Category: US Housing
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Why U.S. House Prices Are Still Falling / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Janet_Tavakoli
In October 2007, CNBC's Diana Olick called me about Countrywide's so-called plan to modify mortgage loans scheduled to reset to higher rates. Subprime borrowers with a strong payment history would be able to refinance and possibly get prime FHA loans. Current paying borrowers with credit issues would be offered Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans under a new expanded program.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Disappointing Trend of U.S. Home Sales Leaves Housing Sector at Top of Fed’s Watch List / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Sales of new homes fell 2.1% in May to an annual rate of 319,000. The level of home sales is still close to the recession/record low of 278,000 registered in August 2010. Sales of new homes plunged nearly 27% in the Northeast, held steady in the Midwest, fell in the West (-3.5%) and rose in the South (+2.4%).
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
U.S. Existing Home Sales Decline, Housing Market Slump Continues / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Sales of existing homes fell 3.8% to an annual rate of 4.81 million units in May, the lowest level since November 2010. As shown in Chart 1, the sales mark of existing home sales remains close to recession lows after two years of an economic recovery. On a regional basis, sales of existing homes fell in the Northeast (-2.5%), Midwest (-6.4%), and South (-5.1%) but held steady in the West.
Friday, June 10, 2011
How the Housing Market Can Save the U.S. Economy / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
Everyone knows that the U.S. housing market caused the current economic funk.
But here's the irony: The American housing market - a principal actor and victim of a bubble that burst, causing the worst recession since the Great Depression - may now be in a position to save the U.S. economy.
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Monday, June 06, 2011
U.S. House Price Crash Worse than the Great Depression, How Much Lower Will they Go? / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Washingtons_Blog
I noted in January that the housing slump is worse than during the Great Depression.
The Wall Street Journal noted Tuesday:
Read full article... Read full article...The folks at Capital Economics write in with this gloomy tidbit: “The further fall in house prices in the first quarter means that, on the Case-Shiller index, prices have now fallen by more than they did during the Great Depression.”
Friday, June 03, 2011
How to Fix the U.S. Housing Market / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
If this week's economic reports showed us anything, it's the fact that two years into what's supposed to be an economic recovery, the U.S. housing market remains on life support.
But here's what those reports didn't tell you: If the housing market isn't fixed soon, it's going to drag the rest of the economy down into a hellish bottom that will take years, if not decades, to crawl out of.
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Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Case Shiller Home Price Index Confirms U.S. Housing Market Concern / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller Home Price Index of 20 metro areas slipped 0.2% in March. This is the ninth consecutive monthly decline after the index posted gains in the second-half of 2009 and first-half of 2010. The temporary gain of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index was largely due to the first-time home buyer program which expired in April 2010.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Rebound of New U.S. Home Sales is Impressive, But Level Remains Close to Record Low / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Sales of new single-family homes rose 7.3% to an annual rate of 323,000 in April after an 8.3% increase in March. The record low sales mark of new single-family homes is 278,000 seen in August 2010 (see Chart 1). Essentially, sales of new homes continue to bounce around the record low reading after seven quarters of economic growth.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
U.S. Housing Market Starts Continue to Hover Around Cycle Low / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Housing starts fell 10.6% to an annual rate of 523,000 in April. Construction of single-family homes (-5.1%) and multi-family homes (-24.1%) declined in April. Starts of both total and single-family units (394,000) in April are little different from the cycle low (see Chart 1). Starts of new homes fell in the Northeast (-4.8%) and South (-23%) but advanced in the Midwest (+15.7%) and the West (+3.7%). The large supply of unsold homes and distressed properties continues to hold down construction of new homes.
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
US and UK Housing Market Outlook / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: John_Hampson
House prices globally tend to follow cycles lasting around 16 years: patterns of 12 years of rises followed by 4 years of declines (at a steeper rate than the rises). With US house prices having peaked in 2006 and UK house prices 2007, cycles suggest a new bull market should now emerge. So do historical measures support this?
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
U.S. Housing Market is Still Sick / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: John_Mauldin
Everyone is curious about the state of housing in the US. My friend Gary Shilling recently did a lengthy issue on housing as it is today. I asked him to give us a shorter version for Outside the Box, and he graciously did. And you want to know what Gary thinks, because he is one of the guys who really got it right early, from subprime to the bubble and the price collapse, and has been right all along. No one is better. This very readable edition is full of charts and fast reasoning.
