It’s Another Fabulous Party
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “The median price for a single-family home in the Houston area broke another record in June, jumping 11.3 percent to $214,000. Fay Mason and her husband recently made an appointment to see a newly listed house in the Meyerland area with a large backyard, new tile floors and granite cabinets. The morning of the showing, the Masons’ agent received a call from the listing brokerage that there were already 38 appointments to see the house and that there had been a typo on the price. ‘Instead of $289,000,’ Mason said, ‘it was supposed to be $389,000.’”
“A new crop of mega-luxury buildings in Manhattan are redefining sky-high prices. One 57 is the 1,000-foot high building looming over Central Park where an apartment has closed for as much as $90 million. Jonathan Miller appraises the units at One 57. He said if you were to walk by at night the skyscraper would be largely dark because a majority of the units’ owners are international and don’t live here. They are using the apartments strictly as investments.”
“The number of Santa Clarita homes listed for sale is rising – in fact, the inventory is near double what it was at this time last year, according to a local Realtor. As the inventory grows, however, sellers have been reducing their real estate prices more than they are increasing them, said Connor MacIvor with RE/MAX. ‘And the buyers are seeing they have more to choose from so they are taking longer to make decisions about writing offers,’ he said.”
“These houses are ghosts of the recession: In Oregon, banks typically must wait up to a year after a homeowner stops making mortgage payments to begin the legal steps to take ownership back. Foreclosures can take several years, though, depending on the bank and the mortgage. ‘I’ll go into a house, and the trash will be a foot deep, there will be buckets of human waste, bugs, rats, bins of needles. All the metal is gone. All the wiring is showing,’ said Mitch McKee, a senior housing inspector with the city’s Bureau of Development Services. McKee estimates that there may be hundreds more within the city limits. ‘We just see the ones that get really, really bad,’ he said. ‘It’s not going away anytime soon. If anything, it’s only going to get worse.’”
“It is the great Australian summer dream: owning a tiny shack on the coast close to the beach. But those areas are now among the worst hit by mortgage stress. Surf Coast Shire mayor Rose Hodge said nearby housing developments were leading to a population boom in the area, and were driving down some property prices for vacant blocks closer to town. ‘[But] people are still buying expensive homes,’ she said.”
“For Mr Balaji Lakshmanan, the four-year wait for his new Housing Board flat ended this week when he collected his keys. But another countdown began: to dispose of his existing flat, as required under HDB rules. He is part of an emerging group of home buyers caught between their newly ready Build-to-Order (BTO) flats and their old ones - which lack buyers in a sluggish market. It was valued at $340,000 in January - down from $380,000 the year before - and he is willing to accept $10,000 below that. ‘I don’t know if I can sell this house within six months,’ he said. ‘Now I have to pay for both.’”
“A few years ago, both new and resale flats were seen to be in short supply, with tempers running high over tough BTO competition and soaring resale prices. With over 28,000 BTO units to be completed this year and resale volumes still low, more buyers may find themselves struggling to sell in the coming months. Said Sembawang GRC MP Ellen Lee: ‘Looking at reports on the resale market, it may get worse.’”
“Among the harder-hit cities are midsized provincial ones like Wuxi, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, about an hour by bullet train from Shanghai. Drive into town at night and you’ll pass rows of 25- to 30-story apartment blocks with just a handful of the apartments illuminated. ‘There’s nothing you can do,’ says Huang Jiqiang, an agent with Central Plains Real Estate here. ‘Now all the new housing complexes are dropping their prices and doing promotions because there are just too many homes,’ he says. ‘There aren’t that many buyers, and the pool of buyers is getting smaller and smaller. Homes are still under construction out there.’”
“‘Every local family has at least two or three apartments, so they have already enough space to live,’ says Huang. ‘If an outsider wants to buy a new apartment, they can’t afford it. A 970-square-foot apartment on average costs more than $116,000. The way they see it, that’s a lot of financial pressure.’ That’s especially true in a city where the average annual salary is just $8,200.”
“Big price gains began early in 2013 as investors swarmed distressed markets, buying up homes to turn around as rentals. While the biggest jumps were in markets like Phoenix, Las Vegas and much of California, other local markets followed, driven not by investors, but by short supply of homes for sale. That led to bidding wars. Sellers, say real estate agents, are now completely out of touch with what buyers can stomach.”
“‘In May, 40 percent of sellers surveyed by Redfin said that they planned to list their homes above market value even though home sales had dropped by 9 percent since the year before,’ the real estate brokerage’s chief economist, Nela Richardson, said. ‘Typically it takes sellers six to nine months to adjust to a price change, but this latest shift is longer. Prices have moved down and then up so much over the past five years that it’s even more difficult for sellers to have a realistic baseline for what their homes are worth in the current market.’”
“It’s one thing for the central bankers’ central bank to warn of cheap money distorting the world’s markets, but it’s another for more comprehensible anecdotes to start adding up to the trillions. In short order: Last year a record US$477 billion worth of high-yield bonds were sold, but US$340 billion worth have been offloaded in just the first half of 2014. Dutch interest rates have never been lower, not in 500 years. Fuelled by cheap money, there are more American mergers and acquisitions underway than there were at the previous peak in the heady pre-GFC days of 2007.”
“The Japanese government is lending trillions of yen to Japanese banks for almost nothing, at just 0.1 per cent, but the banks are turning around and giving the money back to the government by purchasing bonds. The Australian mortgage securitisation business is back in full swing with second-tier banks able to get as much funding as they desire at record low rates. For all their problems, Rome and Madrid can borrow for around 2.7 per cent – substantially less than the AAA Australian government.”
“With the junk bond industry booming, and M&A activity bubbling and the major central banks promising to keep money very cheap, it’s no surprise that Wall Street set record highs this week. It’s another fabulous party, but it’s beginning to make China’s shadow banking look safe by comparison. Funds manager Mike Mangan put this perspective on the unprecedented level of cheap money: ‘Meteorologists (and insurers) speak of the 1 in a 100 year flood. But what is happening in western economies (and Japan) is not even close to a 1 in a 100 year event. It has not happened in centuries and I would argue human civilisation hasn’t experienced the sort of monetary conditions we now bear witness to, since the Bronze Age. How and when it all ends, no honest person knows. But I strongly suspect that when it ends, it will end badly.’”
“it would take a Chinese person 15 years of earnings — without spending money on anything else — to pay for a home…”
Nobody wants to work their entire life (while buying food and all that) to purchase a little home. The only reason to buy is the belief that prices will always go up, and that the house (debt) will make them rich.
At that price you’re right.
In a sane market the reason to buy is to end the rent treadmill as soon as possible so you can pay for other things like your kid’s college or your retirement.
I wonder why everyone I know who is buying a home is living paycheck to paycheck, while I (a renter) run a surplus every month?
” human civilisation hasn’t experienced the sort of monetary conditions we now bear witness to…”
It is the worst time in the history of man to be in personal debt.
