Apr 9 2011

The housing gamble: What if home prices remained stagnant until 2020? 6 charts laying out the argument for stagnant or declining home prices for another 10 years. Peak in dual income households, home prices still inflated relative to incomes, Federal Reserve unable to hold mortgage rates low forever.

What would happen if home prices remain stagnant for another decade?  It is hard to imagine that the cornerstone of the American dream would somehow become a bad investment for the next decade.  For decades every generation was conditioned into believing that housing was the best investment a family could make.  For many it provided […]

Apr 2 2011

The financial elixir that is falling home prices – Lower home prices good for the economy – Median U.S. home price down to $157,000 taking up 3 times the annual household income instead of the bubble peak of 5. Adding jobs while home prices move lower? Banks big winners when home prices remain inflated.

It is interesting that in the short-term horizon of our economy falling home prices are occurring while jobs are being added.  The banking sector during the early days of the crisis made it abundantly clear that falling home prices would lead to economic collapse.  Yet the opposite is occurring. Why?  First, inflated home prices eat […]

Mar 27 2011

China’s ghost cities and shopping malls – 14 million empty housing units in the U.S. while China may have up to 64 million empty apartments. GDP is only as good as the quality behind the financial numbers. China real estate bubble.

The Census released data showing that 14 million housing units in the U.S. are categorized as being vacant.  As startling as this figure appears on the surface, China has an estimated 64 million empty apartment units.  As we enter a perpetual cycle of global financial bubbles, the largest ongoing bubble in the world at the […]

Mar 10 2011

Home is where the working and middle class lose their money – $6.3 trillion lost in household real estate values. Top 1 percent control $13 trillion in financial assets while bottom 80 percent control $2 trillion.

When people talk about the American Dream it usually implies owning a home.  Owning a home has been part of our collective psychology for generations and is hard to shake out even after such a disastrous and financially painful bubble that will linger with us for many years going forward.  After World War II, owning […]

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