Friday, May 13, 2011
US Housing Market Final Stage (REO) Foreclosures Target Six Million By 2014 / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Andrew_Butter
A Bank Repossession (REO) is the final stage of the foreclosure process that typically requires three foreclosure notices in USA. The REO is the point at which the bank throws you out on the street; but when the media report “X” many foreclosure filings in a month, that’s a mix of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd (final) stages.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
U.S. Housing Market and GDP Economic Growth / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Tony_Pallotta
Housing as a percent of GDP peaked in 1980 at 19%. In 2005 as the housing bubble was set to pop it represented 18.5%. Today it stands at 15%, still a large piece of the economy.
The part that is not measured (not sure it can be) is housing's impact on overall economic demand through the wealth affect. If someone is confident in the value of their home for example they are willing to invest in an addition or a remodel for example.
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011
U.S. Housing Market Crisis Crazy Statistics / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Chris_Kitze
End of the American Dream writes: Has the U.S. housing market reached a "bottom" yet? Are home prices going to start recovering? Is the housing crisis going to end at some point? Today there are millions of American families that would like to buy homes but they are not sure what to do. After all, nobody wants to end up like all the suckers that bought at the top of the market and now owe far more on their mortgages then their homes are worth. A lot of people are really afraid to take out home loans right now. So should you buy a home in 2011? That is a very good question.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
The Inside Out World of U.S. Home Mortgages / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Douglas_French
Nothing perks up the spirits like the coming of spring. Flowers are blooming and the birds are singing. The winter thaw is finally complete for most of the nation. But while yards are starting to bloom, home values are still dormant. The median sales price of a home in the United States has dropped to just over $159,000, the lowest level since 2002.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
U.S. Home Sales Climb, But Level Remains Close to Record Low Mark / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Sales of existing single-family homes increased 11.1% to an annual rate of 300,000 units in March after an upwardly revised reading for February (270,000 vs. 250,000 in earlier report). The largest gain in sales of single-family homes was registered in the Northeast (+66.7%) followed by the West (+25.9%) and Midwest (+12.9%) and a virtually unchanged level in the South.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
U.S. Existing Homes Sales Data Continues to Suggest Soft Conditions in Housing Market / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
Much like housing starts, existing home sales also posted a small gain in March. But, the bottom line is that housing starts and existing home sales are hovering close to cycle lows and sustained gains to push readings noticeably above cycle lows have not occurred, as yet. New home sales numbers for March will be published on April 25, 2011.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
U.S. Housing Market Foreclosure Chinese Water Torture / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Douglas_French
The real-estate bust continues at a pace akin to Chinese water torture. Home prices peaked five years ago, but a mountain of foreclosures still looms. RealtyTrac reports that filings rose 7 percent in March from the previous month but are down 35 percent from March of last year, when RealtyTrac recorded the highest number of default filings since the company started in boom-time 2005. Foreclosure filings for the entire first quarter fell to a three-year low.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
U.S. Housing Market Starts, Small Gain, But is Step in Right Direction / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Asha_Bangalore
Housing starts rose 7.2% to an annual rate of 549,000 in March following an 18.5% drop in the prior month. In the first quarter, total housing starts have risen at an annualized pace of 23.2%. Single-family starts moved up 7.7% to an annual rate of 422,000 in March. However, on a quarterly basis, starts of single-family units have dropped nearly 18%, which indicates that the entire gain in the first quarter came from multi-family starts. These numbers suggest that residential investment expenditure most likely made a small positive contribution to real GDP in the first quarter. The current level of housing starts is still down nearly 77% from the peak reading in January 2006 (1.823 million units).
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Friday, April 08, 2011
Falling U.S. House Prices Could Restrain Economic Recovery / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
With the latest data pointing to a double-dip in home prices, it has become increasingly clear that the wobbly economic recovery won't be getting any help from the housing sector.
Existing home sales in February sank 9.6% from the previous month, while prices fell 5.2% to a median of $156,000, the lowest since April 2002. Existing homes comprise 90% of the housing market.
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