If you can read that article. It will put this into perspective for those that say, ‘golly, won’t this bubble be over already’, like a 14 YO on a family trip. This is a highly unusual event we are witnessing:
‘After several months of rumbling, Portuguese conglomerate Espírito Santo International this week delayed payments to some of the holders of its short-term debt securities…Claus Vistesen, the chief euro zone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics believes that credit market stress quickly feeds into the sovereign bond markets. Thus, this reinforces the idea that banks and governments are too closely knit in the region, in what many have called a “doom loop” which could place more additional stress in the case of any potential crisis.’
‘Jim Iuorio, managing director at TJM Institutional Services, told CNBC that the current problems may be hitting so-called peripheral Europe but wouldn’t be a full-blown fear for the greater region until core countries like France were being affected.’
“One thing we can almost all agree on is that there probably is some sort of bubble in European peripherals and it could have a destabilizing effect,” he said.’
‘The euro zone’s periphery had enjoyed a significant bounce-back over the past few months with the yields on some Spanish and Portuguese bonds beating those of even the U.S.’
“Are Portuguese and Greek bonds mispriced?” asked Iuorio, “Of course they are, and it’s just a function of every central bank throwing tons of money into this system.”
“It is the worst time in the history of man to be in personal debt.”
Not really unless you have a pretty wife or public trust job.
There few if any cast iron debtor’s prisons in the modern world, and most families with children will see most of their debt discharged in bankruptcy court. They will still live better than most of the planet’s population. Times are tough when you can’t afford those Bounce dryer sheets, so you are forced to deal with static cling and wrinkles. Mercy!
It is the best time in life to accumulate cash and precious metals while staying debt free.
“Foreclosures can take several years, though, depending on the bank and the mortgage. ‘I’ll go into a house, and the trash will be a foot deep, there will be buckets of human waste, bugs, rats, bins of needles. All the metal is gone. All the wiring is showing,’”
This is why it is important to keep the homebuyers hopes alive, to keep him thinking in terms of he being an owner rather than a buyer.
If he thinks he is an owner then he will treat the place as if he owns it. Keep him thinking this way until THE VERY MOMENT you show up with the marshal to cast him and his family and all of their belongings out into the street and there’s a good chance you’ll get to take possession of a house that is in pretty good shape.
‘I’ll go into a house, and the trash will be a foot deep, there will be buckets of human waste, bugs, rats, bins of needles. All the metal is gone. All the wiring is showing,’
So much for the failed theory that keeping zombie owners in homes with defaulted mortgages will help preserve the value of the collateral.
In the end, Mr. Banker doesn’t really care, either. It’s not like his money is on the line to begin with.
‘The scale of the problem is so immense—there were nearly 55,000 abandoned homes across Cook County as of the first quarter, according to DePaul University’s Institute for Housing Studies—that it’s unlikely the land bank will have a noticeable impact anytime soon.’
‘In Maywood, Mayor Edwenna Perkins is looking for an “organization that will come in and make these banks do their jobs” by maintaining foreclosed homes.’
The story of banks letting foreclosure homes go to waste seems to never grow old.
‘Jersey City has 849 vacant buildings, “the highest concentration in low-income sections of the city,” according to Darice Toon, the city’s director of community development. The concentration of vacant houses on some of the streets is extremely high. Forrest Street, which is three blocks long and cuts across the Drive, has 12 vacant properties, according to the list. In contrast, Hutton Street in the Heights, which is twice as long as Forrest Street, has six vacant homes. Jersey Avenue in Downtown, which runs more than 20 blocks, has two properties on the list.’
‘Of the 12 homes on the south side of Claremont Avenue between Rose and Ocean avenues, where White lives, four are vacant. However, after many years, one is currently being rehabbed. Many of Jersey City’s vacant buildings are in foreclosure, while others are unsold investment properties, city officials said.’
‘The property at 111 Claremont apparently falls into the category of an investment that went south. The owners of the property are Eileen Scroggins and Lisa Winters, New Yorkers who never lived at the house. The house has been in foreclosure for several years and JPMorgan Chase is expected to take ownership of the property by July or August, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.’
‘According to city records, Scroggins paid $340,000 to buy the property in April 2006. A year later, Winters was made co-owner of the property in a $10 transaction. The pair, who married in 2011 after New York legalized gay marriage, made headlines in the Big Apple last year. Winters, a Bloomberg appointee who was placed in charge of the Bronx’s primary lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual community center, was sentenced in April 2013 to at least two years in prison for embezzling $338,000 from the center, leaving the operation broke and forced to close.’
‘Since January 2011, Jersey City code enforcement inspectors have issued Scroggins and Winters a slew of citations for 111 Claremont. The violations include not securing the front and rear doors, failing to remove rubbish, and leaving the front porch ceiling and front steps half destroyed.’
‘In 2011 and 2012, the city’s municipal court even issued arrest warrants for Scroggins for failing to appear in court to answer for violations. Those warrants were still open as of Wednesday, a court official said’
‘Reached by phone at her New York home last month, Scroggins would only say the “property was relinquished in bankruptcy a long time ago” and any questions about it should be directed to Chase Manhattan Bank.’
‘Of the 12 homes on the south side of Claremont Avenue between Rose and Ocean avenues, where White lives, four are vacant. However, after many years, one is currently being rehabbed. Many of Jersey City’s vacant buildings are in foreclosure, while others are unsold investment properties, city officials said.’
I am guessing “white” does not live here.
‘Editor’s note: Reporter Tim Gallen and his wife, who now live in Southern California, are trying to sell their home in Phoenix. He will be writing about the home-selling process in a series of blog posts on this site. This is the third entry.’
‘If the American Dream is to own your own home, then trying to sell your house must be the American nightmare.’
‘A tad melodramatic? Perhaps. But I blame the Phoenix heat – for which we continue to pay to keep at bay. Paying a triple-digit electricity bill for a home in which you no longer reside is a hard pill to swallow.’
“But I blame the Phoenix heat – for which we continue to pay to keep at bay.”
First the problem with the U.S. economy is the cold winter weather. And now it is the summer heat that is to blame.
What next: Fall colors distract would-be home buyers from making purchases?
Here is an idea - try designing Southern homes as if there were no A/C; like the old days <1970. Then, even with A/C, the bills would be much smaller.
Instead of building a plywood McMansion, maybe this guy should have built a small house made of stone, like the ancient desert Indians did. But the ancient desert Indians never had realtors, either, so in many ways they were smarter than us.
I completely agree. In addition to being much smaller, old Florida houses had windows that faced each other from opposing walls, allowing a breeze to pass through the structure. They took advantage of shade from nearby trees, and often had extended porches, which allowed the house to be encircled by a perimeter of slightly cooler air.
It’s always amused me that well-maintained, century-old bungalows are so highly valued here, while at the same time all new construction follows the stucco particleboard rectangle McMansion model. Will these junk houses be the bungalows of the 22nd century? Hardly.
‘In 2009, HUD helped finance 1,884 first-time loans in Spokane. During the next four calendar years – 2010 through 2013 – the yearly total was 1,484, 1,029, 1,061 and 1,146, respectively.’
‘The trend so far this year shows a modest increase above the 2013 rate, with 350 home financing loans in the first quarter.’
