Vacant
houses are being held off the market to prop up prices - (www.theatlanticcities.com) The 2013 third quarter Census
Homeownership and Vacancy survey shows
that the vacancy rate is still above its pre-bubble level and remains unchanged
from one year earlier. This might come as a surprise to house hunters, who have
struggled with limited inventory when trying to find a home to buy or rent, but an unusually high share of vacant homes
today is being held off the market. The elevated vacancy rate discourages new
construction activity and is therefore one of the major hurdles to a full
housing recovery. To understand why vacancies are still widespread and what
impact they have, we dug deeper into the Census data as well as other data
sources that report vacancies at the metro level. Here's what we found. Nationally, Vacancy Rate Still Above
Pre-Bubble Level: In the third quarter of 2013, 10.2 percent of housing
units were vacant, excluding vacant homes that the Census classifies as
"seasonal," such as beach homes. Vacant homes include those for sale
or for rent, as well as homes "held off market" for various reasons.
This vacancy rate of 10.2 percent – the share of homes that are empty –
was unchanged from 2012 Q3 and well above the pre-bubble level. In fact, the
vacancy rate today (10.2 percent) is closer to its peak during the recession
(11.0 percent in Q3 2010) than before the bubble (8.8 percent in Q3 2000).
Criminally
Insane REALTOR Bagged on Fraud and Money Laundering Charges - (www.chicagotribune.com) A Northwest Side real estate agent and former
banker has been arrested on fraud charges in an alleged scheme to hoodwink his
own bank into illegally lending $650,000 to a Chicago police lieutenant for the
purchase of an apartment building, then keeping a large chunk of the cash for
himself. Robert Michael, 62, an owner of Michael Realty and former CEO of the
now-defunct Citizens Bank and Trust, was indicted on one count each of bank
fraud, making false statements to a bank, and money laundering. Police Lt. Erroll
Davis, 52, was charged with one count of filing a false federal income tax
return. Also involved in the alleged scheme — though not charged — was Regina
Evans, the former police chief of Country Club Hills who has pleaded guilty to
stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in state grant money and spending it
on friends, family and debt payments on a theater she owned.
Clergy
tax exemption struck down by court - (www.seattletimes.com) Under
a law passed by Congress in 1954, ministers don’t pay income taxes on
compensation that is designated part of a housing allowance. A federal judge
has struck down a law that gives clergy tax-free housing allowances, a decision
that could have far-reaching financial ramifications for pastors across the
United States. In her decision Friday, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb in
Wisconsin wrote that the exemption “provides a benefit to religious persons and
no one else, even though doing so is not necessary to alleviate a special
burden on religious exercise,” the Wisconsin State Journal reported. Pastors
can use the untaxed income to pay rental-housing costs or the costs of
homeownership, including mortgage payments and property taxes.
Unprecedented anxiety over jobs – (www.washingtonpost.com) What
matters in this new anxiety, what unites the people who worry more now than
ever, are income and education. Workers who earn less, and workers who didn’t
graduate from college, fear losing their already weaker livelihoods more than
anyone else. Spend a day with John Stewart — a man who has worked low-wage jobs
since the late ’70s — and you start to understand why. Back then, fewer worries: His first job — he doesn’t remember if it
was in 1978 or ’79 — was cooking eggs and pancakes at a five-and-dime in New
York City. He made $2.35 an hour, which would be a little less than $8 an hour
today. He was 19 years old, a high school graduate who had grown up in Brooklyn
and North Carolina. He hadn’t gone to college. He was sending chunks of his
paycheck south to his parents, who were battling health issues. It was an
anxious time in the national economy, with inflation running high.
US Consumer Confidence Falls to 7-Month Low - (abcnews.go.com) U.S. consumers' confidence in the economy fell
in November to the lowest level in seven months, dragged down by greater
concerns about hiring and pay in the coming months. The Conference Board said
Tuesday that its index of consumer confidence dropped to 70.4 from 72.4 in
October. The October reading was higher than initially reported, but still well
below the 80.2 reading in September. November's drop comes after the 16-day
partial government shutdown caused confidence to plunge in October. The
declines in both months were driven by falling expectations for hiring and the
economy over the next six months. Some economists also attributed the weakening
confidence to Americans' frustrations and worries about the implementation of
the Obama administration's health care reform. "Disgust with politicians
and government policy is what's holding back expectations," said Ted
Wieseman, an economist at Morgan Stanley.
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