Posts Tagged house
Chinese police face down Middle East-style protests
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Trading Markets on Февраль 28th, 2011
Police and security officials displayed a massive show of force here and in other Chinese cities Sunday, trying to snuff out any hint of protests modeled on the uprisings in the Middle East. In Shanghai, several hundred people trying to gather were dispersed with a water truck.
Premier Wen Jiabao, meanwhile, used a morning Internet chat to promise to purge senior officials who are corrupt and to rein in inflation and rising home prices, directly addressing some of the most common grievances of ordinary Chinese.
Since the January uprising in Tunisia spurred similar anti-government protests across the Middle East and North Africa, threatening long-entrenched authoritarian regimes, China’s Communist rulers have reacted nervously, with both defensive and aggressive tactics.
Officials have used state-run media outlets to dismiss any comparisons with China while at the same time stepping up public comments on the need to address «social conflict» and to tackle problems such as the growing income disparity between the rich and poor. They have also detained a number of activists and human rights lawyers, blocked Internet search terms considered sensitive, such as «Egypt,» «Tunisia» and even U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr.’s Chinese name. And they have issued warnings to foreign journalists to be mindful of reporting restrictions. Read the rest of this entry »
The Market Is In Bubble Mode Again
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Favourites, Fund Markets on Февраль 17th, 2011
The market is sending investors the wrong message. The more I watch it rise, the more concerned I get. While others applaud the market’s gains as a sporting event I think this is a new bubble pumped up by Federal Reserve policy and it’s destined to destroy investors’ savings again.
I think it is reckless and irresponsible and somewhat surprising given the recent memory of other disastrous bubbles in our economy. I am not a “perma-bear” as some of my brethren like to term anyone that doesn’t believe Apple is going to reach a $1 trillion market valuation. I am simply a realist that values equities more highly when the risk reward dynamic appears favorable. I think the notion of being “perma” anything is idiotic, as you should be a situational opportunist not a partisan market participant. I believe the market has moved heavily towards risk and I am moving into cash and shorting technology momentum stocks.
We have yet to accept the losses from the first Nasdaq technology bubble that ended in 2002. To make up for that disaster we have circulated through a series of asset bubbles in an attempt to avoid, or, at least, defer the inevitable pain.
Stock prices in the 90s rose to ridiculous levels as investor margin levels expanded dramatically driving stock prices higher. Along the way analysts found new and creative ways to value stocks to try to justify a “new paradigm” of the digital economy. Remember Dow 36,000? The Federal Reserve supported these efforts, at least tacitly, with accommodative policy until everything blew around 2001. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. housing bottom seen in mid-2011: poll
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Январь 31st, 2011
U.S. house prices are likely to continue to slide before bottoming out sometime in the middle of this year but will rise just over two percent in 2011 as a whole, according to economists polled by Reuters.
Asked when they see a bottom for U.S. house prices, 14 of 26 economists said they would trough in either the second or third quarter of 2011. Three saw the bottom coming as early as this quarter, while one did not see a bottom until the first three months of 2014.
«A pullback in prices following the expiration of the homebuyers tax credit was not a surprise. Ultimately, a recovery in the housing sector will depend critically on the job market, which should improve over time,» said Scott Brown at Raymond James.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas, which has struggled since home-buyer tax credits expired earlier this year, declined 0.5 percent in November from October on a seasonally adjusted basis, the fifth straight monthly decline in home prices.
Asked how much further prices would fall before stabilizing, the median response of 24 economists who answered was another 3.3 percent drop from current levels. Two economists saw a further decline as sharp as 10 percent. Read the rest of this entry »
Four Tips for Single, Female Homebuyers
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Investing on Май 11th, 2010
Buying a home today takes a certain confidence — in the market and in your own financial strength. A lot of single, female homebuyers are taking that bold step in high heels, with no one at their side.
Nationally, single women accounted for 21 percent of all home purchases in the year ended this past June, while single men accounted for just 10 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Experts say female homebuyers share characteristics and concerns that set them apart from male buyers. Following are four tips single, female buyers should keep in mind when purchasing a home.
Buy with confidence
A variety of factors — such as a greater likelihood of working at jobs that offer paltry retirement and other benefits — keep single women from achieving their financial goals, says Mariko Chang, a consultant who recently completed a report on the wealth gap for women for the Insight Center for Community Economic Development in Oakland, Calif. Read the rest of this entry »
For Landlords, the Numbers Are Starting to Look Better
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Investing on Март 5th, 2010
Home prices are falling, rents are tumbling, and apartment vacancies are rising. So why are thousands of small investors becoming landlords?
Because real-estate prices have fallen much faster than rents, the math of buying a rental has actually improved substantially in most parts of the country. Money invested in an apartment complex today typically generates annual returns of 7% to 8% right off the bat, up from less than 6% at the peak of the housing bubble in 2006.
If your property appreciates in value or rents rise, you could end up with double-digit annualized returns when you sell it. But higher returns usually come with higher risks. If you overpay for a rental property or you buy in the wrong market at the wrong time, you can lose a lot of money.
In general, landlords should pick communities where real-estate prices and rents appear to have nearly bottomed out, and jobs are stabilizing. Some of the best deals are in places like Fort Worth, Texas, or Columbus, Ohio, where prices never went wild. Markets like Las Vegas and Phoenix, both plagued by overbuilding, and Detroit, hurt by auto-industry woes, still look dicey.