‘Chris Lucas, a Realtor with Windermere of Spokane, has begun seeing regular emails from banks urging him to send them would-be homebuyers who five years ago the lenders would have avoided, he said.’
“I get emails now regularly from lenders saying they’re not using the same requirements” for lending to first-time buyers, he said.’
‘His wife, Karie Lucas, has worked in residential real estate in Spokane for 17 years. She said she’s also seeing an uptick in first-time buyer activity spurred by low interest rates and more government-sponsored programs to entice sales.’
‘The one change is a fewer number of starter homes priced below $150,000, she said. “There’s plenty of inventory (above $150,000) and at $200,000 and above,” Karie Lucas said.’
‘Jennifer Schupe, a Realtor with Keller Williams in Spokane, also said the local market’s lower-priced homes are in shorter supply than usual.’
‘She contends investors came into the market in late 2011 and 2012 and picked up many of the homes, turning them into rentals.’
‘Even so, Schupe said first-time buyer activity has picked up in recent months. A key government agency assisting lower-income residents with arranging home loans, she said, is the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, based in Seattle.’
‘The self-sustaining state agency provides assistance to lower-income homebuyers by carrying home loans and offering secondary smaller loans to help with down payments.’
“The self-sustaining state agency provides assistance to lower-income homebuyers by carrying home loans and offering secondary smaller loans to help with down payments.”
Might as well open ‘em a line of credit so they can eat.
‘Andrew Frank, of Long & Foster Real Estate in Blue Bell, said he’s been told many zombies rose from the “robo-signing” era of 2008 through 2010, when some mortgage servicers failed to read foreclosure documents before submitting them to courts or other agencies for action. “Even though the defaulters have vacated, the courts forced the banks to restart the foreclosure process, which added to the already high volume at the time,” Frank said.’
‘Zombies sit in all kinds of neighborhoods, among the well-to-do and the less well-heeled, local observers said. In some cases, said Carol McCann, of Re/Max Millennium in Somerton, many who received notices of foreclosure simply vacated, “assuming that the bank now owns the property.”
‘At the height of the foreclosure crisis, sales of distressed housing outpaced all others, depressing prices and undercutting efforts by home builders. This year in the Philadelphia region, said Charles Cosgrove of Educated Realty in Doylestown, there have been fewer sales of houses repossessed by lenders, and the number of short sales - in which the lender agrees to accept less than the value of the mortgage - is half what it was in 2013.’
‘RealtyTrac’s figures put zombies in the Philadelphia region at 6,101, fifth-highest nationally. In theory, that many cut-rate houses could wreak havoc on a market still working its way back. “If lenders put them all on the market for sale at once,” it would drastically change property pricing, said Noelle M. Barbone, office manager at Weichert Realtors in Media.’
‘That has little chance of happening, however. “We have submitted good [purchase] offers to banks, but there is still way too much red tape to make anything move faster or get better,” said Val Nunnenkamp, of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach Realtors in Marlton.’
‘Nunnenkamp said he knew of “12 to 14 houses that meet that [zombie] description, including one in Voorhees that’s been vacant for four years.”
‘A meeting was held Tuesday by Maricopa Police Chief Steve Stahl and local realtors to discuss the problem of squatters in Maricopa neighborhoods. “Squatters” refers to individuals who break into homes and attempt to establish occupancy under Arizona law.’
‘Squatters are breaking into and entering homes, which are typically in foreclosure or short sale process, and damaging the properties. “What’s happening is squatters are breaking into houses and turning on utilities,” said Chad Chadderton, owner of Ahwatukee Realty & Property Management. “Then they are taking the utility bill to county records and filing for adverse possession.”
‘Chadderton indicated some of his employees have found themselves in threatening situations when they confronted squatters. An arrest was made on June 23 in connection with one such incident. Stahl suggested Maricopa is being targeted because of a high number of vacant homes and transient population.’
Ahwatukee. That is my Phoenix nabe. Easy getaway access on three freeways: the interstate 10, the 202, and the 60. It is not really a high crime yet, but my place is rigged up with an alarm company.
If I was a SFH Owner I would certainly not want any financially insolvent neighbor.
Wow, you leave on vacation, a squatter breaks into your house and subsequently establishes “residency”…and legal recourse is difficult. Yet another good reason to be a homebuyer (sarcasm)!
‘The Seattle housing market has been called “strange,” as prices continue to rise and bidding wars continue to erupt in a market with not enough inventory. “We are not feeling or sensing the onset of a typical summer slowdown,” said NWMLS director Diedre Haines, who described the market as “strange.”
‘The market for homes priced at $1 million and up around Seattle is experiencing pending sales volume at levels not seen since 2007, said John Deely, NWMLS director. “Brokers in the Seattle market are keeping busy as multiple offers and cash buyers dominate new, well priced listings in most markets,” Deely said in a statement.’
2 POVs: the stats and the ‘feeling’
http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2014/07/04/nwmls-sales-inch-prices-climb/
We are back to 2007 pricing (without accounting for inflation)
June 2014: $453,500
March 2007: $454,950
However in the nicer neighborhoods there is a seeming need to buy when you can
Which explains why demand is collapsing in Seattle.
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/WA-Seattle-Metro-home-value/r_395078/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D4%26rt%3D6%26r%3D395078%26el%3D0
Consider yourself very fortunate you didn’t sign up for that.
‘The hope and promise that surrounded Phnom Penh’s property market in the mid-2000s was quick to evaporate with the arrival of the global financial crisis.’
‘Landmark projects such as the centrally-located Gold Tower 42 and Camko City city, an ambitious satellite city in the Cambodian capital’s suburbs, came to a grinding halt (amid corruption allegations, bankruptcy and law suits) and construction of the latter only recently restarted. For those residential and commercial properties that were eventually completed, it has since been an uphill struggle to attract sufficient investment and occupancy.’
‘The reality remains that there is simply not enough demand for luxury housing from the local market. Cambodia’s nouveau riche make up a negligible portion of the population and the middle-class, while growing, is still someway off being substantial enough to warrant the supply of all these new condo units.’
‘I was therefore surprised to be informed by a sales agent at a recent property expo that the residential component of another newly-launched mixed-use project in the heart of the city is almost sold out. Furthermore, I was told that Singaporean buyers accounted for about 70 percent of all purchases.’
‘My next question was why Singaporeans would want to buy property in Cambodia. Looking uncomfortable, she stammered and stumbled before eventually saying she’d get back to me.’
‘Anybody who has spent time doing business in the Kingdom should be well versed on the main factors for overseas investment. Whether it’s coming from a government spokesperson, the slimy sales director of a local company or the country head of ADB, the pre-recorded-sounding response is usually the same: “It’s a high-growth economy with a stable political environment and improving infrastructure…”
‘Maybe her lack of local knowledge is quite telling of why Singaporean buyers—if they really are—are investing in Cambodia. Once the sales girl’s hackneyed pitch about ROI potential and it being the city’s most luxurious condo is overcome, are these self-titled savvy investors not bothering to ask why they should invest in a country they presumably know little about? Are they that desperate to throw money at something that they’ll resort to blindly placing down sizeable deposits on condos in a market that lacks demand, when all they have to go on is neon-adorned GCI graphics with firework displays and flocks of birds sketched on the sky for good measure?’
