Markets

I am pretty well satisfied that the subprime mess has reached its pinnacle. While there may yet be many more defaults, much of the disaster in subprime is baked into the cake. It's time to move on. But, move on to what? Most analysts say…

In the Washington Post today, Martin Feldstein gives is view on housing. His view is that a downward spiral is likely unless we act to prevent it. Hisplan is essentially a government bailout. Martin Feldstein is the President of the…

This comes from Bloomberg News via one of their top finance commentators, Caroline Baum.Why Real Estate Market Is Nowhere Near a Bottom: Caroline BaumCommentary by Caroline Baum…

I am hearing from multiple sources that the large property company Drac, based in Mallorca in Spain, has filed for bankruptcy. The company had 600 or 700 million euros of debt at the time of its bankruptcy, depending upon the source. Drac…

Jeremy Grantham, a hedge fund manager based in the Boston area, is one of the more respected money managers who has had a cautious view on equities during this past economic cycle. The Canadian daily Globe & Mail has a good interview…

The Mess That Greenspan Made has a blog entry with good visuals giving you a sense of how price appreciation, median prices and housing sales have changed over the past 4-5 years. I recommend it highly.

According to the Telegraph, UK housing starts hit their lowest level in 63 years. With a lack of new business, how will Barrat's and Taylor Wimpey survive? The Telegraph suggests that investors will save them, much as they have saved the…

These two charts are interesting just for historical purposes. This tracks the FTSE All-share index from 1800-2007. While there were a number of peaks and valleys, the FTSE went pretty much nowhere until after World War II. At that…

According to the Daily Mail, house prices need to fall by a lot more than the 8% to date in the UK in order to make them affordable for first time home buyers. The 63% number comes from the least affordable borough, Westminster in London,…

The website immobilienblasen has a good entry today that alerted me to an interactive map about oil-related issues on the FT website. It's a great resource.