Housing Market Is Heating Up, if Not Yet Bubbling. Banks find appalling new way to cheat homeowners. This article originally appeared on Alternet.
Existing Home Sales in August: 5.48 million SAAR, 4.9 months of supply. By Bill McBride on 9/19/2013 10:00:00 AM The NAR reports: August Existing-Home Sales Rise, Limited Inventory Continues to Push Prices Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 1.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.48 million in August from 5.39 million in July, and are 13.2 percent higher than the 4.84 million-unit level in August 2012.Total housing inventory at the end of August increased 0.4 percent to 2.25 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 4.9-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 5.0-month supply in July.
Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Increased at Slower Pace. Residential real-estate prices increased in June at a slower pace, a sign the rate of improvement in the housing market is cooling.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities rose 12.1 percent in June from the same month in 2012 after rising 12.2 percent in the year ended in May, which was the biggest gain since March 2006, the group said today in New York. The increase matched the median forecast of 25 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Increasing property values are boosting household wealth, helping underpin consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. At the same time, a jump in mortgage rates shows signs of curbing sales and refinancing, which will make it more difficult to tap home equity.
Consumer confidence unexpectedly increased in August as Americans grew more optimistic about the outlook for the economy, another report today showed. Increasing property values are boosting household wealth, helping underpin consumer... 2007: The Ongoing Impact of the Housing Sector. Note: This was first published 6 years ago.
I thought it was prescient enough, and mostly right, to bring to your attention again. Who should we blame for the problems in the credit markets? Maintaining Stability in a Changing Financial System. Housing, Housing Finance, and Monetary Policy. 30 year fixed rate mortgages are awesome. Matt Yglesias writes about the 30-year fixed rate mortgage in the United States and asks whether it would survive the end of government subsidies through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Need to Be Reformed, Not Scrapped - Economic Intelligence. It appears that Washington is finally getting around to grappling with the largest unresolved question left over from America's housing meltdown: What's to become of the government-backed mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
Their fate has been in limbo since the federal government bailed them out and put them in conservatorship in 2008. Now, however, the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) are reaping enormous profits as housing markets rebound. Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Rise to Highest Since 2009. Sales of previously owned U.S. homes jumped in July to the second-highest level in more than six years as buyers rushed to lock in mortgage rates before they increased any more.
Purchases advanced 6.5 percent to a 5.39 million annual rate last month, beating the 5.15 million median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. Sales were the strongest since a government tax credit temporarily boosted demand in November 2009, and second-highest since March 2007. The data reflect closings of contracts signed a month or two earlier, when mortgage rates were just beginning to edge up from record lows, persuading buyers to complete transactions as borrowing costs subsequently shot up. Gains in employment and wages will probably give households the means and confidence to sustain demand throughout 2013. Stocks Decline Tax Credit. Luxury Item Investing Returns. The illusory housing recovery. Apparently there is life in the UK housing market.
According to ONS, UK house prices increased by 3.1% in the 12 months to June 2013, up from a 2.9% increase in the 12 months to May 2013. Predictably, vested interests like estate agents, surveyors and developers are crowing. The director of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, Peter Bolton King, claims the housing market is "on the road to recovery". Affording a home harder for average buyer - Aug. 13, 2013. Ogden, Utah, is the most affordable major housing market, according to the report.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Of all homes sold between April and June, 69.3% were affordable to a family earning the median income of $64,400, according to an index compiled by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo. That's down significantly from the first quarter, when 73.7% of homes sold were affordable and from late 2011, when affordability peaked at 78%. "Housing affordability has been hovering near historic highs for the past several years, largely due to exceptionally favorable mortgage rates and low prices during the recession," said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C.
Related: America's Best Places to Live. Don’t Kill Fannie Mae. Blackstone Said to Acquire GE Apartments for $2.7 Billion. Blackstone Group LP (BX), the largest manager of private-equity real estate funds, agreed to buy 80 U.S. apartment properties from General Electric Co.
Did We Waste a Financial Crisis? Remarkably, five years after the crisis, the health of the financial industry is just as hard to determine. A major bank or financial institution could meet every single regulatory requirement yet still be at risk of collapse, and few of us would even know it. Despite endless calls for change, many of the economists I’ve spoken with have lamented that the reports that banks issue about their finances remain all but useless. The sprawling Dodd-Frank Act, which rewrote banking regulation in 2010, didn’t resolve things so much as inaugurate a process of endless rules-writing by regulators. Meanwhile, the European Union is in the early stages of figuring out how it will change the way it regulates banks; and the gargantuan issue of coordinating regulations across borders has only barely begun. AEI’s FHA Disinformation Campaign Ignores Basic Finance. How one discredited “mortgage expert” from the American Enterprise Institute launched an ongoing disinformation campaign to destroy a successful government program that helped stabilize the mortgage markets.
Fortress to Blackstone Say Now Is Time to Sell on Surge. Private-equity managers from Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) to Blackstone Group LP (BX), which made billions by buying low and selling high, say now is the time to exit investments as stocks rally and interest rates start to rise. Fortress, the first publicly traded buyout firm in the U.S., is preparing holdings for public offerings while struggling to find attractive new deals, Wesley Edens, who runs Fortress’s $14.3 billion private-equity business, said on a conference call with investors yesterday.
That environment extends to credit and distressed investments, said Pete Briger, who oversees the New York-based firm’s $12.5 billion credit business. “This is a better time for selling our existing investments than making new investments,” Briger said on the call. “There’s been more uncertainty that’s been fed into the markets.” Leon Black, chairman and chief executive officer of Apollo Global Management LLC, in Beverly Hills, California. Blackstone, Deutsche Bank in Talks to Sell Bond Backed by Home Rentals. It’s Not Everyone’s Time to Buy a Home. Datapoint: Aftermath of Credit/Housing Bubble. Home Sales Probably Increased in June: U.S. Economy Preview. Home sales probably climbed in June to the highest level since November 2009, showing residential real estate is becoming a mainstay of U.S. economic growth. House-flipping is back, flourishing again. Calculated Risk.
Unexpected Drop in Starts Curbs U.S. Housing Rebound: Economy. Asset Classes. MBA: Mortgage Refinance Applications Decline as Mortgage Rates Increase in Latest Weekly Survey. Calculated Risk. U.S. Banks Face Two Ratios as FDIC Sets Capital Vote. Capital standards at the biggest U.S. lenders would rise to 5 percent of assets for parent companies and 6 percent for their banking units under a proposal by regulators to bolster financial firms.
Leverage ratios would be pegged 2 percentage points above the 3 percent international minimum for holding companies, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said today in a statement. Capital at U.S. How Spitzer as comptroller could impact Wall Street. Bloomberg. World Economics Association - real-world economics review - issue no. 64 - rbutler - San Diego State University Mail. 'It's a proto-fascist ideology. Top bankers as predators and us as prey' 'It's a proto-fascist ideology. Top bankers as predators and us as prey' 'It's a proto-fascist ideology. Top bankers as predators and us as prey' FHA Swamped By Defaults; Congressional Report Shows FHA Could Suffer Losses as High as $115 Billion; Shut Down Fannie, Freddie, FHA.
Lechmere: The Employer's "Right" to Keep Employees Isolated and Uninformed.