The One-Time Money Machines Aren’t Selling
A report from the New Zealand Herald. “A do-up North Shore property with basic facilities, exposed plywood floor panels and an overgrown yard strewn with junk is for sale for $629,000 - $269,000 above its capital valuation. The 70sq m three-bedroom, two-bathroom fibre-cement unit in Milford sits on a small, 140sq m section. It’s shown in photos with bare and grimy plywood floors, dirty wallpaper and a weathered exterior including makeshift-looking PVC roofing. Current owner Bill Chamberlain, 50, said he bought the family house in 1984 and was selling up to take advantage of Auckland’s booming property market.”
“‘It’s not a case of what it’s worth. If people don’t want to buy this they need to spend $1 million on something else because there is nothing else out there, he said.”
The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. “For Goldman Sachs, the worst is ahead for Australia and housing-bubble concerns will fade as the focus shifts to slowing jobs growth and inflation. The only hurdle keeping the Reserve Bank of Australia from adopting an ‘easing bias’ is a property boom, as mining investment is set to drop further along with raw material export prices and government revenue, said Tim Toohey, Goldman’s head of economics, commodities and strategy for Australia. A drop-off in mining investment is still to come and will probably have a greater negative economic impact than currently assumed, Toohey said.”
“Sydney home values jumped 14 per cent in the 12 months through September to a median $655,000, according to researcher RP Data. The average dwelling price across Australia’s major cities rose 9.3 per cent. ‘There’s really only one hurdle standing in front of the RBA in terms of adopting back an easing bias and it is pure and simply house prices,’ said Toohey.”
From Macleans in Canada. “Back in the 1980s, Ron Carey was sitting in a Calgary bar with a fellow oilman, reflecting on the great oil bust that had levelled Alberta’s economy, when he came up with the idea for a bumper sticker that would capture the grim mood in the province: ‘Please God, let there be another oil boom. I promise not to piss it all away next time.’ Three decades later, Carey, now 75, has watched another boom grip the province and is ready to print another run of those stickers if need be.”
“That’s because he sees worrying signs of another bust on the horizon: soaring wages, ‘ridiculous’ house prices and people living ‘high on the hog’ because they assume the good times will go on forever. ‘There’s not many people out there today who even remember,’ he says. ‘It’s 34 years ago. Most of the people who went through that mess are either retired or close to retiring. So you have a younger generation that doesn’t even know what a real recession is.’”
Reuters on China. “China’s largest residential property developer, China Vanke Co Ltd, said its gross margin fell 1.1 percentage points to 23.8 percent from a year earlier, squeezed by sliding home prices and expensive land costs. ‘Oversupply of properties will remain in the market in the short term and the inventory of new properties in the market will further increase,’ the company said in a statement.”
“Developers are also turning to new marketing techniques to lure buyers without sacrificing margins. Discounts can still run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars but increasingly property marketing looks to simply to create a buzz around new projects, analysts said. China Vanke plans to offer free accommodation for a year in some of its new apartments, as long as its guests share their experiences on social media. ‘Consumers are too used to price cuts and promotions like ‘buy one get one free’, so they want new gimmicks,’ real estate consultancy Knight Frank senior director Thomas Lam said.”
Today Online in Singapore. “Prices of Housing and Development Board resale flats fell by 1.7 per cent in the third quarter of the year, the steepest decline since 2005. PropNex Realty chief executive officer Mohamed Ismail expects prices to soften 6 to 7 per cent for this full year. Mr Ismail does not expect a turnaround in resale prices this year, given a ‘looming flood’ of new homes and the continued impact of property measures. Resale prices could fall 5 to 6 per cent more next year, mainly due to more second timers collecting their keys to their Build-to-Order flats, he said.”
The Star Online in Malaysia. “A finding by US-based urban development researcher Demographia reveals Malaysia’s residential housing market is ’severely unaffordable,’ even more out of reach than residents in Singapore, Japan and the United States. National House Buyers Association honorary secretary-general Chang Kim Loong points out the risks posed by ‘Investors’ Clubs’ or ‘Millionaires Clubs’ which are basically syndicated speculators incorporated by some ingenious individuals.”
