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Tag Archives: Housing Bubble

Report: Housing Stable Despite ‘Bubble-Like’ Gains in August

August price gains were reminiscent of those last seen during the peak of the bubble--but analysts at Clear Capital insist there's nothing to fear at this point. ""With the continued strengthening of home price trends in August, the need for perspective on market activity is even more important,"" said Dr. Alex Villacorta, VP of research and analytics at Clear Capital. Looking under the surface trends, Villacorta notes the low-tier price segment of the housing market saw quarterly gains of 2.0 percent, indicating a more moderate growth path.

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Report: Sellers Returning as Investors Pull Out

In Capital Economics' latest edition of US Housing Market Analyst, property economist Paul Diggle notes investor activity has fallen off nearly one-fifth over the last four months, with investor sales dropping to 18 percent as inventory of distressed homes declines. On the other hand, the ongoing rise in prices has encouraged more sellers to enter the market, which should temper further gains. ""With sellers motivated by the earlier rise in house prices, we expect the loosening in supply conditions to go much further over the next year,"" Diggle said.

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July Pending Home Sales in Steepest Drop So Far This Year

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) slipped 1.3 percent in July, the steepest decline this year, to 109.5, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. Economists had expected the index for July would drop to 109.8, which would have been a 1.0 percent decline from June's 110.9. The June index was unchanged. NAR economist Lawrence Yun cited higher prices as affecting new contracts. ""Higher mortgage interest rates and rising home prices are impacting monthly contract activity in the high-cost regions of the Northeast and the West,"" Yun offered as an explanation for the drop in the PHSI.

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July Existing-Home Sales at Highest Level Since 2009

Existing-home sales soared 6.5 percent in July to an annual sales rate of 5.39 million--the highest level since November 2009--as the price of a single-family home slipped 0.2 percent, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Wednesday. Despite the month-over-month decline, the median price of an existing-home was $213,500, 13.7 percent ahead of the price in July 2012. It was the strongest yearly price gain since October 2005.

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Commentary: Solving the Wrong Problem

President Obama is trying to solve the wrong problem by calling, as he did in his speech in Phoenix, for the end of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as we know it. To be sure, Fannie and Freddie were not the hallmarks of responsibility in the mortgage meltdown, but have gotten a bad rap. For all their housing expertise, they missed all the signals of the housing bubble (but then again so did Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and his successor Ben S. Bernanke who dismissed it when the first signs of the meltdown emerged). Instead of suggesting replacing Fannie and Freddie to restore the nation's housing markets, the president should be proposing to return them to their original charters.

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Demand for Non-Traditional, Sub-prime Loans Up

Adding to concerns of a new housing bubble, lenders reported an increase in demand for non-traditional and sub-prime mortgage loans and that they’ve responded to that demand by easing standards, the Federal Reserve reported Monday in its quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey. According to the survey, a net 3.1 percent of lenders responding said demand for ""non-traditional"" residential loans increased from the survey released three months ago and a net 25 percent of respondents said demand for loans from sub-prime borrowers was higher than it was in May.

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Researchers: Monetary Policy Not Enough to Prevent Bubbles

National monetary policy alone cannot reliably prevent or reverse housing bubbles, according to a recent report from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The downfall lies in the fact that housing prices and housing markets vary widely across the country, stated the researchers in the report. Monetary policy and large national programs such as the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) may help some markets while hurting others, according to the report.

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Case-Shiller Indices Post Record Monthly Gains

Home prices posted their strongest monthly gain on record in April, increasing more than 2.5 percent, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday. The monthly 20-city index rose 2.5 percent in April, while the companion 10-city index increased 2.6 percent. Year-over-year, the 20-city index was up 12.1 percent, and the 10-city index was up 11.6 percent, each being the strongest yearly gain since March 2006.

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Price Gains to Slow But Recovery Will Continue

With strong price gains continuing to make headlines, industry analysts are quick to assure us we are not in the midst of another bubble. The current pace of price appreciation will not endure much longer, they say. CoreLogic, Zillow, and other industry observers concur prices appreciation is set to slow, and Monday's report from Capital Economics reinforces this prediction. What is unique about Capital Economics' viewpoint is the firm anticipates ""a more marked slowdown in the pace of house price gains over the next year than other commentators.""

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Commentary: We’re Forever Seeing Bubbles

The recent jump in home prices has led to speculation that the rapid surge in home prices could be the sign of a new housing bubble similar to the one that led to the Great Recession. Is it? The not-so-short answer is, not yet. An increase in prices itself does not signal a bubble. An unsustainable increase, not supported by other data, however, would. In the run-up to the 2006 collapse, the higher prices--which had been trending up for four years--led to a sharp uptick in construction wholly unsupported by demographics.

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