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We’re Going Back To 2009

A report from CNBC. “A surge in rental property evictions could have a domino effect on the broader housing market and economy, Tendayi Kapfidze, chief economist at LendingTree, told CNBC. ‘This really could be catastrophic, and it extends beyond just the rental industry,’ and could ‘affect the single-family housing market and the economy as a whole.'”

“The eviction crisis could be a boon, however, for eviction services, said Glenn Kelman, chief executive of real estate brokerage Redfin. ‘If you look at the data right now, about 8% of mortgages are in forbearance. That’s the program that lets you defer a mortgage payment for about a year. In January, the delinquency rate was about 3%,’ Kelman said. ‘Clearly, the people in the business of evicting folks out of apartments and houses, of handling delinquencies and foreclosures are anticipating a big 2021 and that’s one of the shoes that we’re really worried could drop next year.'”

From KPBS in California. “According to a study by the consulting firm Stout, over 40% of California’s renters are currently unable to pay their full rent and are at risk of eviction. Last week, a group of landlords held a press conference in support of AB 1436. One of those was San Diego landlord Ginger Hitzke. She doesn’t want this housing crisis to be a repeat of 2008, where investors were able to move into a distressed housing market, buy foreclosed properties, and drive up rents.”

“‘I feel like I’m looking at this thing from the perspective of a real estate professional. And it terrifies me because renters, particularly renters on the lower end of spectrum, they’re in the habit of being just people. They’re not real estate professionals, and they’re not going to know how to deal with this,’ Hitzke said.”

From ABC 7 News in California. “The latest figures from REReport.com show a significant drop in sales of single-family homes and condos in the Bay Area. Sales are down anywhere from 10.9% to 34.1% in San Francisco, Alameda, and San Mateo Counties from July 2020 to the year before. Condo sales are also down double digits in Santa Clara County, and home sales there are flat. Unfortunately for many already in a home, this is a stressful time. Many distressed homeowners are getting into deeper trouble.”

“Robert Benavides walks into his meeting with a housing counselor from A-1 Community Housing Services in Hayward. The Union City man is struggling to keep up with his mortgage payments. The independent plumber has seen much of his work dry up during the pandemic. ‘It just started to slow up, but this just made it worse,’ he told us. Benavides asked us not to show his home, but just recently succeeded in getting a loan modification to save it from foreclosure.”

“‘I was threatened and dates were given for auctions of my house on four different occasions,’ Benavides recalls. He’s fearful the current situation could push him back into foreclosure. ‘It’s tight, it’s close. It is affecting my income,’ said Benavides.”

“His situation may not be unique. The Mortgage Banker’s Association estimates just under four million Americans are in forbearance, which allows them to skip paying their mortgage due to the pandemic. Executive director Nancy Rivera of A-1 Community Housing Services fears that could cause more harm. ‘The way I’m seeing it is you, you’re just buying time. You’re just buying time and once that’s due, unless you have $20,000, $30,000 in back payments. I mean, we’re going back to 2009,’ she warned.”

From The Real Deal on California. “The coronavirus pandemic has created opportunity in Los Angeles’ luxury housing market. Properties are selling, but usually for far less than original asking. The latest examples are a pair of modern-style spec mansions that sold in Beverly Hills and Beverly Park last week, but whose owners accepted significant price chops. A 16,450-square-foot home in Beverly Hills Flats sold for $24 million, nearly half the $45 million its owner asked when it hit the market last summer, according to Variety.”

“The Beverly Park property is a half-finished mansion that sold for $28.5 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. That’s an 18-percent discount from its $34.7 million price tag when it hit the market four months ago.”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “As Lori Loughlin and her husband await sentencing for their role in the college admissions scandal, the pair just wrapped up a massive home sale in the meantime. The celebrity couple just sold their Bel-Air estate for $18.75 million — significantly shy of the $35 million they were originally asking. While it’s still more than the $14 million they paid for it five years ago, they’ll likely take a net loss, as they spent a small fortune renovating the property during their stay.”

The Real Deal on Florida. “Billionaire hedge fund manager Clifford Asness sold his South Beach penthouse for $22 million, 15 percent less than he paid for it two years ago. Though the luxury single-family home market in Miami Beach has seen a number of high-priced deals, the condo market is not performing as well, especially during the pandemic.”

“In 2018, Asness paid $26 million for the five-bedroom unit, which includes a private rooftop deck, a fire pit and pool. He listed the penthouse at 321 Ocean Drive for sale last year for $29.5 million, and sold it for a 25 percent discount off the asking price. Asness had purchased the Miami Beach condo from Russian venture capitalist Boris Johnson, who once had the unit listed for $53 million.”

