US housing starts up 40% in last year but still half of 50-year average
Housing starts in the US were up today. The Wall Street Journal writes that number came in at 717,000, up from a low of 478,000 in April 2009.
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Browsing Tag
Housing
The Denial on Housing in Spain
This post highlights a brilliant piece of journalism by Bloomberg reporters Sharon Smyth, Neil Callanan and Dara Doyle. The story takes us to Spain and Ireland and the former's denial with regards its housing market. A passage that was…
Australian House Prices down 10% from Peak
Australian house prices peaked in June 2010. The motive force behind Australia’s bubble was the same as in the USA and Japan: accelerating debt drove rising house prices during the boom. Now in both those countries, decelerating debt is…
Bank of Canada: House price-to-income ratio outstrips norm by 35%
I have noted a number of times in the past that household debt levels in Canada have reached worrying levels. I am not the only one on to this. Canadian central bank head Mark Carney was in the news yesterday sounding the alarm on this as…
The growing optimism on housing is not justified
The bullish argument that houses are now generally affordable also does not hold up on closer examination. As we have repeated ad infinitum the average household has too much debt and is in the midst of deleveraging rather than taking on…
Bill Gross on his expectations for QE3 and more
The following transcript and video is courtesy of Bloomberg TV where Bill Gross spoke to Margaret Brennan today, telling her that he thinks the Fed will go Qe3, but that it will shift to mortgage backed securities when Operation Twist ends…
Shiller: Real Chance of Japan-like Housing Slump in US
Shiller says the shift toward renting and city living could mean “that we will never in our lifetime see a rebound in these prices in the suburbs." Watch the video.
The preposterous credit world view presented in Ben Bernanke’s lecture series at George…
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's lecture series at George Washington University is most unfortunate. The first instinct, at least here, is to let it pass. Two of the man's characteristics will be addressed in what follows. First, his…
Government’s role in the subprime crisis
Could a new paper published by researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis finally answer the question of whether affordable housing laws caused the subprime crisis? Yes.
Daily commentary: Will Ireland get a bank debt writedown?
This daily commentary is a bronze-level post. Today's comment is on the Irish desire to get their tracker mortgage obligations written down.