MacroMarkets September 2010 Home Price Expectations Survey

On September 21 MacroMarkets released its September Home Price Expectations Survey results. Here is the Press Release (pdf); the accompanying chart is seen below: As one can see from the above chart, the expectation is that not only has the residential real estate market hit a “bottom” as far as pricing; but that steady yet …

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MacroMarkets June 2010 Home Price Expectations Survey

On Wednesday (June 23) MacroMarkets released its June Home Price Expectations Survey results. Here is the Press Release (pdf); the accompanying chart is seen below: As one can see from the above chart, the expectation is that not only has the residential real estate market hit a “bottom” as far as pricing; but that steady …

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Residential Real Estate Market Characteristics

I found this MacroMarkets web page to be an interesting characterization of the U.S. residential real estate market. Here is an excerpt: “With an aggregate capital value of $16.6 trillion at the end of 2009, real property owned by United States households comprises the largest real estate marketplace – and one of the largest asset …

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Home Prices Vs. Gold

On April 23, chartoftheday.com had an interesting chart, shown below, that compares the median home price vs. the price of Gold: Traditionally, houses have been viewed as “hard assets.”  However, as one can see above, their recent (from a long-term historical perspective) price pattern seems more geared to that of a “paper asset” – i.e. …

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The Latest Housing Intervention

Saturday’s Wall Street Journal chronicles the latest housing intervention plan in a story titled “Mortgage Plan Remodeled Again.” I have written extensively about the residential real estate problems and dynamics thereof. It strongly appears as if we, as a nation, have come to a place where there is hardly a real estate intervention that we …

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An Interesting Article On Housing Prices

I came across an interesting Fortune Magazine story dated February 16 titled “Where’s housing headed? Follow rents.”  The link can be found here. Of course, given my previous posts on residential real estate I don’t agree with many aspects of the story, especially the statement “Given that analysis, it’s likely that prices will fall another …

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Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Situation

An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal presents a thorough summary of the situation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  The article is titled, “No Exit in Sight for U.S. As Fannie, Freddie Flail.”  Here is the link to the story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704362004575001042824028862.html?KEYWORDS=no+exit+in+sight+for+us I’ve commented extensively on the U.S. real estate situation, and the national attempts …

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A Classic Article Revisited

One of the classic articles of the housing bubble is “America’s House Party” from Time Magazine, June 2005.  It really provides a flavor of the period, as well as provides a perspective of a bubble environment. Here is the link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1069097,00.html   SPX at 1032.81 as this post is written

“Underwater” Mortgages and “Strategic” Defaults

This article caught my interest; it is titled “About half of U.S. mortgages seen underwater by 2011”: http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN0526831020090805 Apparently their projections for “underwater” mortgages is based upon their forecast quoted in the article: “Covering 100 U.S. metropolitan areas, Deutsche Bank in June forecast home prices would fall 14 percent through the first quarter of 2011, …

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