From 6 Sq Ft in New York. “This Greek Revival home looks like something one might find in New Orleans or Savannah, but it’s actually right in Clinton Hill. Its southern charm, however, has not seemed to help the home at 136 Clinton Avenue find a buyer; it’s been on and off the market for four years, originally asking $4.8 million. One year ago, the price dropped to $3.6 million, and it’s just been lowered again to $3,420,000.”

The American Statesman in Texas. “As many parts of the economy take a brutal blow from the coronoavirus pandemic, the homebuilding market in Central Texas — at least for now — is a notable exception, new figures show. From April through June, builders started work on 5,330 houses. That’s a record for any second quarter, and it’s 30% more homes than were started in the second quarter of 2019. The previous second-quarter peak was 4,492 starts in the second quarter of 2018, Metrostudy said.”

“‘Much of the activity seems to be coming from first-time buyers,’ said Vaike O’ Grady, Metrostudy’s regional director in Austin. ‘For the first time in years the Austin apartment occupancy rate recently dropped below 90%.'”

“Still, the new home market faces a multitude of headwinds, industry experts say. ‘There is a lot of uncertainty about the virus and the economy, never mind the election,’ O’Grady wrote. ‘Our projections are for a bumpy end to the year— and into 2021.'”

“O’Grady also said a recovery from the current recession could be years away. ‘With the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the threat of a longer and deeper national recession has increased. Continued job loss, tighter mortgage standards, and anxious consumers could dent homebuyer demand, even here in Austin. While no one is certain what shape this recession will ultimately take, it could very well affect 2021 housing demand and building activity, and full recovery may take years.'”

“Eldon Rude, a Central Texas housing market expert, said he expects sales of new homes to remain strong through the summer. However, he said his main concern near term ‘is how long can sales remain at recent levels in an economy that is not creating nearly the number of professional jobs it was prior to the pandemic.’ ‘I don’t know the answer to this question,’ Rude said. ‘But hopefully the companies that have been the drivers for our economy in recent years will resume hiring before this recent surge in demand for housing fades.'”

“Metrostudy said that ‘continued and broader job losses’ could slow the pace of new home sales going forward. ‘Up until now, the losses have primarily been in the leisure and hospitality segments, where incomes are lower and folks are less likely to be homebuyers. If more people get laid off, the housing industry will suffer, despite record-low mortgage rates.'”

“Homes with base prices below $300,000 made up half of the closings in the 12 months that ended in June. Almost one-third of homes that builders started work on in the second quarter had base prices between $250,000 and $299,000.”

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This Post Has 130 Comments

  1. ‘His situation may not be unique’

    May?

    ‘The Mortgage Banker’s Association estimates just under four million Americans are in forbearance’

    1. ‘The Mortgage Banker’s Association estimates just under four million Americans are in forbearance’

      As long as they can book those loans as “performing,” it’s all good…

  2. ‘This really could be catastrophic, and it extends beyond just the rental industry,’ and could ‘affect the single-family housing market and the economy as a whole’

    ‘The eviction crisis could be a boon, however, for eviction services, said Glenn Kelman, chief executive of real estate brokerage Redfin. ‘If you look at the data right now, about 8% of mortgages are in forbearance. That’s the program that lets you defer a mortgage payment for about a year. In January, the delinquency rate was about 3%,’ Kelman said. ‘Clearly, the people in the business of evicting folks out of apartments and houses, of handling delinquencies and foreclosures are anticipating a big 2021’

    Yes we are, and how could be any other way? The REIC is peddling horse-sh$t as usual.

    2. Do people in the eviction business generally have to pack a gun?

      Is it possible to conduct business without personal visits that put the messenger at risk of getting killed?

      1. If you are a landlord you are in the eviction business. It doesn’t work like that. There’s a process. Even when I was booting out FB’s, there’s no need for violence. I never take a gun anywhere.

  3. ‘builders started work on 5,330 houses. That’s a record for any second quarter, and it’s 30% more homes than were started in the second quarter of 2019. The previous second-quarter peak was 4,492 starts in the second quarter of 2018′

    Keep building boys.

    ‘Much of the activity seems to be coming from first-time buyers’

    Yeah they’re shoe-horning first time fools into loans in Austin. That will work out well going into a recession. And note they are basically undercutting previous buyers.

  4. I’m overwhelmed with crater. I’ll probably have a CRE post later and an international post after that.

    1. From the end of the KPBS article:

      ‘With no money coming into the pockets of renters any time soon, and the economy in tatters, without state action the nationwide eviction crisis will have finally arrived in San Diego’

      Tatters? What did you expect California?

      1. ‘With no money coming into the pockets of renters any time soon, and the economy in tatters, without state action the nationwide eviction crisis will have finally arrived in San Diego’

        Huh? They’re getting $1,000 per week in free cheese.

      2. Soaring mortgage defaults, plunging housing prices, cratering rental rates, collapsing housing demand, soaring vacancy rate….

        Meet California.