It was less than 40 years ago when the Khmer Rouge death marched the entire population out of that city. More than a million people were executed in the following years. Hundreds of thousands of others starved. And luxury condos are being built there now? Is Kigali next? The mere possibility of getting rich off real estate speculation is masking not just economic risk, but social, environmental, and political risk as well.
Pol Pot and his Paris-educated inner circle recruited rural youth who despised their urban “betters.” A leftist utopia carried to its logical conclusion: the killing fields.
Some of the Asians I worked with are first generation Americans. They hate communists far more than most Republicans. I would listen to them talk about their ordeals and their parents’.
So they’ll be very familiar with where the DNC will be taking us once they have their airtight Supermajority.
One gal who I worked with in L.A. also is a Phoenix neighbor. She arrived from Asia legally. She hates illegal aliens because they don’t have to go through what she did to get here. And she is very anti communist.
‘Dubai’s Emaar Properties faces a risk of oversupply in the Emirate’s real estate market, ratings agency Moody’s said in a report on Tuesday, as the developer launches new projects and embarks on expansion of its existing assets.’
‘Dubai is still recovering from its 2009 debt crisis but property firms have launched a slew of new housing, retail and hospitality projects - stoking fears of another boom-bust cycle in the emirate’s real estate market.’
‘Most recently, Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum announced plans on Saturday to build an entertainment and hotel district that will include the world’s largest shopping mall and over 100 hotels.’
‘Emaar has launched many new residential projects this year and is also expanding its flagship Dubai Mall.’
‘Moody’s said while Emaar’s hospitality and retail assets provide a cushion against market volatility, more developers are launching similar projects and thereby running a risk of overcapacity.’
“Emaar’s pre-sales model and construction-linked payment plan mitigates development risk, while its hospitality and retail assets provide a cushion against market volatility”, said Rehan Akbar, Moody’s Analyst and author of the report.’
“However, there is a risk that the company embarks on a significant multi-year capital spending plan in the current market up-cycle to not only launch new developments but also expand its hospitality and retail assets at a time whencompetitors are increasingly becoming active in these sectors, which could create overcapacity.”
‘The oversupply of property in Dubai has increased by almost 8 per cent in the past month if you follow adverts for homes for sale or rent on the Dubizzle website that have topped 206,000. There are a record 116,000 units available for rent and 90,000 for sale. It’s not that much better in Abu Dhabi, where an astonishing 59,000 units are available for rent or sale, albeit the position for sellers is better with just 3,800 units on the market.’
‘The influx of new residents into the UAE has been overtaken by a surge in the number of available homes. Most probably the flow of newcomers has slowed with a new government in Egypt and maybe the majority of the Arab rich who wish to move to the UAE have now done so. At the same time developers have taken the opportunity to finish off projects launched many years ago in the previous boom as well as to initiate a perhaps too optimistic number of new ones.’
‘Step back from the noise of the investment world and the machinations of geopolitics this summer and ask yourself a fundamental question: where are we now in the global interest rate cycle? Has the pendulum swung too far in the direction of high or low interest rates? No need for a doctorate in nuclear physics to get that one right. Central banks have been squeezing interest rates down for the past six years since the bottom of the global financial crisis, and they were forcing rates lower for the prior decade most of the time too; indeed that was arguably why we got the bubble that exploded in the global financial crisis.’
Dubai also happens to be in a neighborhood of spreading sectarian strife and mindless fanaticism by the have-nots.
‘Las Vegas home prices continue to rise as investors, lured here by the recession’s bargains, keep backing out. Prices haven’t been this high since September 2008, the month the national economy plunged into chaos with Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy.’
‘Locally, buyers paid cash for 34.7 percent of the used homes that sold last month. That’s down from a peak of almost 60 percent in February 2013 and the lowest share in almost five years, indicating a drop in investor spending.’
“While real estate investors have played a key role in helping our housing market recover in recent years, it’s also good to see more traditional buyers entering the market,” GLVAR President Heidi Kasama said in the report.’
‘Meanwhile, the market still has plenty of weak spots. The pace of used-home sales is down 13 percent year-over-year, even though the number of single-family homes listed for sale without offers has almost doubled from a year earlier, to about 7,100 by the end of June, according to the GLVAR.’
“The pace of used-home sales is down 13 percent year-over-year,”
Cratering housing demand coast to coast. Why? Because housing prices are massively inflated 300% higher than long term trend.
Got water?
‘It was a common sight in Charlotte’s older neighborhoods during the housing boom: homes being torn down to build something new — and bigger.’
‘Now those teardowns, which all but stopped during the downturn, are on the rise again. From SouthPark to Myers Park, Dilworth to Davidson, homes are being bulldozed and replaced with larger, much more expensive ones in the latest sign of Charlotte’s housing rebound.’
“I haven’t seen this level of demolition and rebuilding since I’ve been in the homebuilding business in Charlotte since 1978,” said Jim Burbank, partner with Charlotte-based homebuilder Saussy Burbank. “It’s unusual for us to get one finished without selling” it first.’
‘Sometimes it’s the owners who tear down their homes to build a replacement. Other times, builders buy homes to demolish them and build new ones without a buyer lined up.’
‘In Charlotte and elsewhere, new homes are getting bigger. The average size of new, single-family homes had fallen to 2,392 square feet in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Last year, the figure climbed to 2,598 square feet — the highest level on records going back to 1973.’
‘Some Charlotte builders are demolishing one home on a large lot or multiple lots and building two or more larger homes in its place. Think more home, less yard. Builders point out that many of the homes they have torn down are decades-old ranch-style homes with restrictive floor plans that have fallen from favor.’
‘Much of the demand for those larger homes stems from “move-up buyers” — who are finally putting their homes on the market as rising home prices pump equity back into their properties. Burbank plans to demolish about 10 homes this year to make way for new homes priced at $600,000 to $1.5 million each. He expects move-up buyers to purchase most of those.’
My neighborhood is seeing this phenomenon. Probably one-third of the 3/2 houses were torn down during the bubble, to be replaced by McMansions. Another third of the 3/2s have been casualties of the echo bubble. I don’t know what we’re going to do when the smaller houses are all gone; it pretty much makes the neighborhood unaffordable for younger families.
I guess what will happen is that the McMansions then will be torn down and replaced with even bigger, more expensive houses. The usual suspects will celebrate this as progress.
We are a foolish people and we will get what we deserve.
it pretty much makes the neighborhood unaffordable for younger families.
First, the younger families will have to lower their standards of what they consider a “starter home”.
“I need granite and a big kitchen with an island!”
There’s no question that expectations are outsized at times. As are perceived needs. But when a formerly mixed neighborhood is replaced with new housing stock that uniformly costs $599,000, we’re dictating that younger people will live in an exurb or rent. Maybe forever.
The demographic hollowing out of places like San Francisco, London, and Vancouver is being writ small everywhere. Our leaders are powerless, or too stupid, greedy or compromised, to even acknowledge it. It must be much worse in China, which as Ben wrote is the biggest scam and fraud in history.
