housing market

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Housing Prices Look for Basement

(Newser) - A witch’s brew of factors is cursing the US housing market, reports the New York Times, driving home prices ever lower as they search for bottom. Rising unemployment, higher interest rates, lower wages, and a glut of foreclosures are likely to continue to keep the market depressed through much...

Bank Rescue Won't Lift Home Prices, Stop Foreclosures

Continued downward spiral drives consumer spending down, killing net worth

(Newser) - Economists are increasingly concerned that the government rescue plan is missing the root cause of the foundering US economy: still-falling home prices, reports the Wall Street Journal. And, while the bailout of banks and financial institutions could ease the pain of the slump, unless help is extended to the housing...

Chicago Sheriff Halts Evictions
Chicago Sheriff 
Halts Evictions
Oct 9, 2008 8:21 AM CDT

Chicago Sheriff Halts Evictions

Lawman declares that throwing renters out of foreclosed properties is unjust

(Newser) - A Chicago lawman is going to stop enforcing foreclosure evictions because they’re unfair to renters, the Chicago Tribune reports. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has a huge and growing eviction list but is refusing to carry out any more mortgage-foreclosure evictions until lenders first figure out who’s actually...

NYC's Luxury Apartment Bubble Bursts

There's now a glut of pricey listings on the market

(Newser) - New York’s top real estate agents subscribed to an 8-word mantra last year, the New York Observer notes: So many eager buyers, so few trophy properties. But 2008 has brought a dose of cold reality. More than 168 luxury apartments and townhouses are on the market, dozens more than...

Bottom-up Bailout: Pay Off Delinquent Mortgages
Bottom-up Bailout: Pay Off Delinquent Mortgages
OPINION
Oct 1, 2008 11:55 AM CDT

Bottom-up Bailout: Pay Off Delinquent Mortgages

Using tax money to pay delinquent mortgages would revive markets

(Newser) - Rescuing ordinary Americans—not Wall Street—should be the theory behind the government bailout, and that means paying off delinquent mortgages, say two Yale professors in the Washington Post. If that sounds unfair, it is, but it's "a small price to pay to avoid a rapid transition to a...

Housing Will Bottom June 30, 2009: Cramer
Housing Will Bottom June 30, 2009: Cramer
OPINION
Sep 8, 2008 2:29 PM CDT

Housing Will Bottom June 30, 2009: Cramer

Bombastic guru lists 10 signs of a real-estate turnaround

(Newser) - Jim Cramer has spent over a year “shouting in my usual unhinged way” about the bleak real estate market, he writes in New York. But now he’s so confident housing’s headed for a bottom that he’ll name the exact date: June 30, 2009. Why?
  1. New home
...

Feds Outline Fannie, Freddie Bailout

Gov't will step in as conservator; Treasury will buy preferred stock

(Newser) - Citing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as "critical to turning the corner on housing," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson this morning announced a bailout of the beleaguered mortgage companies that includes his agency purchasing preferred stock, while the Federal Housing Finance Agency will step in as conservator. Additionally, Treasury...

Wait on Rate Hikes Until Crisis Eases
Wait on Rate Hikes Until
Crisis Eases
OPINION
Sep 3, 2008 5:55 PM CDT

Wait on Rate Hikes Until Crisis Eases

Fed should ignore critics, hold its ground until markets rebound

(Newser) - Critics claim the Federal Reserve has been too eager to cut interest rates, and that lax policy has exacerbated inflation. But the Fed should hold its ground, Desmond Lachman argues in the American, until the housing and credit markets are clearly on the rebound. The credit crunch has prompted banks...

Rent-to-Own Leases Help Fill Up Condos

In slow market, some developers offer test drives to renters

(Newser) - The credit crisis landed the housing market on shaky ground, but condo developers are attracting cash-strapped buyers by offering them rent-to-own leases, the Boston Globe reports. The deal allows would-be homeowners to rebuild their credit and test out conditions, while developers make money on properties that otherwise would be empty....

