Free Republic

On the hotness front, here are the 10 smokin' housing markets. Strange that the hotness score is highest for generally depressed economic cities like Manchester NH, Rochester NY and Rockford IL. Hey, at least Columbus Ohio made the top 10 on the hotness list!

The Federal Home Loan Bank System (comprised of Federal Home Loan Banks or FLUBs) are a major source of American home loans and liquidity … at least until now. The problem is that bank credit growth has been contracting for several weeks now. 18th straight week of negative credit growth. As FLUB advances decline with Fed balance sheet shrinkage. Everything is beautful? Not really. 5 Fed rate hikes priced in for 2024. Yes, its beginning to look a lot like rate cuts. So we are seeing Son of FLUBBER. Except this Flubber is crashing and burning.

No, renters, you are not imagining those grey hairs springing up on your head – your living situation is actually making you older, faster. A landmark study out of the University of Adelaide and University of Essex has found that living in a private rental property accelerates the biological ageing process by more than two weeks every year. The research found renting had worse effects on biological age than being unemployed (adding 1.4 weeks per year), obesity (adding 1 week per year), or being a former smoker (adding about 1.1 weeks). University of Adelaide Professor of Housing Research Emma Baker...

The US housing market is goin’ down! While the Case-Shiller National home price index is rising again, it has been slowing since March 2022. This is happening as “the honey pot” (aka, M2 Money printing) growth is now negative. While real hourly compensation growth is slightly, the average rate of growth since April 1, 2021, is -2.1%. (Not exactly what Biden wants to broadcast as a feature of Bidenomics). In the first couple of pandemic years, buyers swarmed the housing market to seize record-low mortgage rates with little regard to home prices. Many of them are now realizing that they...

Despite a surge in mortgage rates, home prices continued to rise, registering a 3.9% increase in September compared to the previous year, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index. This growth coincided with a climb in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate towards 8%. While rents show signs of easing, home prices are currently nearly 10% more expensive than in 2008, with real home prices standing 80% above the 130-year historical average, as reported by Reventure.

Despite The Fed’s attempts at cooling inflation down to 2%, we are seeing a re-animation of price increases. this time with home prices. On a year-over-year basis, the Freddie Mac National FMHPI was up 6.0% in October, from up 5.1% YoY in September. The YoY increase peaked at 19.1% in July 2021, and for this cycle, bottomed at up 0.9% in April 2023. … vv Austin TX is the big loser, down -11.2% from peak. Followed by Idaho (largely people escaping from Newsomland (California) and speculators. The sixth leading area is Lake Havasu AZ. Freddie HPI CBSA As of October,...

The US housing and mortgage markets are thunderstruck by The Fed’s attempts are cooling inflation down to 2%. After a small bounce last month – following the puke in August – pending home sales dropped 1.5% MoM in October (better than the 2.0% MoM decline expected). This left YoY sales down 6.6% (negative for the 23rd straight month)… The Pending Home Sales Index dropped back to a new record low… By region, only the Northeast saw an increase in pending sales last month. Sales fell the most in the West, down 6%, while contract signings in the South and Midwest...

Mortgage inferno! Particularly for the mortgage and housing market. But if you want spin the numbers, look at the seasonally-adjusted numbers. I like the unadjusted data better, but they look horrid. Mortgage applications increased 0.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 24, 2023. This week’s results include an adjustment for the observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis,...

Hundreds of migrants trying to get back into the Big Apple’s overwhelmed shelter system have been flooding an East Village block as Mayor Eric Adams warned the crisis would soon be more visible than ever, The Post has learned. The scores of asylum seekers lining the sidewalk on East 7th Street near Tompkins Square Park are among the thousands forced to reapply for temporary housing after being booted under the administration’s 30-day cap on shelter stays. Some told The Post they have been waiting for multiple days for a shot at another monthlong stay in the city, with little luck....

Detroit?? Or Devil With A Blue Dress?? Home prices in America’s 20 largest cities rose for the 7th straight month in September (the latest data released by S&P Global Case-Shiller today), up 0.67% MoM (slightly worse than the +0.8% MoM expected). That pushed the YoY rise in prices up 3.92% – the fastest pace since Dec ’22 – but as the chart shows the MoM gains are slowing rapidly. Source: Bloomberg “On a year-over-year basis, the three best-performing metropolitan areas in September were Detroit (+6.7%), San Diego (+6.5%), and New York (+6.3%),” according to Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director at...