But when a formerly mixed neighborhood is replaced with new housing stock that uniformly costs $599,000
I hear you, and live in a neighborhood where this has happened, with a few holdouts (one house has a hand-painted sign that says “not for sale”. I love it and want to knock on the door and shake the guy/gal’s hand.
‘The number of completed foreclosures in May was down 9.4 percent from a year ago, according to real estate data firm CoreLogic Inc. There were 47,000 completed foreclosures in May.’
‘That’s still twice the average number of monthly foreclosures before the housing market tanked. Between 2000 and 2006, foreclosures averaged about 21,000 a month.’
‘According to the Columbus Realtors trade group, 24.6 percent of central Ohio homes sold this year through the Multiple Listing Service have been cash sales — well above the 8.5 percent seen a decade ago.’
‘Fueling the cash fire are buyers seeking leverage in case they end up in a bidding war for a home. Santuomo estimates that she has represented 10 cash buyers in the past year, most of them investors, but some of them were clients looking for an edge in a bidding war.’
‘She recently represented a woman shopping for a condominium in sought-after areas of Grandview Heights, Upper Arlington and the Short North. After discussing the market with her client, the woman’s parents agreed to buy the condominium and sell it to their daughter.’
‘Santuomo thinks the cash offer made the deal possible. “They did get into a (bidding) situation and won the deal. I think the cash made the difference.”
‘A professional caretaker who paid cash on Wednesday for a Groveport house also thinks cash helped her secure the deal. The woman, who asked not to be identified, landed in a bidding war for the three-bedroom ranch listed for $49,000.’
‘She ended up offering $61,000 in cash for the home, which was sold for less than the mortgage balance and therefore required the approval of the former owner’s bank.’
‘She moved into the home on Thursday and kept her previous home for her sons to live in. She’s now looking for other homes to buy and expects to again pay cash, part of which she accumulated through a recent inheritance.’
‘Like Santuomo’s client, they might borrow from families or draw on home-equity lines or other sources to make the deal, often with the expectation of getting a mortgage later.’
‘Andrew Show, with Buyer’s Resource Realty Service in Worthington, said he is working with clients using a home-equity line to buy a condominium for their son with the intent of refinancing the property later.’
‘Milt Lustnauer, a RE/MAX Premier Choice agent and this year’s president of Columbus Realtors, has been involved in similar deals. “Mom and dad and family members are stepping up to offer cash … and later going back and refinancing instead of making the offer contingent upon financing,” said Lustnauer, who said he’s handled four cash transactions in the past 30 days.’
‘American Homes 4 Rent’s major source of growth will be taking over smaller competitors’ houses as the companies leave the market, Chief Executive Officer David Singelyn said.’
‘Already the second-biggest U.S. single-family landlord, the company bought Beazer Pre-Owned Rental Homes Inc. for about $263 million in debt and stock. The purchase, announced earlier this month, included more than 1,300 houses and was the landlord’s largest bulk acquisition so far.’
‘Rising home prices and the costs of managing scattered rental properties are causing some landlords to seek an exit, he said. “You’re starting to move into that consolidation phase,” he said. “There’ll be more and more transactions by us and others as time goes on.”
‘Now that housing prices have rebounded 26 percent from their post-recession trough in March 2012, some single-family landlords are seeking buyers for their properties.’
‘Beazer Pre-Owned, whose investors were led by Beazer Homes USA Inc. and buyout firm KKR & Co., “ran into a little bit of a problem because they didn’t have the scale, having 1,350 homes or so, to be able to compete for financing capital with players like ourselves,” Singelyn said.’
‘American Homes 4 Rent raised $812 million in its initial public offering almost a year ago, and issued $481 million of debt backed by its rental properties in May. American Homes has the advantage of being able to offer stock to smaller landlords who want to sell properties while keeping a stake in the rental-housing market, according to Steve Stelmach, an Arlington, Virginia-based analyst with FBR & Co.
Taking Stock’
“The pool of available buyers is relatively small relative to a very large pool of potential sellers,” Stelmach said in a telephone interview. “When we look at potential sellers, and those sellers who will accept stock as a form of payment for their homes, they’ll want to partner with the best operators or the stock that trades with the best prospects of going up.”
I wish them luck. I think that they’ll quickly tire of dealing with SFRs and their multiple maintenance headaches at many different locations. There’s a reason why the rental real estate smart money gravitates toward apartment complexes.
Payment for houses in stock? Newly issued stock?
“Newly issued stock?”
Supermoney! First pump up a company’s stock price then print up a fresh batch of new shares and then use some of these newly printed shares to buy stuff with.
Just as with cash it works because people believe it works. It has value because people believe it has value.
‘Will China’s property market collapse? In fact, this fear is becoming a reality. The latest statistics show that for first half of this year, the trade volume of residential growth in first-tier cities dropped 30 percent to 40 percent, forcing more and more local governments to secretly lighten the buying restriction policy to rescue the market.’
‘The largest property agency in the Asia-Pacific region, Centaline Property Agency, has released data saying Beijing’s total new residential contracts reached nearly 23,000 units by June 26 this year, which is nearly 49 percent less than 2013. The number of contracts and contracted area reached their lowest value in the past 9 years; the total turnover rate fell 38 percent compared to last year.’
‘Meanwhile, Beijing forward delivery housing and existing housing ‘‘Inventory’’ reached almost 81,000 units, a new peak in the past 18 months.’
‘Shanghai Brilliance Credit Rating & Investors Service revealed that over half of Guangdong province’s revenue comes from land transfer payments. Shanghai’s annual land transfer payments are around $16 billion. Due to the current real estate situation, many local governments have challenged the central government’s policy of “purchase restriction”.
‘Wuhan Housing Authority will lighten the purchase policy on local residents buying a third suite, and foreigners buying a second suite; Hohhot issued a formal announcement to cancel the purchase restriction; Beijing’s price restriction policy is also quietly loosening.’
‘Frank Tian Xie, professor at University of South Carolina, Aiken School of Business: “Buyers should now wait and see. I think now is definitely not the time to buy. No one wants to buy property that will soon lose it’s value. Local governments continue to promote and enlarge China’s real estate bubble, using this opportunity to achieve their own interests and the interests of the elite class as soon as possible.”
‘Xie says China has no actual real estate market, because the Chinese Communist Party has never given up control over the land. The ordinary people cannot get land or home ownership. Thus, China’s real estate market is only a false arbitrage, full of traps, and is just a place to cheat people’s money.’
‘China’s real estate market is only a false arbitrage, full of traps, and is just a place to cheat people’s money.’
How is the U.S. real estate market any different?
‘Lake Tahoe’s housing market is showing a lot of similarities to Sacramento’s so far this year. As seen in the valley, the Tahoe region has seen somewhat sluggish sales through June, largely because of a lack of inventory, said Susan Lowe, corporate broker and vice president at Chase International Real Estate in Tahoe.’
‘Lowe said a year ago, Nevada-side homes of the lake in particular saw a new surge of buyers, fueled by a desire to get out of California and higher tax brackets that took effect in 2013 for high-income residents.’