“‘They work in cahoot with developers, valuers and banks. Speculative buyers may be caught by the latest round of cooling measures. How the situation will pan out will depend on the holding capability of these speculators of which most of them may not have. Come hand-over time when it is time for these ‘investors’ to flip their purchases, there may be a shortage of buyers for these properties, most of which were transacted at inflated and not real market value prices,’ he warns.”
The Financial Times in the UK. “I have a friend who has been trying to sell a central London flat for eight months. Another has had a large house on the market for six months. They can’t understand why these one-time money machines aren’t selling. Prices aren’t rising as they were either; they are, says Strutt & Parker ‘being adjusted down by about five to 10%.’ Anecdotal evidence suggests prices are down rather more than that.”
“Why now? Politics. Last week brought us news that the UK public sector deficit is not falling, but rising. It leaves property taxes as pretty much the only way of paying for political promises. Property taxes aren’t just about the deficit. They’re also a symptom of a horribly distorted market. Successive governments have done everything they can to push house prices up – with super-low interest rates, tax breaks for buy-to-let, Help to Buy and so on.”
“That’s why, measured by interest burden, UK houses prices have rarely been more affordable. But on measures of earnings they have rarely been so high. The state can’t let this huge market distortion go too far, particularly in London. So, in the absence of the courage required to normalise interest rates, the government is forced to put bad policy on bad policy to dampen prices. Hence, new affordability tests on mortgages – and another reason why rising property taxes are inevitable.”
“Why buy a house at these grossly inflated prices when prices are falling and rents are half the monthly cost?”
Exactly.
Seems to me that rents are about the same as buying.
nope. Rental rates are half the cost of buying at current grossly inflated asking prices.
Remember….. If your’e paying more than construction costs ($55/square foot), you’re getting ripped off.
“……points out the risks posed by ‘Investors’ Clubs’ or ‘Millionaires Clubs’ which are basically syndicated speculators incorporated by some ingenious individuals.”
Nouveaux Riche all over again. NR was the biggest scam ever. A friend of mine bought 2 Phoenix condos in a bulk deal NR set up in 2007. They arranged $100 down financing w a developer lease back for 12 months. The property had a $1/mon cash flow or….a 12% annual ROI!
It all cratered suring the second year as everyone realized NR hosed them. Actual market rents were 60% of of the 1 year lease back and the loans were 180% of value. My friend went BK to get out of the deal.
Bankruptcy fraud is a serious offense J._Fraud.
there are still ads here in dc area
12% return ,no sweat
No assets, no income, no clue what ROI means, $100, and a loan for two bogus overpriced condos. If that were all true, the developer scammed the bank and your “friend” was a straw buyer.
more on the NRU scam…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouveau_Riche_%28real_estate_investment_college%29
Blue, read the link below. It will give you a better perspective.
Oops. Blue, read the comments ABOVE. Use the link so you get s better perspective. Thanks.
A lot of the government complicity in the bubble has to get back to rising property taxes. Somehow they are OK while other taxes are not.
“That’s because he sees worrying signs of another bust on the horizon: soaring wages, ‘ridiculous’ house prices and people living ‘high on the hog’ because they assume the good times will go on forever.”
“… people living ‘high on the hog’ because they assume the good times will go on forever’.”
Hey, don’t knock it, that’s my client base. Why else would these idiots line up at the banks for some serious dotted-line signing if it weren’t for their stupid assumptions that these good times would go on forever?
They want it all right now but they can’t get it all right now because all of it is not available right now. Maybe sometime down the road, but not right now.
But … but … but there IS A WAY to get it all right now and this has something to do with visiting your friendly banker who CAN MAKE IT ALL HAPPEN!
YES! Say “YES” to the doted line and everything you deserve (snort) can INSTANTLY be yours.
(Bahahahahahahahahahahahaha)
The Macleans article is worth reading if you have the time.And check out the photos of the “house” this guy is trying to sell in NZ.
“the 15-year commodity boom…has run its course…the end of the boom and a return to a more normal commodity market will leave a deep and lasting mark on this country.”
