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Housing Bubble Blog News

Business Update on KPCC: Housing market changes hands Tuesday, July 19, 2011 @ 3:36PMMark Lacter: A little-noticed shift is taking place between baby boomers and younger households.
Council Of Economic Advisors' Annual Reports 2005-2007: No Crisis Here Monday, July 18, 2011 @ 10:29AMI decided to look at what President Bush's Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) were saying in their annual reports for 2005-2007 about the massive real estate bubble, epidemic of accounting control fraud and mortgage fraud, the resultant rapidly developing financial crisis, and the great increase in economic inequality.
Interest rates: Will savers ever see them rise again? Monday, July 18, 2011 @ 6:31AMInterest rates are so low now that it makes sense to pay off even low-interest debt. But interest rates will rise again.
Jared Bernstein: What's Wrong With This Economy? (Part 2) Sunday, July 17, 2011 @ 7:27PMConsumer spending and residential housing are way down and they're not getting much of a boost from paychecks. Which means that stimulus is about the only game in town, or it would be if policy makers weren't spending practically every waking minute on budget cuts.
Wall Street's 'casual corruption' Friday, July 15, 2011 @ 1:24AMThe recession started in 2007 when the housing bubble burst. Bad mortgages led to the banking crisis and then to Wall Street. Why has so little attention been paid to going after the leading figures in the financial industry?
Saving, Trade, and the Confidence Fairy Thursday, July 14, 2011 @ 7:36AMHere we see the huge gulf between Austrian and Keynesian analysis.
Lodi in no rush for more residential growth Thursday, July 14, 2011 @ 2:12AMLODI - It's liveable, loveable, Lodi, and it's going to stay that way until at least 2015.
Quantitative Easing Rounds 1 and 2 Hurt the Economy ... Bernanke Proposes Round 3 Wednesday, July 13, 2011 @ 8:22PM→ Washington’s Blog Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is hinting at a third round of quantitative easing . But Dallas Federal Reserve Bank president Richard Fisher said today: I firmly believe that the Federal Reserve has already pressed the limits of monetary policy. So-called QE2, to my way of thinking, was of doubtful efficacy , which is why I did not support it to begin with. But even if ...
A Frank Discussion With Two Real Estate Pros Wednesday, July 13, 2011 @ 5:07PMVia Pension Pulse. On Tuesday, I went for lunch with Frédéric Blondeau and Benoit Caron of Gestion de Placements Eterna , a Quebec trust company founded by Alphonse Tardif in 1928 and successfully managed by three generations of the Tardif family. The company is now run by his grandson, Paul Tardif. Frédéric contacted me, telling me he and Benoit are fans of my blog. I was more than happy to ...
ProPublica: FDIC Chair: Mortgage Industry 'Didn't Think Borrowers Were Worth Helping' Wednesday, July 13, 2011 @ 4:43PMBy Lois Beckett, ProPublica Outgoing Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairwoman Sheila C. Bair's revealing exit interview by the New York Times' Joe Nocera [1] has...
FDIC Chair: Lenders And Gov't At Fault In Mortgage Mess Wednesday, July 13, 2011 @ 12:30PMWhile Bair said that President Barack Obama's "heart is in the right place," she criticized his economic team for taking controversial steps to aid banks while, in Nocera's words, being "utterly unwilling to take any political heat to help homeowners."
FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair: Mortgage industry 'didn't think borrowers were worth helping' Wednesday, July 13, 2011 @ 9:57AMThe government has only recently started to penalize banks for mistakes in mortgage modifications.
Why Small Business Isn't Hiring, Part II Wednesday, July 13, 2011 @ 7:14AMHere are four more structural reasons why small business isn't expanding/hiring. Continuing our exploration of why small business isn't expanding and hiring: here are four more deeply pernicious structural dynamics crushing small business.
Harlan Green: Jobs Decline... Fed QE3 in the Works? Tuesday, July 12, 2011 @ 6:16PMWe are still in some sort of a disinflationary spiral. Yes, I said disinflation, which means the rate of inflation is falling, not rising as the holders of debt would have us believe.
How to Fix Our Optimism Deficit Monday, July 11, 2011 @ 8:14AMEuropeans, Japanese, and even rose-colored glasses wearing Americans are suffering from what has been described as an 'optimism deficit' . This rather unthreatening sounding phrase should not be mistaken for an insignificant economic problem.
Countrywide Crushing Investors’ Subprime Claims Friday, July 8, 2011 @ 3:05PMThe Bank of America unit has fought so aggressively against numerous lawsuits since 2007 that plaintiffs may settle for less than 1 percent
Countrywide Wages Victorious Tranche Warfare Against Mortgage Debt Holders Thursday, July 7, 2011 @ 11:28PMInvestors who sued over $351 billion in downgraded Countrywide Financial Corp. mortgage-backed securities after the 2007 subprime market collapse may have to settle for less than 1 percent of what they initially sought.