“In the first six months of this year, Tahoe has been a tad bit softer,” she said. “We just don’t see as much drive from Proposition 30 this year.”
‘Overall sales volume around Tahoe has dropped 18 percent, though median home prices are largely up by a modest amount, 3 percent higher, for a value of $475,000. Where sales have notably declined is at the top of the market: Homes at more than $1 million are down by 22 percent in sales, compared to the first six months of 2013.’
‘Again mirroring the Sacramento region, most of the distressed homes have been snapped up by investors, leaving a relatively shallow pool of inventory, even in what’s a more discretionary, luxury-home market. “There’s a lot of people who are still underwater,” she said. “The ones who weren’t forced to sell are waiting for the numbers to come back.”
’sluggish sales through June, largely because of a lack of inventory’
A few months ago this lack of inventory was the cause of skyrocketing prices, now it’s the cause of sluggish sales.
Who could have guess that an Echo Bubble price blowout would lead to the disappearance of both buyers and sellers?
‘To buy a single-family home in Ketchum or Sun Valley, a prospective homeowner would need to make well over $200,000 annually—that’s 270 percent of Blaine County’s area median income, or AMI.’
‘That’s according to Dave Patrie and Bobi Bellows of the Blaine County Housing Authority, who crunched numbers at the Ketchum County Council meeting Monday to show the findings of their annual report.’
‘The AMI of Blaine County households of four is just over $80,000 annually, while the statewide AMI for nuclear families is $54,900, according to the presentation. Though the affordability gap is less in the resort market for townhomes and condos, it’s still over $150,000 dollars. “It’s tough to afford anything in the north valley,” Patrie said.’
‘Despite the natural assumption that Blaine County residents can afford a significantly higher home price, the presentation cites only a 5 percent difference between annual wages in the county as compared to those statewide. This discrepancy can be attributed to the difference between income and wages; the typical applicant for affordable housing locally is paid hourly without another source of money coming in.’
‘In terms of both renters and owners, “for workers in counties with high median income but relatively lower wages, the industry standard affordability analysis will overstate their ability to afford a home,” the presentation stated. “The folks we’re trying to serve make an hourly wage,” said Patrie.’
‘The Housing Authority has 13 more applicants in their system now than they did at this time last year, Bellows said. Of those 118 applicants, 42 percent earn less than $40,000 annually. The report states that this number could be the “new normal” in Blaine County due to the slow economic recovery post-recession. In 2009, about 25 percent of applicants earned less than 50 percent of the AMI. “The middle class is declining,” Bellows said.’
‘Residents of all income levels are affected by this affordability stretch. The presentation cites forced relocations, increased travel times and fewer full-time residents supporting the economy as a byproduct of the housing gap.’
‘It seems to be a strange time right now for housing. Inventory was tight last year and no one could find what they were looking for. The funny thing is, I’m still hearing that comment from buyers and other agents alike, but it’s not quite accurate.’
‘Inventory in metro Atlanta is up 24 percent versus last year, 19 percent in North Atlanta. The problem now isn’t lack of inventory, what we’re finding from our buyers is lack of quality inventory. Buyers have changed their perspective from last year.’
‘Home values went on a steep rise and sellers have taken that as a signal to get as much as they can. Who can blame them. But buyers aren’t biting and demand has softened. Even new home builders, who jumped on the rising prices bandwagon, are beginning to offer incentives.’
‘St. Petersburg Experiencing Housing Glut’
‘The amount of new housing available in the St. Petersburg real estate market for the first six months of 2014 is up 67 percent more than a year ago. The main introduction of new housing into the market came in the first quarter while the demand had stopped by the arrival of summer.’
‘In the first half of the year, 1.4 million square meters of housing was commissioned, according to the city’s Committee for Construction. In the first half of 2013, 948,000 square meters were built.’
‘In the first quarter, according to the committee, 934,000 square meters were put on the market, an increase of 60 percent. From February to April, interest in buying a home was attributed to currency fluctuations and people actively invested in housing still under construction, said Alexei Gusev, commercial director for the construction company Glavstroi-SPB.’
‘According to Gusev, in April Glavstroi-SPB started renting out their fifth completed residential complex North Valley, which has a total area of 98,000 square meters.’
‘According to Inna Malinovskaya, a spokesperson for the Group of Companies Center of Shared Construction, or CDS, the average price for the mass-market segment starts from 65,000 to 75,000 rubles ($1,900 to $2,200) for 1 square meter, depending on the location, the quality of the housing and whether or not it’s under construction. According to Malinovskaya, demand remains high.’
‘By the end of the year, approximately 4 million square meters of housing will be made available for sale, according to Gusev. Denis Babakov, Commercial Director for LSR Real Estate North-West, is more optimistic, predicting 5 million square meters, but only under favorable market conditions and if all planned buildings are put up for sale.’
‘Overseas buyers and new immigrants accounted for $92 billion worth of home purchases in the U.S. in the 12 months ended in March, according to a new study from the National Assn. of Realtors. That’s up 35% from the year before, and the most ever.’
‘Nearly one-fourth of those purchases came from Chinese buyers. And the place they’re looking most is Southern California. Among U.S. cities, Los Angeles was the top destination for real estate searches from China on the realtor.com website, according to the study; San Francisco was second; followed by Irvine.’
‘There are several reasons why so much global — and especially Chinese — cash is flowing into Southern California real estate, said Jed Smith, managing director for quantitative research at the Realtor group.’
‘Some families are buying houses for their children attending California universities, or even high schools in some top districts. Others see the U.S. as a smarter investment than the overheated Chinese housing market. And in some cases, wealthy Chinese are parking money in a safer haven than is available at home.’
‘”The real estate market in China is crazy right now,” Liu said. “You can sell a little condo over there and easily afford a big single-family home here.”
‘As the Chinese-to-U.S. market grows, more agents are trying to find ways to tap it. MSM Luxury Estates in Beverly Hills, for instance, opened an office in Hangzhou last year to better reach new customers. So far, said Chief Executive Moe Abourched, it has done quite well. “We’re seeing more of an influx all the time,” he said.’
‘Overseas buyers and new immigrants accounted for $92 billion worth of home purchases in the U.S. in the 12 months ended in March, according to a new study from the National Assn. of Realtors. That’s up 35% from the year before, and the most ever.’
This is a healthy development, as the need for Uncle Sam to prop up U.S. home prices will go away if most of the potential losses will land on greater fool investors from abroad.
The Chinese are exporting their corruption, and making everything they touch uninhabitable.
We will happily take their dirty money. The leaders of the US are as corrupt as any in the world.
The Fed is exporting our inflation and hot money. The Chinese .01% are stealing as much as they can - much like ours - but instead of buying in the Hamptons, they want to be as far away from the guillotines as they can once the jig is up.
These people are used to gun control. Wouldn’t know what to do if a home invader broke int their $800k stucco box. The ones from the smaller Asian countries who experienced the Viet Kong and NVA are the anti communists. I know one who is a Republican Limbaugh fan.
‘Regina housing starts totalled 177 in June, down 40 per cent from 298 during the same month last year, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said in its monthly housing report released Wednesday. Multiple unit starts saw the biggest decline, with 106 multi-family units started in June, down nearly 50 per cent from 206 in June 2013. Single-family dwellings saw a similar decline at 51 starts versus 92 during the same period last year.’