The elephant under the rug is the massive amount of debt that will remain. That will be a downdraft for at least a generation.
“Please God, let there be another oil boom. I promise not to piss it all away next time.”
A former boss took a serious bath when he left Casper, WY for a better economy following the last oil bust, and he wasn’t in the oil business. He moved there for a promotion, but it cost him 10 to 12 working years, IIRC. As the saying goes, “buy high sell low.”
All those petroleum engineers impacting colleges with the promise of a 100K a year starting wage ..
“As for Carey, whose company, J&L Supply Co., sells drill bits to the oil patch, he says he’s prepared to slash jobs if oil prices tumble further. But he believes most people in the industry will be caught off-guard by how far and how fast oil prices drop—just like last time. “There’s not many people out there today who even remember,” he says. “It’s 34 years ago. Most of the people who went through that mess are either retired or close to retiring. So you have a younger generation that doesn’t even know what a real recession is.”
Ben
What vintage is this Ben? 1940s?
Probably, with some 50’s and 60’s here and there.
Good grief, the bathroom is the most interesting. Check out the mouthwash on the shelf over the commode. That is probably the first and last thing used when they go in there.
Is that a bottle of beer on the shelf or rat poison.
And how on earth does the top of the toilet seat get like that when, in comparison, the rest of the ” on-suite” is so impeccably spotless.
soaring wages
On what planet?
The article claims 1 in 4 make over 100K a year in oil production in Alberta Canada. I don’t know what it is in the USA northern plains but I have heard there is some pretty good wage inflation going on up there.
is this finally the Global slow down ??
We have our Colorado oil patch on the Western Slope, and as far as I’ve heard the streets in Grand Junction are not paved with gold.
HA
can live in ferguson @ $40 a sq ft. Zillow predicts appreciation there BAAAHhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Why bother when I can rent it for $1 a square foot in any major city?
Zestimate on my parent’s home, 5 mi east of Ferguson, is $44/sq ft. And that is 33% lower than the Zestimate from earlier this year, before the onset of interminable simmering racial unrest 5 miles to the west.
Justice Department condemns Ferguson leaks as effort to sway opinion
By Matt Pearce contact the reporter
With a grand jury decision looming on whether a white police officer should face charges in the killing of an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Mo., the investigation has sprung a few leaks.
New details from the inquiry into Michael Brown’s Aug. 9 death — all provided by unidentified sources and which seem to support Officer Darren Wilson’s story of what happened that day — have emerged in St. Louis and national news outlets in recent days.
The U.S. Department of Justice condemned the leaks Wednesday as “irresponsible and highly troubling” and said, “There seems to be an inappropriate effort to influence public opinion about this case.”
The details and news reports say that Brown struggled with Wilson in his patrol car and that Wilson’s gun went off in the car before a brief foot chase ensued.
Wilson ultimately shot Brown several times, and Brown’s body lay in the street for more than four hours, kindling a rage on the streets of Ferguson and St. Louis that has yet to wholly subside.
The leaks seemed to create a fresh rupture in trust with black St. Louis-area officials and protesters, who said Wednesday that they were upset with what they saw as another breakdown in the justice system because information from the supposedly secret grand jury continued to appear in the media. The grand jury’s decision is expected in November.
“There is no way there should be reports from all these anonymous sources and these ‘leaks’ ….This is supposed to play out in the courts and the justice system, and not the media,” said Patricia Bynes, a committeewoman for Ferguson township, which includes the city of Ferguson, and a prominent voice in the protest movement. Quoting a popular chant, she added, “The whole damn system is guilty as hell.”
…
‘NSW is “shining again” and the state has got its economic “mojo back”. Those were a few of the glowing claims made by Premier Mike Baird and Treasurer Andrew Constance after this month’s “state of the states” report by stockbroker CommSec rated NSW the strongest economy in Australia.’
‘But we heard much less about another report out this month – the Australian Council of Social Service’s (ACOSS) annual estimate of the poverty rate. That report told a more troubling story about the economic dynamics in the state and especially Sydney. Tasmania, Queensland and NSW had the largest proportion of people living in poverty.’
