Market Trends and Condition

Hey DG(ers)

I was wondering if anyone caught this USA Today article? I was aware of the Balken oil pipeline
gold boom but is it too late? Contrainian thinking tells me those who were there or got in many months ago are the winners??

http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=sctimes&...

http://realestate.****/blog/2012/01/03/fha-says-flippers-free-to-play-through-2012/?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl13|sec3_lnk3%26p

1. Housing starts surged to a 1 & ½ year high in November. The 635,000 unit rate was 24.3 percent over November 2010.

2. Mortgage rates fell to record lows again.

a. 30-year fixed rate fell to 3.94%
b. 15-year fixed rates were down to 3.21%
c. 5-year adjustable rates fell to 2.86%

3. A huge 46% of homes sold in November were either short sales or REOs. It is expected that the first part of next year will bring a new rush of foreclosures.

For investors, prices are staying low, mortgage rates are plumbing new depths, and rental demand is increasing…all good.

Despite record low mortgage rates, 2011 has seen a surprisingly high level of cash home purchases, according to the real estate research firm Hanley Wood Market Intelligence.

Jonathan Dienhart and Ken Lee, two analysts with the company, say between tight lending standards and a desperate search for yield by investors, cash purchases of homes – particularly for distressed properties – became even more common in 2011 than last year.

Dienhart and Lee analyzed data collected through Hanley Wood’s Housing IntelligencePro, and shared their findings in a blog post.

The two discovered that 38 percent of homes purchased in 2011 were bought with all cash. That’s up from 34 percent in 2010, and double the 19 percent rate in 2006.

With a BS in economics from Annapolis I have had a little experience tracking the financial sector and anyone that watches 60 minutes probably already knows what is coming. Since the US has been printing money incessantly the past decade the rest of the world is not going to continue to stand for it and the American dollar will eventually be replaced as the standard exchange currency in the very near future. Once that happens and China no longer has to convert its Yen to dollars to buy oil from the middle east, the dollar will be significantly devalued overnight. The result will be a dramatic increase in interest rates into the double digits, and inflation will skyrocket.

Federal Regulators have just charged six former executives, including some former CEOs, at the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with securities fraud. It is alleged that they misled investors about their exposure to risky subprime mortgage debt.

• Three former Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives were sued by the SEC on Friday.

• Civil charges were filed in two separate lawsuits in a New York Federal court.

• Among those charged were former Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron and former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd.

Published online Dec 27, 2011
real estate
Home prices in 20 U.S. cities decrease more than forecast

By Timothy R. Homan
Bloomberg News
BLOOMBERG NEWS FILE PHOTO JOSHUA LOTT
AN Auction.com foreclosure sign is displayed outside of a house for sale in Phoenix, Ariz.

WASHINGTON - Residential real estate prices dropped more than forecast in the year ended October, showing a broad-based decline that indicates the U.S. housing market continues to be weighed down by foreclosures.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities dropped 3.4 percent from October 2010 after decreasing 3.5 percent in the year ended September, the New York-based group said Tuesday. The median forecast of 27 economists in a Bloomberg News survey projected a 3.2 percent decrease.

Analysis: U.S. rental demand lifts housing sector
[Reuters] By Margaret Chadbourn | Reuters – 3 hrs ag 12/27/11

(Reuters) - Brian Keith is busier than ever as the architecture firm he works for rushes to wrap up work on a 300-unit apartment complex in Dallas.

The project is one of dozens the firm, JHP Architecture, has on its hands -- a surge of business driven by a rise in demand in the United States for rental properties.

The increased demand has forced JHP to expand, and it expects to keep hiring at least through the first quarter.

"We're seeing overall work come back and there's a backlog of contracts to go through," said Keith, director of urban design and planning at JHP. "There's strong interest in multi-family units and plenty of pent-up demand."

I found this interesting. Texas got the top 2 cities; and, 2 more Texas cities got honorable mentions. Click below to read the whys and wherefores. If you are boots on the ground in any of the cities listed, I'd like to know what you think and what you are seeing. peace,

http://www.trulia.com/blog/taranelson/2011/12/5_real_estate_markets_to_w...

The big news, officially released at 10 AM on December 21st is the release by the National Association of Realtors® of the size of their miscalculation of existing home sales over the previous five years.

NAR’s report is used by many analysts and government entities for reporting economic activity, including the GDP, Gross Domestic Product. NAR announced earlier that there has been a gradual creep upward of their sales estimates since 2007 that introduced significant inaccuracies. The main reason given has to do with the way the MLS, Multiple Listing Services, report sales. Some homes end up listed in more than one MLS system, and each is autonomous. So, if listed in say the Denver MLS and one in an outlying area, the home would be reported as sold twice, once in each MLS.