Forget Renting: Friends Now Buying Homes Together

Bargain housing prices lure young professionals looking to invest

(Newser) - The cooled-down housing market and lower prices are attracting new buyers: groups of young professionals who want to invest but don’t quite have the dough to buy their own place. Instead, they’re buying homes with friends and splitting the mortgage, maintenance costs—and the tax break, Time reports....

Home Sales Climb, but Prices Keep Falling
 Home Sales Climb, but
Prices Keep Falling
Economy
Aug 25, 2008 10:19 AM CDT

Home Sales Climb, but Prices Keep Falling

Expanding inventories still damaging market

(Newser) - Existing home sales were better than expected in July, rising 3.1% to an annual rate of 5 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. But inventories continued their steady expansion anyway, driving prices further downward. The median home price for July was $212,400, down 7.1% from July 2007....

Housing Dip Sends 1/3 of Owners Into Negative Equity

(Newser) - Nearly a third of US homeowners who bought in the last 5 years owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth, according to a report by Internet valuation site Zillow. Prices of houses dropped 9.9% in the second quarter, compared to the previous year, sending 29% of...

Housing Crash Spawns Ghost Subdivisions

Residents live solitary lives in half-built developments

(Newser) - The housing bust has left ghost towns scattered across the nation, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a tour of half-built or largely empty developments, the paper finds residents who moved in early, only to find themselves leading lonely lives surrounded by eerily deserted homes and weed-strewn lots. One woman...

Bush Signs Housing Bill to Provide Mortgage Relief

(Newser) - President Bush today signed the massive housing bill intended to provide mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners and stabilize financial markets. The measure, signed without the ususal fanfare, is one he earlier threatened to veto. Regarded as the most significant housing legislation in decades, it lets homeowners who cannot...

Home Prices Fall Again; Rate of Decline Sets Record

Consumer confidence numbers offer ray of hope

(Newser) - Home prices continued to nosedive in May, a signal that the housing crisis may be worsening and a red flag for the credit markets and Wall Street, reports the New York Times. Every region covered by the S&P/Case-Schiller home-price index showed a drop compared to May 2007, with the...

Housing, Labor Pummel Stocks
 Housing, Labor Pummel Stocks
MARKETS
Jul 24, 2008 3:29 PM CDT

Housing, Labor Pummel Stocks

Bleak economic reports and some poor earnings make for steady losses

(Newser) - Stocks saw big losses today as bad news on housing and employment soured investors’ hopes of a looming economic turnaround, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dow fell 283.10—a 2.43% drop—to close at 11,349.28; the Nasdaq shed 45.77, to 2,280.11; and...

In Switch, Bush Will Sign Bill Overhauling Fannie, Freddie

Measure that would allow feds to insure $300B in mortgages expected soon

(Newser) - President Bush will support a housing package being considered in the Senate, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bush threatened to veto the bill, which includes as much as $300 billion of insurance for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but decided, given market turmoil, that now “is not the time...

FBI Begins Fraud Probe of IndyMac Mortgages

Failed bank may have given improper loans to people with bad credit

(Newser) - The FBI is investigating failed bank IndyMac for possible fraud related to its mortgage-lending business, Bloomberg reports. The agency is looking into whether the bank gave improper loans to people with shaky credit. It is working closely with the FDIC, which seized the bank's assets last week. IndyMac specialized in...

US Smacked by the Invisible Hand
 US Smacked by
 the Invisible Hand 
ANALYSIS
Jul 16, 2008 2:12 PM CDT

US Smacked by the Invisible Hand

Americans are moving away from faith in free market

(Newser) - Are we losing confidence in market mechanisms? Years of unfettered free markets contributed to the current gloomy economic situation, and even the market-championing White House has lurched into government regulation of the financial world, the Los Angeles Times reports. With housing prices falling and oil prices rising, “the message...

Tough Job Market May Last Through Late 2009

'Slow motion' recession will continue to pare jobs

(Newser) - US jobs are eroding and they're unlikely to rebound until late 2009, reports the New York Times. May’s 5.5% unemployment rate is a point higher than a year ago and the 9.7% underemployed rate is up from 8.3% in May 2007, reports the Labor Department—which...

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