‘Rural Tasmania, where unemployment rates are high and economic opportunities limited, had the nation’s highest poverty rate at 16 per cent. But Sydney’s poverty rate was not far behind at 15 per cent. That’s well above the national average of 13.9 per cent and the highest of any other Australian capital.’
‘So why is the poverty rate in a place with the wealth and economic dynamism of Sydney similar to regional Tasmania? You’ve probably guessed the two-word answer: housing costs.’
‘The number of elderly home owners servicing private mortgage loans has ballooned in the past few years, as more people buy homes in their later years for investment. According to data from Credit Bureau Singapore, there were 15,506 Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 65 and above with outstanding mortgage loans from financial institutions in July this year. This is almost triple the July 2008 figure of 5,190.’
‘These older home owners also make up a growing proportion of all residents holding bank mortgage loans: 3.15 per cent now, up from 1.84 per cent in 2008.’
‘Retiree mortgage debt has been a cause for concern in countries such as the United States, where 30 per cent of people aged 65 and above had outstanding mortgages back in 2011.’
‘At the same time, not everyone with an outstanding private home loan at age 65 or above is in financial difficulty, they said. “(The increase) is a cause for concern only if loan holders aged 65 and above face a higher risk of difficulty in servicing their mortgage payment (during) retirement and are ‘underwater’ on their mortgages,” said Singapore Management University economist Phang Sock Yong. Instead, some retirees might have taken out mortgage loans for investment properties, which yield rental income, she said.’
‘Won Hee-ryong, the governor of Jeju province in South Korea, had strong words to say about Chinese property investors during his election campaign earlier this year. He criticized the “opportunistic capital” flowing from China into the local real estate market and warned that Chinese developers were intent on seizing land to turn it into a “Chinatown” that would intrude into local people’s lives.’
‘As housing prices in Europe and the United States increase year by year, Chinese investors are turning to other regions that have just opened their doors to newcomers. Jeju, an island with beautiful views that is often compared to Hawaii and close proximity to China, has become a new destination for property investment.’
‘The low housing prices in Jeju have attracted many Chinese individual investors. It is possible to buy a 100-squaremeter apartment on the island for 3 to 4 million yuan ($490,000 to $653,000), with an average price per square meter of less than 30,000 yuan.’
‘South Korean real estate purchased by Chinese investors stood at 485,000 square meters by late March 2013, up nearly tenfold from 49,000 sq m in 2010. By the end of the same quarter, land newly purchased by Chinese amounted to 400,000 sq m, far more than the 140,000 sq m by Europeans and 90,000 sq m by Americans.’
‘However, the fast growth of projects developed by Chinese companies has pushed up housing prices, causing concern among locals. The price per square meter has risen to around 30,000 yuan in 2014, from 7,000 yuan in 2010. Plus, local residents worry that construction projects are damaging the environment.’
‘Analysts blame the sagging volumes for private homes on the mismatched expectations of buyers and sellers as well as fewer launches. The tale of two markets is also likely to be a result of differing conditions. The fundamentals of the private property market have not given investors enough incentive to leap back in, said Mr Alan Cheong, senior director of research and consultancy at Savills Singapore.’
‘Consultants also said that a growing supply of new homes - an estimated 48,600 from this quarter to the end of 2016 - is worrying investors, while vacancy rates, at 7.1 per cent, are the highest since the fourth quarter of 2006, based on available data.’
‘First-time buyers are giving up their place in the queue for a new flat to buy a resale unit that they can move into almost immediately, said Mr Eugene Lim, key executive officer of ERA Realty. In addition to falling resale prices, “buyers don’t have to worry about paying high cash premiums over and above valuations to buy a resale flat, unlike before”, added Mr Lim.’
‘Police in Vietnam have arrested a prominent businessman and one of the country’s richest men on suspicion of lending fraud, as authorities step up their crackdown on financial crimes in a bid to clean up the debt-ridden banking sector. Tuoi Tre newspaper reported Saturday that Tham in 2012 approved a loan of 500 billion dong (US$23.5 million) to a private real estate company without proper collateral and the company is likely to default on the loan.’
