Housing Market Finance, Then & Now “If you don’t have a job — or are afraid of losing one — it doesn’t matter how low interest rates are.” –Ross Kaplan Long before there was a housing bubble (seemingly, 3 lifetimes ago), there was a credit bubble. As a result, seemingly anyone who could complete a...Read More
Hint: What’s In Between a Buyer’s and Seller’s Market? Along with most large metro housing markets, the Twin Cities has favored Sellers for so long — about 5 years now — that Buyers and Seller (if not their agents) can be forgiven for forgetting that there are two other kinds of markets. The first is...Read More
When Bearishness is Bullish As the 2017 housing market officially gets underway, at least a few Realtors are dealing with Buyers haunted by the post-2008 housing crash — and the fear that something like that could happen again. How warranted are those fears? Housing Market Vital Signs: Checklist Unfortunately, bubbles are usually only obvious in retrospect...Read More
Shiller: Why Smart Money Can’t Stop a Housing Bubble At least according to economist (and Nobel Prize winner) Robert Shiller, housing is more prone to bubbles than stocks for two reasons: 1) housing supply eventually responds to higher prices, satisfying demand (and then some); and 2) unlike stocks, it’s not possible to short housing —...Read More
A Brit With Backbone “I would put a requirement for backbone ï¬rst along with the ability to think for yourself and stand ï¬rm. We have little to lose by taking a different course, and much to gain. “Relevant experience” is difficult to appraise in dealing with a Fed boss, and previous proven excellence has anyway not...Read More
“Do Deflated Bubbles Always Overshoot?” Cont. The Green Bay Packers never lost a game. They just ran out of time. –Vince Lombardi If you missed my tête-à -tête last week with Barry Ritholtz (“Why the Housing Bears are Bearish“), let me summarize: Mr. Ritholtz wrote that, even after a 35% drop from the peak nationally, housing...Read More