Below is a chart that cuts right through the noise and semantics, and shows that when expressed in a currency — Gold — that has not been battered and diluted endlessly, the true normalized value of housing is really down 80% not just since the housing peak but since the turn of the millennium. Median home price priced […]

Case-Shiller home price index (January 2011): Smaller drop. In earlier research they found that home “asking prices” provide valuable leading information for house price trends (See Sven Jari Stehn, “House Prices: Asking Prices Point to Further Near-term Weakness.”US Daily Comment, September 30, 2010). Asking prices remain soft, and we therefore forecast another decline in the […]

By most accounts, and as outlined and analyzed extensively in a Knowledge@Wharton article, What the Demise of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Mean for the Future of Homeownership –  the federally sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not cause the housing and mortgage crisis. But they were a big part of the problem, prompting […]

Times they are a changing in the mortgage industry. As reported in a recent New York Times article, New Federal Rule for Mortgage Brokers, starting April 1, under a new compensation rule from the Federal Reserve, borrowers who get their mortgages through brokers will most likely pay less for their services and must be offered the lowest […]

SOME GOOD NEWS IS ON THE WAY, AT LEAST WITH RESPECT TO STIMULATING HOME SALES. As reported in the New York Ties, the president signed legislation last week that extended the tax credit for first-time home buyers and added a new credit for some existing homeowners. Here’s a primer on the details….
1st TIME HOMEBUYER >> […]

Many say that housing is the key to our financial recovery and it is certainly central to the Real Esate market. So let us read the tea leaves, both past, present and future.
According to the leading real estate website Zillow.com’s first-quarter 2009 Real Estate Market Reports, which encompass 161 metropolitan areas and cover the value […]

A report on Home Prices expected out Tuesday, December 30, 2008, is likely to prompt the push for additional relief for the housing sector.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices is expected to reflect the continuing toll exacted by the deflating housing bubble. Along these lines, here is a rather remarkable list of factors — all errupting within the last […]

Near record low mortgage rates spurred a 62 percent spike in refinance activity, while purchase applications increased 10 percent. Refinance activity continues to surge as mortgage rates neared record lows. Here is all the lastest detail …….

Refiances Dominate: According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey, the refinance share of mortgage activity […]

More bad news. The Architecture Billings Index, which is compiled from a monthly survey of architecture firms around the U.S., is at its lowest level since the American Institute of Architects survey began in 1995.
A Leading Economic Indicator: Since the index reflects an approximate nine- to twelve-month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending, […]

Read Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s statement, unedited …addressing the root cause of the credit crisis.

September 19, 2008: 10:24 AM EDT
WASHINGTON — Statement by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson.
Last night, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC Chairman Chris Cox and I had a lengthy and productive working session with Congressional leaders. We began a substantive discussion on […]