Barone: Replacing property as a source of wealth creation Thursday, July 7, 2011 @ 1:15AMshare: digg facebook twitter In this property-holders' democracy, elected representatives have naturally sought to facilitate the accumulation of property, as Walter Russell Mead has pointed out in his unfailingly interesting Via Media blog on the-american-interest.com. In the Great Depression, when 25 percent of Americans still lived on farms, government started subsidizing producers of certain ...
Does debt boosts young people's morale? Wednesday, July 6, 2011 @ 6:02PMClaims about the positive effects of debt warrant a closer look Left: A twenty-something faces the horror of her account balance [Photo: RNuwer] [More]
Does debt boost young people's morale? Wednesday, July 6, 2011 @ 6:02PMClaims about the positive effects of debt warrant a closer look Left: A twenty-something faces the horror of her account balance [Photo: RNuwer] [More]
Wall Street's 'casual corruption' Wednesday, July 6, 2011 @ 10:22AMThe recession started in 2007 when the housing bubble burst. Bad mortgages led to the banking crisis and then to Wall Street. Why has so little attention been paid to going after the leading figures in the financial industry?
Loan Limit: Will It or Won't It Hurt Housing? Tuesday, July 5, 2011 @ 1:01PMA few weeks ago the National Association of Home Builders put out a report asserting that new lower loan limits going into effect in October at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) "will reduce housing demand and place downward pressure on home prices in major housing markets."
Government sponsored enterprises Sunday, July 3, 2011 @ 3:59PMA few days ago I posted a post on my blog that responds to George Will’s claim in his weekend Washington Post column that the auto bailout was a privatization of profits but a socialization of losses.
Diane Francis: Spain Is Mucho Macho and too Big to Fail Sunday, July 3, 2011 @ 3:39PMThe Spanish business attitude, mocking or machismo, underlines worries about Spain's economy, which is as big as Canada, Russia or India. Spain and Italy are simply too big to fail.
Replacing property as a source of wealth creation Saturday, July 2, 2011 @ 7:11PMMichael Barone Senior Political Analyst Follow Him @MichaelBarone One of the interesting things about our country, the independence of which the Founders declared 235 years ago Monday, is that we have been a property holders' democracy. This is not something the Founders originally advocated. While they protested taxation by a British Parliament in which they were not represented ...
China’s debt problem Saturday, July 2, 2011 @ 11:19AMPROFESSOR Victor Shih of Northwestern University has been writing the most illuminating analyses of the problem of China’s local debt problem. Here is an example of his work, which came out in his beyondbrics blog on July 1: * * * “How much local government debt is there in China? “On Monday, the National Audit [...]
Trust In Global Institutions Is Fraying And Breaking Friday, July 1, 2011 @ 12:14PMTwo major trends are reversing, and trust in centralized institutions is eroding. I tend to be years early on identifying trends, but three that will make a difference going forward are what I call "The Three Ds": Delegitimization, Definancialization and Deglobalization.
Georgia: the unlikely epicentre of U.S. bank closures Friday, July 1, 2011 @ 12:13PMThe state has seen more financial institution shut downs than any other
UCLA Study Predicts Coastal Communities Will Benefit from Housing Slump Friday, July 1, 2011 @ 7:40AMUCLA's most recent Anderson Forecast detailed the future of California's real estate market. Based on 2010 U.S. Census results and Anderson research, UCLA's Senior Economist, Jerry Nickelsburg, predicted that consumers would shift away from inland homes if their commutes required long-distance drives towards the coast.
Pending Home Index Shows Recent Real Estate Gains Friday, July 1, 2011 @ 7:10AMFindings from the National Association of Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index reveal that contract signings rose 8.2% in May, which is 13.4% higher than May 2010. This represents the largest gain since November 2010, and the greatest increase from year-ago percentages since April 2010.
Helicopter Money Friday, July 1, 2011 @ 1:59AMA great deal can be learned about the government’s response to this crisis, as well as the mistaken policies that necessitated it, by analyzing a speech delivered by Ben Bernanke on 21 November 2002. At that time, Bernanke was a Governor of the Federal Reserve.
Bank of America expects loss after settlement Wednesday, June 29, 2011 @ 7:11PMCHARLOTTE, N.C./NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp said it expects to take more than $20 billion of charges after settling with mortgage bond investors, resulting in a second-quarter loss.
Live Blog: Lansdowne Hearing, Day 6 Wednesday, June 29, 2011 @ 9:54AMMohammed Adam reports from the courthouse, and we follow #lansdowne Tweets, as a judge hears arguments on the Lansdowne development plan. Tuesday's coverage starts at 10 a.m.