‘While fewer starts were reported in both the singledetached and multi-family sectors, the decrease in June was most pronounced among multiples where only 32 apartment units were started compared to 180 in June 2013, CMHC said.’
“The trend in total housing starts edged lower in June after local home builders scaled back production of both single-detached and multi-family units,” said Goodson Mwale, CMHC’s senior market analyst for Saskatchewan. “Following a strong performance for housing starts last year, builders have reduced production so far in 2014 to ensure that demand from new home buyers is first channelled toward complete and unsold inventory.”
“It’s another fabulous party”
For Generation Greed and in particular, its most selfish and richest members.
‘The median sales price of a home in Lemont is slightly up this May compared to last May, but the number of sales dropped, according to data from the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors. Realtor Maryann Rogers of Century 21 Affiliated in Lemont said the harsh winter caused a late start to the spring house-selling season, which may have affected the number of homes sold.’
‘Though the numbers are for sales closed in May, the contracts for those sales were written in March, when the market was still feeling the effects of the winter, she said.’
‘She said they need more homeowners to feel comfortable enough to put their houses on the market. “Probably, people are waiting for prices to rise more than they have,” she said. “But, if they wait too long, interest rates start going up. It may take some buyers out of the housing market.”
‘Chicago’s condo market may be rebounding, but many neighborhoods still have empty buildings as a result of fraud and a tanked economy. An Illinois state law is allowing the city to de-convert condos and turn the units back to apartment rentals. It’s the only such law in the nation. Fifty buildings have been de-converted since 2010 in Chicago. And there’s no sign of the program ebbing.’
‘Community Investment Corporation President Jack Markowski said the distressed condo program deals squarely with fraud from shady developers. “They created the image, the impression of markets and condo development where it really didn’t exist,” Markowski said.’
‘For instance, someone pretends to convert a six-flat building. Markowski explained how a developer could get away with this. “Managing to find financing, finding I guess straw buyers for the six units, selling them for $300,000 a piece, managing to get appraisals and financing. And walking away with $1.8 million dollars on a building where you look at it today, the building’s been de-converted. nobody’s living there, it’s been trashed,” he said.’
‘According to CIC, that condo building on St. Lawrence Avenue sold units to elderly buyers from the South, an indication of straw buyers.’
‘This distressed condo program has criteria before the process begins: serious code violations, utility termination, 60 percent of units in foreclosure, recording of more condo units than physically exist. In most cases, the buildings have been empty, with no one paying mortgages.’
‘Markowski estimates there are roughly 250 examples of fraudulent condo buildings in the city. That’s more than two thousand units, he says.’
“You would think, ‘Wow, look at Washington Park, look at all these condos that are being sold there. That’s amazing. And turns out well yeah, a significant portion weren’t real, it was phony. So it was driving the market in that sense, confusing, I think, legitimate buyers,” Markowski said.’
‘A Michigan commercial builder operating in Colorado has shut down its work on three projects here and contracts for work on four other projects will be assigned to others in the wake of a sudden layoff of more than half of its employees nationwide.’
‘Lamar Construction Co., of Hudsonville, Michigan, notified employees on Wednesday it is shutting down its construction operations, leaving 180 of its 280 employees without jobs, citing “economic conditions.”
‘The company’s role as general contractor on three projects in various stages of completion here will be assigned to other companies. The biggest is a 172-unit apartment complex in Golden that broke ground in March.’
‘Projects that were awarded to Lamar, but have not started construction, include three senior housing projects and a proposed 206-unit apartment development in the Jefferson Park neighborhood northwest of downtown Denver that’s valued at $28 million.’
‘Lamar Construction Co.’s website address indicates that the site has been “removed indefinitely.” A statement issued Wednesday by the company said: “Today is a very sad and difficult day for all of us at Lamar Construction Company,” the company said. “In light of the current economic conditions with our construction operations, we have decided to immediately discontinue and wind down business operations.”
commercial is slow even in the central soviet of DC
I thought the housing market was rebounding! How could a residential construction company go under?
‘Firefighters in Waterbury responded to a blaze at a condominium complex Monday afternoon, which is reportedly being considered as suspicious, sources said. Eyewitnesses said they heard the windows burst because of the heat from the flames, and no injuries were reported.’
“I was looking out my kitchen window watching the flames and all of sudden the windows exploded and I jumped back,” said neighbor Dave Martin, who added that the man who lives in the unit and his girlfriend had just left.’
“I saw them leave 10 minutes before it started. Nice and calm, maybe 10 minutes later, I look over and the whole place was on fire,” Martin added.’
‘First responders believe the fire started on the second floor, and Eyewitness News has learned the home, based on judicial records, is in foreclosure.’
‘We hardly know where to begin. There are so many people to laugh at and so little time. We can’t laugh at them all. So, we’ll have to take our best laugh. And that must be a laugh at Janet Yellen. There are many reasons to laugh at Ms Yellen.’
‘What is funny about Ms Yellen is that she has no idea what kind of burden she carries. She recognises that there “may be pockets of increased risk taking”, as a result of her policies. Those risks can be managed, she believes, by alert and responsible economists.’
‘It has not occurred to her that the entire financial world is now gaming her – trading, betting, speculating on how far she’ll make it before the whole thing explodes. Nor does she appreciate how all the data she studies – as she keeps a wide eye on those pockets of risk taking – has been so distorted by her interventions that their information content is useless or worse.’
‘Andy Haldane, chief economist for the Bank of England, ought to have a word with her. He recognises that central banks have been “aiding and abetting risk-taking”. And that “lots of nutty things are… happening”.
‘Among the nutty things is that people are lending to the government of Kenya for just 6.875%. Spain and Italy, meanwhile, sell ten-year bonds bearing a yield of less than 3%. Corporate debt is hitting record highs with record amounts committed to share buybacks.’
‘Just today we learned that Bed, Bath, and Beyond has committed roughly two years’ worth of profits to buying its own shares. These buybacks are part of the reason the Dow broke through the 17,000 barrier last week. At these prices, dividend yields are so low it will take 50 years for an investor to get his money back. And if he lives in Baltimore or California, after taxes, it will be 100 years!’
‘The main source of this excess liquidity is – you guessed it – Janet Yellen’s Fed. It has been providing too much credit, too cheaply for many years. Here’s David Stockman with more details: “During the seven years ending on the eve of the financial crisis in Q3 2008, total credit market debt soared from $28 trillion to $53 trillion – or at a sizzling 9.2% annual rate.”
“By contrast, nominal GDP during the same period expanded at just 4.8% annually or at half the rate of credit growth. Accordingly, just during this short 7-year interval, the nation’s aggregate leverage ratio expanded from 2.7X GDP to 3.5X. In short, the booming “demand” of the Greenspan/Bernanke housing bubble was being borrowed from the future, not financed out of current production.”
‘But then, when the credit bubble popped in ‘08, and demand faltered, what did the Fed do? It provided even more credit on even better terms.’