In Massachusetts, where the first Thanksgiving is considered to have been celebrated, Americans are being urged by one of the nation’s leading open borders groups to “open up their homes” to border crossers and illegal aliens. While tens of thousands of border crossers and illegal aliens continue flocking to the sanctuary state of Massachusetts — which now offers driver’s licenses to those in the United States illegally — Jewish Family Services is asking residents to consider bringing new arrivals into their homes.

Further, 17% of all owned homes are occupied by single or married seniors with two or more spare bedrooms. “The surge of spare bedrooms speaks to a mismatch in the housing market, at a time when so many feel there are too few options available,” Salviati said. Seniors aging in place are keeping a significant share of single-family homes unavailable to younger generations, according to Salviati. It’s why, in part, it’s hard for millennials to break into homeownership.

The sale of previously owned homes fell to an annualized rate of 3.79 million in October, marking a 13-year low, according to data released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Tuesday. Existing home sales, which fell 4.1 percent from September and 14.6 percent from last year, reached its lowest point since August 2010, the data showed. “Prospective home buyers experienced another difficult month due to the persistent lack of housing inventory and the highest mortgage rates in a generation,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a press release.

There is a new law in New York State that allows tenants to stay in the home they are renting even if they do not pay. If you know anyone who owns a rental property, hopefully, things are going well. New York State has put a ton of new laws in place that makes things more clear in a ton of different aspects of the landlord-tenant relationship. If you have someone who is a horrible tenant, look how long they can LEGALLY and technically live in your rental unit! An entire year! The new Attorney General, Letitia James, has a...

After years of missed rental payments, one Oakland property owner was left on her own to recover her losses, despite desperately seeking help from the city, state, and local law enforcement.Carolyn Silas-Sams, a retired paralegal and an Oakland resident, said she inherited a duplex in the city in 2006 from her late mother and has been maintaining it ever since, although she never imagined that she would face the disaster that she has over the past few years due to the eviction moratorium. “I’m telling you ... any level of education would not allow your brain to accept that something...

Gimme (inexpensive) shelter! The good news is that The Federal Reserve finally cooled inflation. Well, at least core inflation cooled to 4%, twice The Fed’s target rate. At least The Fed is making progress. But on the housing front, shelter CPI is still up 6.7% YoY while transportation services are up 9.2% YoY. So, as long as you don’t have to rent or go anywhere, inflation looks good! Shelter CPI is over 3x The Fed’s inflation target rate, despite mortgage rates being up 169% under Biden. The 10-year Treasury yield cooled to 4.50% as investors see no further action from...

Has anyone considered the impact of Biden/Mayorkas’s open southern border with Mexico? Other than the crime, stress on existing services like healthcare, schools and Social Security. But where will the 8 million illegal immigrants reside? Well. the Biden Administration has an answer: throw money at it! This time, $45 billion to convert empty office space to homes. Not just for illegals, but for anyone. Conversion from office space to apartments is getting harder. Let’s discuss why, and also what the effort is really all about. Only 3,575 apartment units were converted from office space last year. The already fraught process...

US inflation is lower than it was a year ago (cheers from The View CNN and MSNBC cheerleaders), but inflation remains stubborning above The Fed’s 2% target rate and will likely remain above 2% for the nexf few years. So mortgage demand is much like inflation … mortgage demand increased in the latest week but generally is very low compared to last year. Mortgage applications increased 2.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 3, 2023. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage...

CHICAGO - There was chaos at City Hall on Tuesday as protesters took over a meeting about Chicago's status as a sanctuary city. They're angry about efforts to stop a referendum that would allow Chicagoans to decide whether to welcome migrants. The raucous meeting of the City Council Rules Committee spun out of control as protesters shouted down aldermen during debate about Chicago's status as a sanctuary city. "Do you as a resident of the City of Chicago believe that we should remain a sanctuary city?" asked 41st Ward Alderman Anthony Napolitano. The crowd responded with boos and catcalls. The...

President Joe Biden and his boss Barack Obama remind me of the legendary corrupt Chicago politicians First Ward Alderman Michael “Hinky Dink” McKenna and “Bathhouse” John Coughlin. And their love of “boodle” (a slang term money, gained (Biden family payoffs from foreign countries), or spent improperly (Obama shipping large pallets of cash to US enemy Iran). Biden and Obama are indeed the modern day “Lords of the Levee”. But in another example of Boodle, just in time for the 2024 election, we have Biden announcing $16.4 BILLION to …. Amtrak for the Northeast corridor (aka, the Acela train carrying Congress...