Results from the Council of Mortgage Lenders this week have shown an increase in the number of loans taken by buy-to-let landlords in 2007. With first time buyers finding it increasingly difficult to get onto the property ladder, it might be expected that private landlords are having it easy. Alan Harper, Senior Analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk […]

Martin here with two news items I want to bring to your immediate attention.
First and foremost, talk on Wall Street yesterday that the housing market “may be bottoming” is a bunch of hooey.
The reality is that bank seizures of U.S. homes just surged 90% in January compared to a year ago.
The main reason: Homeowners failed […]

Hometracks house price data released on Monday points to house prices in England and Wales falling for 5 straight months in a row as banks tightened lending criteria as the risks of residential housing market bad debt exposure continues to grow. Annual UK house price inflation fell to a near 2 year low of 1.4%. […]

Being “upside down” is the term for when a borrower owes more on a car than the car is worth. Cars have always been a depreciating asset, but real estate has not been viewed in the same way. That is about to change.

Today’s New York Times describes how falling home prices are affecting […]

Mike Larson writes: I told you it was coming. And there it was yesterday — summarized perfectly in the second headline of the Wall Street Journal’s website: “Worried Bankers Seek to Shift Risk to Uncle Sam.”The gist of the story?

“The banking industry, struggling to contain the fallout from the mortgage debacle, is urgently […]

“I always felt very secure and very safe with real estate. Real estate always appreciates.” ~ Ivana TrumpBefore we begin our next hair-raiser, I notice a lot of people scratching their heads as global stock markets decline in the face of a “strong global economy.” What you are seeing is the “pricing in” of approximately […]

“I always felt very secure and very safe with real estate. Real estate always appreciates.” ~ Ivana TrumpBefore we begin our next hair-raiser, I notice a lot of people scratching their heads as global stock markets decline in the face of a “strong global economy.” What you are seeing is the “pricing in” of approximately […]

“I always felt very secure and very safe with real estate. Real estate always appreciates.” ~ Ivana TrumpBefore we begin our next hair-raiser, I notice a lot of people scratching their heads as global stock markets decline in the face of a “strong global economy.” What you are seeing is the “pricing in” of approximately […]

After 30 months of plunging lower, several leading indicators of the U.S housing sector have finally found a narrow ledge to support their falling prices. Now the most important question is; can these past support levels be broad enough to hold the frail U.S. housing market indexes or is this just a short-term stop on […]

UK House prices fell by £4,000 (2.1%) in January 2008 (Halifax), the average price falling to £191,275, down £9,806 (4.8%) from the August 2007 peak of £201,081. The Market Oracle forecast as of August 2007 is for a fall in average house prices of 15% over two years to August 2009. UK interest rates were […]

The following data on the Housing Depression in the City of Reno illustrates that the Peak was 30 – 31 months ago. The historical peak to trough real estate value is 46 months. Then again, the recent past has exceeded anything in history by several orders of magnitude. For washoe county, there were 69 bank […]

Mortgage lenders have called for tighter rules to stop possible mortgage fraud involving the sale of newly built city-centre flats.

Panorama: Bursting the House Price Bubble, BBC One 8.30pm Monday 4 February 2008

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said that a slowing market could tempt some developers into offering greater “incentives” […]

What Does a Recession Look Like?
The Starbucks Index
Consumer Spending Slows Down
Rising Unemployment Starts to Show Up
It is All About Valuations
Phoenix, Prime Rib and My Conference

What does a recession look like? How does it feel? What does it mean for your life and your investments? We explore these questions and […]

By: Christopher_Laird
Depression 1.0 started about 1929 and ended around 1940 with the entry of the US into WW2. Even then, many economists say that, had the US not entered WW2, the depression would have continued for years in the US, and the rest of the world.
Now, since WW2, the US and West entered a […]