From the “Happy Days are here again (not)” file comes a report from Zero Hedge which completely debunks the fiction of the “remodeling recovery,” which was supposed to be a key driver of the housing recovery.
Last August, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s global researchers released a report claiming that sustained spending on home improvements was going to help “lead the broader housing recovery.”
Wait … this recovery?
The BofA report specifically predicted “this surge in home remodeling activity (would be) be aided by a healing economy, eventually fueling a recovery in household formation and housing turnover.”
Has that happened? No.
“Renovation spending has imploded in the past six months to levels not seen since 2010,” writes Tyler Durden (yes, that Tyler Durden) at Zero Hedge.
BofA’s response to this “anti-surge?”
“We have been quite puzzled with the recent data from the Census Bureau showing that spending on home improvements has declined sharply from November through March,” the financial behemoth’s prognosticators now acknowledge.
Of course they predict the Census data will be revised higher in the future and that “more granular data suggest a pickup” in renovation spending.
More granular data?
Sell those stocks while they’re high, people … sell those stocks while they’re high.
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15 comments
NEWSFLASH: Anything that can be played even REMOTELY as positive for Obama, the media takes it and runs with it. Been doing it for 6 years, and you ain’t caught on…
The inability to figure this out, is why FITS is seen as so Punch-Drunk and Dull.
FITS. like the media. has LEARNED NOTHING (conveniently) about the declarations of “How Good It’s Gone Be.”
These F*#*in idiots are (act) flabbergasted that Susan Rice was lying, per Obama’s orders, about the Benghazi video. That’s how ignorant y’all are…
You fall for the clams over and over…each time, left scratching your @$$, after you get your head out of it…bewildered that the Obama media duped your Stupid @$$, yet again…
Bottom line: Ain’t nothin’ gonna get better until Obama is GONE…or at least rendered Totally Powerless. I’ve told yopu that since 2008….
And God help us if we lose Congress.
Really???? Are you one of those Conspiracy Theorists? Shut up!
There are some predicting a mild housing boom….my opinion is that it may occur but if it does it won’t be sustainable.
I love Zerohedge, but they aren’t right all of the time.
There’s a lot of big corporate money going into housing markets right now…plus operation twist is contributing big dollars to MBS’s.
That’s a hard tide to stem….in the end it will all go very badly…but who knows when that will be. I doubt it will last 10 years…but who knows.
The final nails in the fiscal coffin have been pounded, the question is really when/where the tipping point will be.
My vote is the full implementation of Obamacare could give rise to such an event with $222 Trillion long term deficit as caluclated by the CBO’s alternative fiscal calcs coming to fruition even sooner.
Of course, I simple bond run with interest rates returning to a measly 6% would immediately bankrupt us too.(which is why it will be money printing to the end)
Hmmm…so many choices for fiscal death…it’s hard to know the how/when’s.
I’m sure the people on the Titanic knew the ship was going down too….and how/when didn’t matter when all the lifeboats were gone.
There are some predicting a mild housing boom….my opinion is that it may occur but if it does it won’t be sustainable.
I love Zerohedge, but they aren’t right all of the time.
There’s a lot of big corporate money going into housing markets right now…plus operation twist is contributing big dollars to MBS’s.
That’s a hard tide to stem….in the end it will all go very badly…but who knows when that will be. I doubt it will last 10 years…but who knows.
The final nails in the fiscal coffin have been pounded, the question is really when/where the tipping point will be.
My vote is the full implementation of Obamacare could give rise to such an event with $222 Trillion long term deficit as caluclated by the CBO’s alternative fiscal calcs coming to fruition even sooner.
Of course, I simple bond run with interest rates returning to a measly 6% would immediately bankrupt us too.(which is why it will be money printing to the end)
Hmmm…so many choices for fiscal death…it’s hard to know the how/when’s.
I’m sure the people on the Titanic knew the ship was going down too….and how/when didn’t matter when all the lifeboats were gone.
That’s because some of us have found that state licensed contractor builders don’t necessarily have the skills or the patience for dealing with the variables of remodeling…and end up doing really bad work.
That’s because some of us have found that state licensed contractor builders don’t necessarily have the skills or the patience for dealing with the variables of remodeling…and end up doing really bad work.
When I picked up my replacement tub/shower unit the other day, the worker in the department said they had sold 2 others of the same model that day, so I guess none of us are Zero Hedge readers. And, I just had hardwood floors put in a couple of months ago. Man, why didn’t I read Zero Hedge?
Any Zero Hedge fans want to compare their IRA performance with mine since Obama was elected? Mine is up 45.4%, and that is despite making the mandatory withdrawals for the last three years.
How about we compare the last 7 years and I’ll take your bet?
:)
I have been doing upgrades as well. New floors, counters, painting. When I was at Home Depot they told me the same thing. Any many of my friends are too.
When I picked up my replacement tub/shower unit the other day, the worker in the department said they had sold 2 others of the same model that day, so I guess none of us are Zero Hedge readers. And, I just had hardwood floors put in a couple of months ago. Man, why didn’t I read Zero Hedge?
Any Zero Hedge fans want to compare their IRA performance with mine since Obama was elected? Mine is up 45.4%, and that is despite making the mandatory withdrawals for the last three years.
How about we compare the last 7 years and I’ll take your bet?
:)
I have been doing upgrades as well. New floors, counters, painting. When I was at Home Depot they told me the same thing. Any many of my friends are too.
>(yes, that Tyler Durden)
We get it, you’ve seen Fight Club.
>(yes, that Tyler Durden)
We get it, you’ve seen Fight Club.