This website has been consistently calling out the so-called “housing recovery” in America, which in reality is another asset bubble inflated by cheap capital from money-printing central bankers.
The latest evidence of that? A terrible report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) which revealed an 8.7 percent drop in pending home sales (experts had predicted the measure to remain unchanged).
What prompted pending home sales to slip to their lowest level since May 2010?
“Unusually disruptive weather across large stretches of the country in December forced people indoors and prevented some buyers from looking at homes or making offers,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.
Is that true, though?
No. Not even a little bit.
According to Goldman Sachs, “broad-based declines by region suggest that colder-than-average weather was likely not the primary driver.”
Hmmmmm. What was, then?
Try rising interest rates … which will be compounded this year by 1,800 pages of new home ownership loan regulations promulgated by the nation’s latest market-infringing bureaucracy, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Don’t tell any of that to Fox Business, though. They swallowed the Realtors’ “it was the weather” excuse hook, line and sinker …
27 comments
Might as well blame it on the phase of the moon, the estrogen level of a wombat in Queensland, or the natural frequency of the 2015 Corvette driveshaft. Every bit as valid.
2015 Corvette (and ’14’s, too) has a torque tube with polyurethane antivibration bushings tha contains the driveshaft….essentially eliminating any “frequency” (vibrations?) from its balancing aluminum driveshaft.
juss sayin’.
WELL DONE!
Shades of “My Cousin Vinny”.
No, everything has a natural frequency. With the new ‘vettes, the driveshaft is designed to move that frequency well outside that which is experienced in any kind of use.
Look up “torque tube” (in relation to corvettes, and not pr0n).
I’m going with fuzzy caterpillars.
Could it be that most people just don’t move in December?
I’m sure one simple answer is the explanation.
:)
Great point.
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2012/08/lawler-on-relationship-between-pending.html
The top graph in this link is seasonally adjusted. Take a look at the bottom graph. Every year it bottoms out in the winter months and jumps right back up.
I believe this is what is referred to as a “pattern,” FITS.
It’s because of outsourcing and no investment by the “job creators”
I blame the Dubpression.
I think that’s the Dubyapression.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp2c5gK18xA
Generation Null Strikes Again
Anecdotal, I know, but the 3 houses that were put up for sale in my neighborhood last month all sold in less than 4 weeks.
When a nations economy pivots on home construction and sales it is by definition insolvent.
Dwellings require people – people require dwellings. None of that demand can be exported. The only way for this to be sustainable is to import the demand : amnesty, work visas, illegal immigration.
We live within the confines of a shell game now. Thank God we took the land from the natives and have developed only a fraction of it. The mission at hand is to try to convince the rest of the world that “America” is where you must live. The second tier of that mission is to convince them to head to the new frontier (Detroit, Cleveland, South Dakota, Kansas).
The problem lies with what a nice Irish gentleman told me over in Wexport, Ireland when I offered him the chance to visit the US with lodging and meals to be on my tab. He had been a generous host and I wanted to return the favor. “Why the fuck would I want to go over there?” he demanded. I could not answer him. I just thought everyone wanted to come to America.
While in Canada over the holidays I ran into a guy from Denmark that is now a Canadian citizen…in our various discussions during a neighborhood hockey game, right after questioning me about “QE” he said, “You know I had a difficult time deciding whether I was going to live in Canada or the US….I’m happy with my decision.”
“In Canada over the holidays”, “ran into a guy from Denmark”, “discussions during a neighborhood hockey game”! Sounds like you had a really swell Christmas. Why didn’t you stay up there in Utopian bliss?
Taking things a bit personally eh?
Did I say Canada was a Utopian bliss? No.
I was simply reinforcing his comment about “I just thought everyone wanted to come to America.”.
So what’s got you so upset?
He probably came here from some other country and is pissed he made the wrong choice.
I have heard it is very stylish in Canada to marry a negro. The weather is good. Medical care is second to none. What’s to be upset about?
TBG attended a Christmas party in Orangeburg and ran into a couple gents from Norway, some girls from Denmark and a squirrelly acting dude from Branchville.
I’ve been calling for this for a while, while the Realtors have been touting the closings, the pending sales have fallen by 35% or so in Charleston since last May. On the rise now in January from December but very modest.
Fox Business? No thanks.
Bozo will blame it on Bush.
Blame the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed into law by Obama in 2010. New regulations that went into effect Jan. 1, 2014, prohibit banks from approving mortgages for anyone whose debt-to-income ratio is higher than 43 percent.
Banks also will have to limit the fees for originating mortgages to no more than 3 percent of the loan amount, which is discouraging many institutions from pursuing loans for lower-priced houses.
Don’t tell that to my friend that processes mortgages……he can’t keep pace with the new work. It is still a buyer’s market.
Yeah…Its Fox Business’ fault.
Homes are being sold at HUGE losses….and even that’s drying up. Nothing is really changing. Obama is a disaster..