This past week saw a lot of Real Estate related data, all of which fits our long term thesis about the macro economy and what’s to come over the next few years.
For those of you who may be newer to the site, we have been dicussing this for quite a while: starting in December 2004, we noted how Real Estate was a prime driver of the economy, and in Spring 2005, how new hiring was overly reliant on the Real Estate Sector; in August 2005, we called that Housing was beginning to show signs of cooling, and that this would eventually wreak havoc on consumer spending. In the Fall 2005, we noted how dependent GDP had become on Mortgage Equity extraction. You can find all of these by using the site search function, right sidebar.
Now as of March 2006, most of these concepts have become widely recognized and (mostly) accepted — but when they were first introduced here, there was no small amount of incredulity and pushback surrounding them.
Looking forward, I see rates rising, housing cooling further, the consumer cutting back, and the stimulus driven economy slowing, if not slipping into an outright recession.
Home Sweet Debt By WALTER KIRN
Does taking on greater financial risk to own a house prevent you from bonding with it?QUESTIONS FOR BRUCE KATZ Battle for the ‘Burbs Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON
The metropolitan-policy expert talks about the decay of older suburbs, the merits of long commute times and why the suburbs might endanger democracy.
FREAKONOMICS Endangered Species By STEPHEN J. DUBNER and STEVEN D. LEVITT
Why the boom wasn’t more lucrative for real-estate agents — and why they may now be heading for extinction.
AMSTERDAM HOUSE This Very, Very Old House By RUSSELL SHORTO
What the story of one 400-year-old house in Amsterdam can tell us about today’s housing market.
SPECULATOR Après Le Deluge, Moi By GARY RIVLIN
How Patrick Quinn is trying to become the Donald Trump of New Orleans.
TAX BREAK Who Needs the Mortgage-Interest Deduction? By ROGER LOWENSTEIN
Most people think of the tax break on mortgage interest as fair social policy intended to make respectable homeowning citizens of us all. They are wrong.
VACATION-HOME HUNTER Club Med for the Multimillionaire Set By SUSAN DOMINUS
Tim Blixseth, founder of the exclusive Yellowstone Club, wants his superrich club members to unwind, even if he can’t.
THEORIST Home Economics By JON GERTNER
Why do houses cost so much when there’s plenty of land to build on? Is public housing a good thing? Why do people still move to Detroit? Ed Glaeser has some answers.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING The Suburban Solution By ANDREW RICE
How do you build affordable housing without federal money? Hitch on to a rising real-estate market and let the private sector do it for you.
On the streets where we live, bigger may not always be better.
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Reviewing our review, and being reasonably objective about it (as anything less would taint our stellar standards and impeccable performance –this marketing hype is beneath us. It is.) the projections were not off. [Surely we can do better than that. ] (Ok, they were respectable, but not particularly accurate.) [Surely we looked like geniuses compared to Thompson.] (Aye, but they are cheerleaders, not analysts like us. We don’t want to claim that we are better than half wits, do we?)
iF Avril Lavigne can’t sell her house, what hope do we have?!?! LOL ;-)
“Lavigne singing the real estate blues”
Drops price of Cabbagetown property;
open house today
Selling real estate is just so complicated, as Avril Lavigne is finding out.
The 21-year-old rock star is having trouble selling her downtown Toronto home. It has been on the market for 50 days. The asking price has been dropped to $599,000 from $618,000 (CND).
Home Sweet Debt
Endangered Species
I have to say I agree. If the Fed continues to 5.00%, much less 5.50% as Lehman predicts, this economy is going to fall off a cliff.
Reviewing our review, and being reasonably objective about it (as anything less would taint our stellar standards and impeccable performance –this marketing hype is beneath us. It is.) the projections were not off. [Surely we can do better than that. ] (Ok, they were respectable, but not particularly accurate.) [Surely we looked like geniuses compared to Thompson.] (Aye, but they are cheerleaders, not analysts like us. We don’t want to claim that we are better than half wits, do we?)
iF Avril Lavigne can’t sell her house, what hope do we have?!?! LOL ;-)
“Lavigne singing the real estate blues”
Drops price of Cabbagetown property;
open house today
Selling real estate is just so complicated, as Avril Lavigne is finding out.
The 21-year-old rock star is having trouble selling her downtown Toronto home. It has been on the market for 50 days. The asking price has been dropped to $599,000 from $618,000 (CND).
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1141426212340&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
The Avril story reminded me of my all time favorite Hollywood vs. real estate story:
http://contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/bracco%20addicted%20to%20real%20estate
Taking financial advice from someone emerging from bankruptcy doesn’t sound like a great idea to me… LOL