But other markets like San Francisco or Chicago can still be attractive for landlords who find the right neighborhoods. Fred Bertucci, 50 years old, has been investing in small apartment properties in the Chicago suburbs since 1990. In August, he and his business partner, Kevin Moriarty, 54, bought a six-unit apartment house out of foreclosure for $280,000. It brings in about $25,000 per year in net operating income, he says, or about a 9% yield on the dollars invested. That’s up from roughly a 5% yield several years ago when prices were higher, he says. Read the rest of this entry »
Housing Prices Fall at Slower Pace
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Февраль 25th, 2010
Home prices kept falling, but at a slower rate, at the end of last year as the housing market continued to stabilize.
The national S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index declined 2.5% in the fourth quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a report released Tuesday. The slight drop is a clear improvement from earlier in the recession. In the fourth quarter of 2008, for example, home prices fell 18.2% from the same period in 2007.
«Overall, this report suggests that the recent positive momentum in the U.S. housing market is gaining further traction and underscores that home prices are continuing to stabilize,» Millan Mulraine, a TD Securities analyst, wrote in a note to clients. «As such, we may only be a few months away before we see a monthly gain in national home prices.»
The month-to-month change in home prices for a composite index of 20 housing markets that S&P/Case-Shiller tracks showed that home prices rose 0.3% in December from the prior month, adjusted for normal seasonal variation. That measure of home prices also rose 0.3% in November.Prices fell in just five of the 20 markets included in the survey, remained flat in one and rose in the other 14. Read the rest of this entry »
Weak US Housing Market Drags on Lowe’s Profit
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Ноябрь 19th, 2009
Lowe’s, the second-largest U.S. home improvement chain, posted a 30 percent drop in quarterly profit as consumers put off big renovations as the U.S. housing market remains sluggish, sending shares down 2.1 percent in premarket trading.
But the North Carolina-based chain gave a fourth-quarter profit forecast that could beat Wall Street expectations, noting that it was starting to see signs of improvement in some of the hardest-hit housing markets, including California and Florida.
«The broad-based pressures of the macro environment are clearly evident in our sales as consumers continue to delay large purchases until they feel better about the economic outlook,» Lowe’s Chief Executive Robert Niblock said in a statement.
Lowe’s profits fell to $344 million, or 23 cents per share, in the third quarter that ended on Oct. 30, from $488 million, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier.
Those results fell just short of analyst expectations of 24 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Read the rest of this entry »
Surprise drop in new home sales
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Октябрь 29th, 2009
Sales of newly built homes fell unexpectedly in September after rising for five straight months, according to government figures released Wednesday.
The Commerce Department said new home sales fell 3.6% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 402,000 last month, from a downwardly revised rate of 417,000 in August. It was the first time new home sales declined since March.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected September new home sales to rise to a rate of 440,000 units.
«We’re attributing most of the decline to the potential expiration of the new home-buyer tax credit,» said Adam York, an economist at Wells Fargo.
In addition to relatively low prices and attractive mortgage rates, the housing market has been supported in recent months by a temporary government tax credit for first-time homebuyers.
The credit, which can be worth up to $8,000 for eligible buyers, is set to expire at the end of November. Congress is expected to extend the credit, but the terms are still being debated. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. Home Prices to Fall 14% More Before Bottoming
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget, Favourites on Июнь 22nd, 2009
U.S. home prices may fall another 14 percent, led by the New York and Orange County, California, metropolitan areas, before reaching a bottom as an increase in unemployment offsets lower prices, Deutsche Bank AG said.
“Affordability is no longer the driving issue in the housing market, and we believe prices still have a ways to fall in many areas before home prices reach their trough,” Deutsche Bank analysts led by Karen Weaver, wrote in a report yesterday. “The bottom is getting closer, but we are not there yet.”
Home prices are forecast to fall 41.7 percent from their peak, Weaver said. That’s higher than a forecast she released in March and reflects “the actual declines to date and the expected future impact on home prices from rising foreclosure inventory and unemployment.”
In March, Deutsche Bank had forecast a 16.5 percent decline in “current-to-trough” prices. While today’s projection is less than that, many metropolitan areas will still see steep declines, the report said.
In the New York metropolitan area they may drop 40.6 percent from the first quarter to the bottom, the report said, less than Deutsche Bank’s March estimate of 47.4 percent. Read the rest of this entry »
Low prices bring investors back into housing markets
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Июнь 8th, 2009
Home price declines have sent affordability soaring. Prices have fallen so far that the average U.S. home is now undervalued by 12.2%, according to a new report from IHS Global Insight.
«The good news is that the declines are happening as consumer confidence is rising and housing sales and [building] starts seem to be bottoming out,» said Jeannine Cataldi, senior economist for IHS in a statement accompanying the study.
«The bad news is that job losses continue at high rates, housing inventories are still elevated and consumers, while becoming somewhat more confident, are still wary in the face of economic uncertainty.»
Prices still falling
The IHS study, House Prices in America, reported that, of the 330 markets it tracked, homes are under-priced in 248. That contrasts sharply with four years ago when only 108 markets were undervalued. Read the rest of this entry »
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