‘Tham’s arrest came as Vietnam is trying to clean up high levels of bad debts in its banking system, which have dragged down economic growth in recent years and caused public anger. Bad debts are traced to the late 2000s, when Communist authorities encouraged state-owned banks to hand out easy credit to investors and developers as part of an effort to stimulate the economy, particularly the real-estate sector. The property boom crashed and banks are weighed down with bad debt, much of it owed by politically connected conglomerates.’
‘In June, a court in Hanoi sentenced Nguyen Duc Kien, the founder of Asia Commercial Bank, one of Vietnam’s largest, to 30 years in jail after finding him guilty of fraud, tax evasion, illegal trade and “deliberate wrongdoing” in scams at investment companies run by him.’
Case Shiller: Housing Prices Fall for 4th Consecutive Month
http://www.businessinsider.com/august-case-shiller-home-price-index-october-28-2014-10
Crater
And now to our previously interrupted broadcast from China…….
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-28/china-ghost-town-index-here-are-chinas-10-ghastliest-cities
I get this image of roving Chinese construction companies spreading out and low bidding on projects all over the world.
Endlessly building until all conceivable projects are completed.
‘Gwanggyo The Sharp Lake Park Officetel, built by Posco E&C in Gyeonggi, has a club lounge where residents can have breakfast and dinner and enjoy garden parties. Of course, it has a fitness center, an indoor golf complex and a spa. Owners of officetel buildings are swiftly hopping on the bandwagon as the number of such buildings exceeds demand. “After the supply significantly rose, they are desperate to attract buyers with differentiated services,” says Kim Joo-wook, CEO of Urban Partners.’
‘When estimating the profitability of rental income, it would be sensible to expect no more than that based on the current market price. “Some in the market exaggerate the future appreciation of officetels,” says Kwon Kang-soo, an executive at Korea Establishment Realty Agent. “That won’t be true.”
‘Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), one of the world’s largest petrochemicals groups and the Gulf’s largest listed company, reported a 4.5% drop in third-quarter net income yesterday, missing analysts’ forecasts. It earned 6.18bn riyals ($1.65bn) in the quarter, compared to 6.47bn riyals in the year-earlier period, Sabic reported in a bourse statement.’
‘Sabic, which is 70% state-owned, attributed the fall in profits to a drop in sales and other income, although its cost of financing was lower. The company’s results are closely tied to global economic growth because its products - plastics, fertilisers and metals - are used extensively in construction, agriculture, industry and the manufacturing of consumer goods.’
‘Sabic chief executive Mohamed al-Mady said in July that the outlook for petrochemical demand over the next three years was positive and there was room for prices to rise. “What has taken place is a temporary lower price,” he told reporters. “There is an increase in the global population, so undoubtedly the oil price will increase in the future.”
Sorry Mohamed, most of your stuff went into the global building mania. We won’t be buying so much for a very long time.
‘IOI Properties Group Bhd will be launching 10 projects with a total gross development value of RM3 billion over the next seven months up to its financial year ending 2015 (FY15). IOI Group’s executive chairman Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng (picture) said the group would be launching the projects across its three key markets, namely Malaysia, Singapore and China.
‘On the group’s projects in Iskandar Malaysia, Lee said he is not concerned of the threat of a property glut due to its ownership of landbank and diversification strategy. “There are concerns on oversupply in certain segments such as in Danga Bay where there are developers launching a few thousand high-rise units at one go. Of course the market will take awhile before there will be enough buyers to digest the supply. After that, the demand will pick up.”
‘A Reserve Bank official warns that if Australian house prices dropped, affordability would not necessary be any better than it is now. Dr Luci Ellis presented evidence that loan repayments are not unusually high at present, despite the sharp rise in house prices, thanks to record low interest rates.”One of the key messages I drew from a lot of the presentations and the supporting paper was that housing crashes do not improve affordability,” Dr Ellis said. “Housing prices are lower, yes, but capacity to pay is also lower and it’s something that is not well understood outside these sort of professions [economists and urban planners].”
