market / US Housing
When many people mention the collapse these days, the most common response I've heard is "everyone knew it was coming." Perhaps you've heard the same.
This just goes to show you that the mind can play tricks on people when time has passed.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
More Financial Bubbles Ahead in the US Housing Market / Housing-Market / US Housing
Bubbles have a hard time coming to an end, especially in residential real estate. Underlying forces such as government intervention to prolong the agony and the abject stupidity of builders extends the bubbles.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, March 29, 2010
Feeble New U.S. Housing Market Rescue Plan Not Enough / Housing-Market / US Housing
Historically, the two main driving forces for the economy have been the housing and auto industries. Whether the problems were rising interest rates that affected their sales, or bursting bubbles that scared consumers, economic slowdowns usually began with problems in the housing and auto industries, and the first signs of recovery were usually seen in the same two industries. The historical pattern has continued this time around.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, March 22, 2010
Three Reasons U.S. Housing Market Will Head Lower / Housing-Market / US Housing
It’s one of the most pressing questions facing investors today.
Is the housing market about to recover?
With the housing market at the center of the credit crunch, any recovery in the housing market could quickly turn the Wall Street recovery into a Main Street recovery.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, March 19, 2010
More Ugly U.S. Housing Market Data, Forget the Bottom and Recovery Hype / Housing-Market / US Housing
Every month, tout TV and mainstream financial sites like Yahoo! Finance and Marketwatch re-print propaganda pieces from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and other vested interests related to real estate. The headlines are ALWAYS spun to look positive, as comfort is more important than truth. The NAR has been calling the bottom in housing every month since before the top was in! Statistics are twisted and tricks like comparing the current month to the prior month instead of the same month in the prior year are used routinely to baffle, confuse, satiate and/or soothe those who still turn to mainstream media sources for truthful data.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
U.S. Real Estate Confusion or Lies? / Housing-Market / US Housing
Do you ever become confused over daily economic data?
If not, then you probably aren’t paying close attention.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Want to Fix the U.S. Housing Market? Listen to the Gipper / Housing-Market / US Housing
There is a remedy for the housing crisis. And it doesn't involve an agonizing decade of uncertainty while supply adjusts to demand. All Obama needs to do is to stop artificially propping up the market and let the chips fall where they may. That means the Fed should stop buying mortgage-backed securities to keep long-term interest rates low. That means the congress should not renew the $8,000 first-time homebuyers subsidy. That means the FHA should modify its lending standards so that mortgage applicants have to meet normal criteria for securing a mortgage.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, February 26, 2010
U.S. Housing Market Recovery Forecast / Housing-Market / US Housing
I’ve been talking about interest rates an awful lot lately … and for good reason. The next BIG story in the bond market is clearly the sovereign debt crisis.
But I don’t want to ignore the housing market, either.
Read full article... Read full article...