‘Now, we have another Great Moderation, funded in the same way. According to Richard Duncan, excess liquidity reached a record $308bn in the second quarter of this year. And again, the tide has washed over the wrecks from the last period of excess credit and every tub that can hold water is riding high.’
‘Ms Yellen, bless her heart, looks at the St Louis Fed’s Stress Index. She sees the lowest reading ever. She looks at junk bond yields – investors clearly aren’t worried about getting repaid. She is completely misled. About the markets. About the economy. About life in the universe.’
Yellen’s actions have been bumping this moderate into libertarian territory.
libertarian approaches have numerous negative impacts to the average worker, but the systemic market manipulation by the FED at this point is unbelievably dangerous to the long-term viability of the nation and is shielding the government from the consequences of its incompetence in the form of voter ire and torches and pitchforks.
So I raise a voice with the paul-bots:
End The FED.
“Yellen’s actions have been bumping this moderate into libertarian territory.”
Labeling yourself, huh?
It’s all part of character creation. It’s endless with the liars.
Advanced form is voluntaryist who knows the difference between Von Mises and Friedman, let alone who they are.
Yellen isn’t worried about anyone but bankers. Sure, she may feign interest in poor, unemployed souls, express concern over food prices, etc., but she is about assuring pigmen stay wealthy. Period.
Yellen isn’t misled. She’s complicit.
It’s a family thing.
‘Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer on Thursday suggested that banking regulators should seriously consider broadening their goals to include financial stability as policymakers around the world debate strategies for preventing another global crisis.’
‘Fischer argued that an explicit stability mandate could give regulators more firepower to combat risks as they emerge. The issue of how central bankers should address nascent bubbles has become a flash point in economics, with some worrying that years of ultralow interest rates and easy monetary policy could be fueling hidden excesses.’
‘In a speech in Cambridge for the National Bureau of Economic Research — his first as vice chairman — Fischer warned that the U.S. structure for overseeing the financial system may not be up to its task.’
“It may well be that adding a financial stability mandate to the overall mandates of all financial regulatory bodies … would contribute to increasing financial and economic stability,” he said, according to prepared remarks.
‘Fischer did not weigh in on whether central banks should use monetary policy — namely, interest rates — to combat bubbles. But he did point out that policymakers do not have a strong understanding of how well their regulatory tool kit might work.’
‘As head of the Bank of Israel during the global crisis, for example, he employed several measures to rein in ballooning housing prices.’
This is like listening to the Pope bragging about reducing pedophilia.
This is like listening to a giant tick on the country talking about policy. And the moneyed listen breathlessly.
“It has not happened in centuries and I would argue human civilisation hasn’t experienced the sort of monetary conditions we now bear witness to, since the Bronze Age.”
There were no electronic printing presses in the Bronze Age which could be used to create trillions of dollars out of thin air with the push of a button.
Poor Chinese, first they are all wearing the same clothes and can’t get more then rice and 1 room to live in
The capitalism hits, they didn’t ask for it, their communist dictators wanted it both ways the West oblige them, now the citizens are not known as Red Chinese, they were Italian suits, drive Euro cars and Buicks, live the capitalist dream, send kids to great Colleges throughout the world.
They buy American homes for cash, no mortgages also a American dream, have families for the most part who stick together unlike American families, so tell me, why the bashing on these folks and envy?
‘why the bashing on these folks and envy’
Maybe .01% of the Chinese live like you say. It’s up to the Chinese people to do the bashing, and I’m sure they would have these rich people you admire so much strung up from every lamp pole and bridge if they could. I’m just saying they’ve got a bubble.
What is it with you? Do you sleep on a mattress stuffed with money, thinking you’re better than other people because of the stuff you have?
“…thinking you’re better than other people because of
the stuff you haveyour massive debt loads?”Not that it is any of your business but my blood boils but here it goes friend. This the Internet, who knows who has what, we owe nobody in life, we saved every extra dollar we made taking chances in life, won some lost some, but for our age we sleep pretty good, and our mattress is not loaded with outstanding loans documents.
Ben wants to know if we sleep on our cash, it is better to sleep on cash right now then have it in a bank .025%?
No Ben, if you knew my wife and I nobody would ever accuse us of that sin in life, money doesn’t make you better, stuff is stuff as time goes by it is boring to have. Went to dinner last night with delightful Chinese people who left opressed China and today have a great company and pay excellent wages to all. They love America for the opportunity and Ben that is key word.
Nobody or rarely in life gets anything handed to them, you seize the moment, this couple took a life savings with their family and bought out a dying business. After many years they made it, just thought instead of constant “doom “we have some uplifting post on Chinese who contribute to this great country.
Like you Ben, you put a very nice effort in this site, I pretty much don’t profess all that I read on it, I respect it and your effort though matter of fact what is left of housing blogs one of the best, maybe you are really Chinese wouldn’t that be a hoot?
You’re a fraudster Doom.
Foreign buyers is up 35% to a whole whopping 7% of the market. That’s about historical norms. Giving the NAR press department something to do is about all it amounts to. Notice it’s an estimate based on a survey of realtors.
Oh so if Irish were buying everything in cash is that all right, you see I have a problem with the word Foreign, seems except for the Great American Indians we are all Foreign ancestry or did I miss something when the boats were loaded and everybody landed here?
7% of of the market Fraudster.
FYI HA, I have nothing but contempet for the NAR in my dealings with them many times, kind of like the Federal Reserve do we need them?
I know you don’t believe me, but thought you should know I agree with very little you say but not everything.
It is hard for us, because your speech is broken. Also your opinions are disjointed.
I find many Chinese men are racist against white men. I have seen this in Southern California for over ten years. Yes they are family-oriented. I had a Hong Kong girlfriend and we would go into Alhambra, nearly 100% Chisese. Man I would get all the stares and glares being with her. She was likely showing me off. All her chinese girlfriends had white boyfriends. Hence the glares.
Back from the trip, just a note about some Chinese men. Matter of fact many men that are small in stature, I’m 6′ and most of the time about 3″ taller, they seem to look down a lot and let you know their accomplishments in life right away. I find Japanese men not as insecure.
That said, many are generous with food and good times when we get together, I’m Italian, not so sure I would trust Italians anymore then Chinese, but that is just my experience in business with them.
Have a great weekend posters, Ben I’m going to N Arizona love that place and area, for you folks (never ever say you didn’t see Sedona once in your life) and yes shouldn’t tell my wife but want to look at some property.
Go play in traffic.
Those roundabouts in Sedona won’t let you play in traffic?
lying underwater realtor?
It is a very nice part of Arizona. The bonus is Castle Doctrine and an income tax rate of under 4%.
All I can say is when we enter Sedona or most of N Arizona towns but especially Sedona, you forget your troubles. The Red mountains and Blue Sky with starry nights and your favorite songs USB plugged in , doesn’t get much better in the world.
Goldman Sachs warns it’s Fed enablers/accomplices might get more pushback from congress-critters pretending to represent their constituents instead of their .01% paymasters. Translation: have your lobbyists call our lobbyists and agree on upping your pimp allowance.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-11/goldman-warns-congress-preparing-tame-fed