Analysts caution that the increase in construction doesn’t mean there has been an improvement in the business. Apartment vacancy is at a record and unemployment, essential to the sector’s health, remains elevated.
via WSJ.com.
Mar 06
Those who are betting on an economic recovery — V-shaped or otherwise — seem to be counting on two things: the housing market is (or will soon be) on the mend and a growing number of employers are poised to take on more staff. If the following reports are anything to go by, the optimists might want to have a rethink.
via Seeking Alpha.
Mar 01
Billionaire Warren Buffett said the U.S. residential real estate slump will end by about 2011, predicting that’s how long it will take demand for homes to catch up with the supply.
via BusinessWeek.
Feb 27
Ending 2009, 25% of mortgage holders owe more than their homes are worth, according to First American CoreLogic with problem areas like Nevada plaguing the national average as 70% of borrowers underwater. More than 50% of borrowers Florida and Arizona as well as 33% of California borrowers are underwater.
Feb 26
Over the last 12 months, 37% of Coldwell Banker Real Estate real estate sales professionals noted an increase in buyers looking to purchase homes to suite more than one generation of their family, according to a recent Coldwell Banker survey of its network of professionals.
via Read More.
Feb 25
What exactly is the monetary tipping point for a homeowner, someone occupying the home, hanging pictures on the walls, perhaps raising their kids in the second and third bedrooms, going to the neighborhood block parties…what exactly is the negative equity number that makes them say, “We’re outta here.”
Feb 24
You would like so desperately for our housing woes to end that you want to believe the latest numbers on mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures signal a turnaround in the fortunes of American homeowners. But the numbers just don’t ring true.
via MarketWatch.
Feb 23
Our current Federal policy direction will not help the housing industry and in fact seems bound to make it worse.
