-Is Housing Too Expensive? Blame the Government Maybe zoning laws are causing the real-estate bubble.- http://slate.msn.com/id/2123590/
Nice little article and I did enjoy learning that the average January temperature was an amenity but has zoning become that big a deal in the past 5 years to drive costs/prices up? I'm not buying it.
My home has gone up 30% (at least) in 7 weeks here in the Phx area and I want to extend my sincerest thanks to all the CA investors that have made this possible... SSB
Here's a FireWalker post : http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=747256#post747256 "Yes. The Fed is a fraud. Theft by inflation. It's all by design. It allows gov't to spend more than their tax revenue by stealing from its citizens. A hidden tax. Monkeying around with stimulating the economy in the short term (for some short-sighted goal like getting someone elected) has dire consequences for long term stability. Fiat money schemes always end badly." ----------------- LOL. You live in a cave with gold, guns, and bottled water?
I'm still trying to figure out where this rising rate environment is, 4.27 on 10 year and 30 year fixed mortgage under 6%. Just for laughs I wish the economists would give us an explanation but they seemed to be hiding behind the word "conundrum."
Good point. The feds have had a comparatively mild effect on mortgage rates. Maybe things are truly out of their control at this point?
Sooo Robert Shiller and David A. Lereah were on CNBC after today's housing report came out in the morning. Lereah mentioned that the hot markets are cooling but their surrounding areas are now picking up steam. Mr. Shiller agreed with Lereah that the phenom could last in the short run (years?). When CNBC's Ron Insana asked if both owned/rented homes and whether they would sell, Shiller owns two along with REITS and Lereah said he was invested and wouldn't sell. One thing that was interesting in the segment was a graph from Shiller showing population growth, housing prices, interest rates and housing costs. In particular, the housing costs on the graph seem to be declining over the years which contradicts what that article in the previous post of this thread was suggesting. Then again that article was by Cato and they'll try and find any govt involvement to blame. As for today's housing report: The level of housing starts in July was in line with economists' expectations, according to a survey conducted by MarketWatch. June's starts were revised higher to 2.045 million from the 2.004 million reported last month. Meanwhile, building permits, considered a forward-looking indicator for the home-construction market, rose 1.6% last month to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2.167 million. It is the highest level since February 1973. Permits for single-family homes rose 2% to a record 1.69 million annual rate. ------------------ Not bad.
Why do people seem to consider accelerating home construction to be bullish for housing prices? News like, "Gold production at record highs and still growing fast" would hardly be bullish for gold prices. If OPEC were increasing production with no end in sight, I would be short oil. Martin