‘Kirk McClure, a University of Kansas professor and US government advisor, said the US housing market is still in recovery after building almost double what was required in the run up to 2007. He said official figures show that, even after the housing driven financial crisis, the US is still building more homes that it has new households to occupy them.
“If there is any strong message for Australia it’s that we need careful growth management,” he told the forum. “The industry is very good at building, it unfortunately is not very good at reigning itself in when it reaches over-built condition.”
‘Dr Michelle Norris from the University College Dublin said the building boom was originally started by reports of a shortfall in housing supply. “But that solution kept being applied as the credit boom boomed and boomed, and there was absolutely no action on the demand side of the equation,” she said. “One of the reasons the additional supply didn’t help to moderate house prices was a huge expansion in empty dwellings so, by the bust, 16.7 per cent of dwellings were empty.”
‘Dr Ellis noted that Australia is a long way from a housing oversupply nationally, but it needs to be closely monitored. “Supply is increasing, and that’s an expected result of the current stance of monetary policy and it is needed to house the growing population, and it is needed as part of the handover from the end of the mining investment boom in that other sectors need to, and now have the scope to, expand more quickly than they did,” she said.’
‘While the Reserve Bank says that Australia has a housing shortage nationally, it has recently warned of oversupply dangers in some regions, such as an apartment building boom in inner-city Melbourne.’
‘The clearance rate of Sydney’s auction houses was at a three-month low over the weekend; falling below 80 per cent for the second time in the last three weeks. It wasn’t cause for alarm though as the number of listings was at a high with 753 homes being auctioned and October set to break the monthly record. The level of activity is still hot despite increasing prices with the low mortgage rates tempting many to the sale rooms and feeling confident in the economy in NSW.’
‘The Reserve Bank of Australia’s head of financial stability says building on the fringes of cities isn’t going to solve the problem of undersupply. Dr Luci Ellis told a forum in Sydney that much of the growth in population was coming from foreign students and they want to live in the city not in the suburbs. Dr Ellis said that while housing approvals are at a very high rate, the building has to coincide with people’s requirements. She suggested that it could be time to build new cities; something not done since Canberra.’
‘A young couple were the successful bidders in a short but keenly contested auction for a property in Tempe at the weekend. The Sydney suburb has often been shunned due to the high rate of aircraft activity but it seems buyers are happy to overlook the noise in favor of some lower prices. Properties are being bought quickly with an average listing time of about a week. Median prices are also increasing in Tempe; up 17.1 per cent in the last 12 months to $820,000.’
The total amount of debt you take on is of no importance, according to Dr. Ellis. Of course, this person is a mouthpiece of their employer, a central bank. This is what they would like us to believe.
Well, if an economist says the only thing that matters is howmuchamonth, it must be true. After all, those of us who are not professional economists obviously cannot understand these arcane matters and shouldn’t worry our pretty little heads about them.
They really do seem to think they can keep the game going forever.
‘She suggested that it could be time to build new cities’
It’s hard to know what to say anymore.
This trend of overbuilding in the face of a glut is destined to continue until…?!
I’m enjoying falling fuel and gasoline prices. Everyone I know is enjoying it too.
This is what we need. Falling prices of everything. Nothing is bullish like falling prices.
I’m still confused as to how and why we went from “high oil prices damage the economy” to “falling oil prices damage the economy.”
Did I miss a memo?
Credit and the house of cards built with it, devours on the way up and crushes on the way down.
Blink,
Increasing value of the dollar as capital flees the emerging economies. Falling demand as the depression that was delayed in 2008 reappears.
I think you have it reversed. Dollar is strengthened as prices fall.
Me thinks the foreclosure market is where the next buy will be no?
Ventura, CA Asking Prices Collapse 28% YoY On Cratering Housing Demand
http://www.movoto.com/ventura-ca/market-trends/
‘Quantitative easing is finally over. Here’s what it accomplished’
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/quantitative-easing-is-finally-over–here-s-what-it-accomplished-182947394.html
Forget the article, read the comments.