United States

Question: Could one see a bubble in housing back in 2005 when house prices were still rising? Well, to answer that question, I took the S&P/Case-Shiller Composite 10 Index and mapped it the rate of inflation. See, Robert Shiller, one…

I was just reviewing the Case-Shiller local metropolitan indices and saw that as the decline gets steeper, each of the 20 markets is reverting back to price levels 3 and 4 years in the past. So, here's what I have on each metro area as of…

The S and P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for the U.S. housing market came out yesterday and the news was not good. MarketWatch said: Home prices in 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas have dropped a record 14.4% in the past year, Standard…

Although I prefer the S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index to look at U.S. house prices (see residential property posts), the OFHEO index has more data, going back to 1975 (instead of 1987 as the 10-city Case-Shiller does). Ultimately,…

Warren Buffett is in Germany looking for large acquisitions of German companies. He's been forced to go global as his size and the US's competitive position has limited his options in the US. I caught a German-language article from Der…

This chart speaks for itself.See also:Unemployment Report: biggest rise in rate in two decadesChart of the day: Change in jobless claims

Since the beginning of the bull market in 1982, the U.S. has become a society hooked on debt. Total debt (including financial services companies) has nearly doubled as a percentage of GDP in those 25-odd years (from 133% of GDP at $4…

The U.S. has been spending more than it earns for years. This deficit spending is measured as the current account deficit. The graph here is a depiction of where we were and what we have come to. We had a slight surplus in after the last…

This blog entry will serve as a timeline to track housing prices over time as they are reported. US: S&P/Case-Shiller Index 2007 03 27 S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index Declined 0.2% 2007 04 24 S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price…