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Pity anyone who took the tax credit to buy a house - (www.marketwatch.com) Call it whatever you want. But as foreclosures surge again and house prices continue to slide, new data out Monday reveals more of the grim verdict on the $26 billion federal program in 2009 and 2010 to offer tax credits to home buyers. You may remember that between the spring of 2009 and September 2010 the government handed out credits of up to $8,000 to induce people to buy a new home. It was supposed to gee up the housing market. How’d that work out? Zillow.com, the real estate information company, says the average price of an American home fell again last month to $171,500 — the lowest level in eight years. That’s down 4.4% from a year ago, although it’s been about stable over the summer. Now compare the average prices with those that people paid in 2009 and 2010, when they took advantage of the credits. According to Zillow, prices during that time averaged about $186,000. In other words, based at least on average prices, you’ve lost about $14,500 — nearly twice the value of the credit. Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, says the credits, effectively expired in June 2010, when prices nationwide averaged $182,000. Since then we’re down $10,500.
More than half of Sacramento houses worth less than their mortgages - (www.sacbee.com) Housing prices in Sacramento have fallen to pre-boom levels as more than half of homes in the region are now worth less than their mortgages, a new report said. Zillow, the Seattle-based real estate website, said its index for Sacramento home prices for the third quarter dropped 11.2 percent to $200,000 compared to the year-earlier quarter. The price decline comes as 50.9 percent of all mortgages in the region are now underwater, which is nearly double the national average, the company said. In September, foreclosure sales represented nearly 40 percent of all homes sold in the Sacramento region and nearly half of all local resales went for a loss, Zillow said. "We're clearly dealing with a crisis of confidence that is keeping potential buyers on the sidelines, fueled largely by high unemployment and more general economic uncertainty," said Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist.
Wealthy Qualify for Low-Income Loans - (www.bloomberg.com) Colorado’s San Miguel County is known as a winter playground with world-class skiing and mountain vistas, a place where homes can sell for millions of dollars. If you’d like to buy, the Federal Housing Administration -- the agency created to aid low-income and first-time homebuyers - - can help. Not far from the ski resorts of Telluride, an FHA- approved borrower can pick up a five-bedroom, four-bath house with stainless steel appliances and a two-car garage for about $600,000. The agency, created during the Great Depression, has found itself insuring high-dollar loans in hundreds of counties across the country, from New Jersey to Florida to Arizona. Such loans are drawing renewed scrutiny as lawmakers debate whether to expand FHA lending to even wealthier borrowers. “It’s not the intent of the FHA to facilitate people buying McMansions,” said Representative Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican opposed to higher loan limits. “The intent is to help the average American buy the average house.”
South Florida overflowing with underwater mortgages - (www.sentinel.com) People owing more than their homes are worth remains a big problem in South Florida, but it isn’t nearly as bad here as it is elsewhere. Does that qualify as good news? Roughly 47 percent of all single family homes with a mortgage in the three counties are “underwater,” up from 42 percent a year ago, according to third-quarter data from Zillow.com. The figure far surpasses the national average – about 29 percent. Las Vegas leads the nation, with more than eight out of 10 single family homes with a mortgage underwater. Reno is second at 71 percent and Phoenix third at 66 percent. What’s more, eight Florida metro areas, including Jacksonville, Tampa and Ocala, have higher percentages than South Florida. Those who owe more than their homes are worth bought at or near the peak of the housing boom and then watched as prices plummeted. Homeowners who are underwater are stuck in their properties and are more likely to fall into foreclosure.
Europeans transformed private bank debt into public debt, just like US - (www.triplecrisis.com) The European sovereign debt crisis is little more than a huge ‘bait and switch’ perpetrated on the publics of Europe, by their governments, on behalf of their banks. We need to remember that what we refer to today as the ‘European Sovereign Debt Crisis’ began as a private sector financial crisis back in 2008, when ‘too big to fail banks,’ writing deep out of the money options on taxpayers, quite unexpectedly (to some) blew up. Fearing a financial Armageddon, governments transformed private bank debt into public debt via bailouts, lost revenues, lower growth, higher transfers, and yawning deficits. The unavoidable result across the European continent was a massive increase in government debt. While painting this as a story of fiscal irresponsibility has some plausibility in the Greek case, it simply isn’t true for anyone else. The Irish and the Spanish, I and S in the eponymous ‘PIGS’ were, for example, considered ‘best in neoliberal class’ in terms of debts and deficits until the crisis hit. Public debt is a consequence of the financial crisis, not its cause.
More Bay Area houses underwater on mortgages - (www.sfgate.com)
Over 50% of US "Owners" are Effectively Underwater - (www.businessinsider.com)
42% of naive prospective buyers doomed to be educated by pain - (www.firsttuesdayjournal.com)
The 1% are the very best destroyers of wealth the world has ever seen - (www.guardian.co.uk)
End bonuses for banksters - (www.nytimes.com)
Bondholders: Democracy Must Be Prevented! - (www.cepr.net)
Your FEAR is neccessay to prevent you from thinking - (www.google.com)
You bet it's another bubble - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Bubble Déjà Vu All Over Again - (www.wordpress.com)
Chinese house prices, pain and gain - (www.xinhuanet.com)
Mandatory Motoring Is Costing You Plenty - (www.bikesatwork.com)
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