A housing bubble? Even Carney won't go there Wednesday, June 29, 2011 @ 6:13AMThey are almost impossible to identify; price increases aren’t always due to irrational behaviour
Why it's hard to spot a housing bubble Wednesday, June 29, 2011 @ 5:58AMPrice increases aren’t always due to irrational behaviour
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Equity Residential, D.R. Horton, International Paper, Berkshire Hathaway and Masco Wednesday, June 29, 2011 @ 5:32AMThe Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Equity Residential, D.R. Horton, International Paper, Berkshire Hathaway and Masco
Really Understanding Monday, June 27, 2011 @ 3:35PMI really like what Ezra Klein has to say about the documentary 'Inside Job' and the genre of crisis-explanation journalism we're experiencing : There's a lot to dislike about Wall Street. The pay. The culture. In many cases, the people. But that doesn't explain what happened in 2007 and 2008. A lot of observers understood we had a housing bubble -- Dean Baker, for instance, had been sounding the ...
What If The Consensus Is Wrong About The Economy? Monday, June 27, 2011 @ 1:29PMstream consensus is wrong, but what about the non-mainstream consensus? Maybe it's equally misguided. There are a variety of consensus views floating around the mainstream media and the blogosphere.
Why Bob Rodriguez Has More Than Half His Equity Holdings in Energy Stocks Sunday, June 26, 2011 @ 1:53AMBy Devon ShireI'm sure you are familiar with Robert Rodriguez of First Pacific Advisors. Over the pa...
Ezra Klein Should Stick to Being Wrong About Health Care Friday, June 24, 2011 @ 5:21AMA recent post by Ezra Klein, " What ‘Inside Job’ got wrong ," manages the impressive feat of being spectacularly off base, rhetorically dishonest, and embarrassingly revealing of the lack of a moral compass all at once. Since being off base is a major part of Klein's brand, I suppose one should not be surprised; those who've had the good fortune to have limited contact with his output can read ...
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: D.R. Horton, Berkshire Hathaway, Fortune Brands, USG and PPG Industries Friday, June 24, 2011 @ 4:50AMThe Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: D.R. Horton, Berkshire Hathaway, Fortune Brands, USG and PPG Industries
Why The Eurozone And The Euro Are Both Doomed Thursday, June 23, 2011 @ 11:44AMPapering over the structural imbalances in the Eurozone with endless bailouts will not resolve the fundamental asymmetries. Beneath the endless announcements of Greece's "rescue" lie fundamental asymmetries that doom the euro, the joint currency that has been the centerpiece of European unity since its introduction in 1999.
Ezra Klein: Out of the Ballpark on Inside Job Wednesday, June 22, 2011 @ 9:44PMI always enjoy reading Ezra Klein’s blog. He’s an excellent writer and he does his homework. However, he really missed the story in his review of Inside Job (even though I do appreciate the favorable mention).
On Bubbles … And Why it Will All be Fine Wednesday, June 22, 2011 @ 9:02AMEditor’s Note: This is a guest post by ( @msuster ) Mark Suster, a 2x entrepreneur, now VC at GRP Partners . Read more about Suster at Bothsidesofthetable Bubble. There, I said it. We're definitely in some stage of it - whether early in the cycle or the end of it nobody can say. And it will all be fine. People get too worked up over the word. I'm no great scholar on bubbles - I have more ...
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: La-Z-Boy, USG, Weyerhaeuser and Berkshire Hathaway Wednesday, June 22, 2011 @ 8:30AMZacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Sherwin Williams, La-Z-Boy, USG, Weyerhaeuser and Berkshire Hathaway Wednesday, June 22, 2011 @ 5:47AMThe Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Sherwin Williams, La-Z-Boy, USG, Weyerhaeuser and Berkshire Hathaway
Sino-Forest fans push back with SEC hoax Tuesday, June 21, 2011 @ 10:14AMPaulson's fund filed this week to say it sold all the shares of Sino-Forest (SNOFF) it has bought over the past three-plus years, booking a loss estimated at $700 million. The stock has plunged 91% this year, mostly after a short-seller, Carson Block of Muddy Waters Research, published a report contending the company's books were cooked. Paulson told Bloomberg he sold the stock "due to the ...
Sales Of Existing Homes Fall; Pace Is Weakest Of Year So Far Tuesday, June 21, 2011 @ 9:57AMThe reasons include bad weather and higher gasoline prices. Regardless, sales were down nearly 4 percent in May from April and were off more than 15 percent from a year earlier.
When Was The Housing Peak And How Far Away Is The Bottom? Monday, June 20, 2011 @ 1:44PMHave housing prices bottomed? If not, when will they? Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture Blog has recently chimed in on that question, and in response Calculated Risk chimed in.
Hong Kong Property Shares Tumble Following China Comments Monday, June 20, 2011 @ 10:26AMFears of new measures push down the city's real estate developers.