        1. That’s the USA writ large as our oligarch-looted, COVID-ravaged economy is imploding under the accumulated weight of insane debt burdens.

          1. Nobody in the MSM is talking about the role of those insane debt burdens in launching and exacerbating the U.S. recession. The officially approved narrative, which is regularly parroted by academic economist commentators, is that COVID-19 caused the recession.

            Never mind that the onset of recession predated COVID-19 policy measures.

  6. ‘The independent plumber has seen much of his work dry up during the pandemic. ‘It just started to slow up, but this just made it worse,’ he told us. Benavides asked us not to show his home, but just recently succeeded in getting a loan modification to save it from foreclosure’

    ‘I was threatened and dates were given for auctions of my house on four different occasions,’ Benavides recalls. He’s fearful the current situation could push him back into foreclosure’

    But UHS says you can just sell?

    If he’s had 4 notices of sale, he was in foreclosure before the CCP virus.

    1. If he’s had 4 notices of sale, he was in foreclosure before the CCP virus.

      Exactly. And how many of these posers are pretending that it was the virus and not their decision to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars for something they never could have dreamed of affording in the first place?

      1. And notice the TV station didn’t ask him about his loan, how much he put down, how much he was earning when he borrowed X amount. All the relevant stuff.

        The fact is most loans made the past 10 or so years have been subprime.

        1. Right. They never ask the pertinent question, much less any tough questions. It’s kind of like that interview with Jerome Powell on 60 minutes – a bunch of softball questions with no meat whatsoever.

  7. “A surge in rental property evictions could have a domino effect on the broader housing market and economy, Tendayi Kapfidze, chief economist at LendingTree, told CNBC.

    Tendayi looks splendid in his Captain Obvious costume.

  8. “According to a study by the consulting firm Stout, over 40% of California’s renters are currently unable to pay their full rent and are at risk of eviction.

    Is that a lot?

    1. If you owe the bank 1 million you have a problem. If you owe the bank 100 million, the bank has a problem. These renters are not going anywhere, and neither are the mortgage bag holders. Too many to put out on the street, and so they will live rent free and mortgage free for the foreseeable future. California will lead the way as usual with this.

      1. The bagholders for now are landlords and mortgage-backed security investors, with a possible exception where the Fed decided to make some specially favored bagholders whole through buying up collapsed assets at above market value and burying them indefinitely on its balance sheet.

        1. Bottom line, there is no way there are going to be 20 million new homeless people just as we head into the Fall and Winter. I know you see the writing on the wall as well Professor.

          Whatever it takes by the Fed.

  9. One of those was San Diego landlord Ginger Hitzke. She doesn’t want this housing crisis to be a repeat of 2008, where investors were able to move into a distressed housing market, buy foreclosed properties, and drive up rents.”

    Let me guess: Ginger votes for same the globalist quislings who signed off on the Wall Street bailout and on the Fed’s “QE-to-Infiniti” that enabled vulture funds like BlackRock to hoover up the proles’ distressed housing and assets. Then she thinks things are going to turn out differently following the next Great Muppet Reaping.

    Get a clue, Ginger. It’s a big club and you ain’t in it.

    1. ‘a repeat of 2008, where investors were able to move into a distressed housing market, buy foreclosed properties, and drive up rents’

      This is a recurring theme from the REIC. Oh the big bad investors will buy everything up, save me baybee jeebus!

      Rents are sinking like a turd in a well Ginger. I’ll have more on that later.

  12. And it terrifies me because renters, particularly renters on the lower end of spectrum, they’re in the habit of being just people. They’re not real estate professionals, and they’re not going to know how to deal with this,’ Hitzke said.”

    Got it, Ginger. So as a taxpayer (and renter) I should be put on the hook to cover these deadbeats’ rent because Fed monetary policies encouraged rampant speculation and made housing unaffordable. Kindly go f**k yourself, Ginger. If deadbeats can’t pay rent, evict them. And if the rent is too high, lower it. If that means speculators lose “their” rental properties, so be it.

  14. “‘The way I’m seeing it is you, you’re just buying time. You’re just buying time and once that’s due, unless you have $20,000, $30,000 in back payments. I mean, we’re going back to 2009,’ she warned.”

    How many folks who have stopped paying the monthly have $20,000 to $30,000 in back payments saved up to repay the moment forebearance ends?

    I’m guessing not many.

    1. I’m guessing the typical American’s financial emergency readiness level may have deteriorated since early 2020.

      Invest in You: Ready. Set. Grow.
      41% of Americans would be able to cover a $1,000 emergency with savings
      Published Wed, Jan 22 2020 9:01 AM EST
      Updated Wed, Jan 22 202010:19 AM EST
      Megan Leonhardt
      Sumetee Theesungnern / EyeEm

      Almost half of Americans can handle a $1,000 emergency, such as a medical bill or car repair, by dipping into savings.

      Another 37% say they would use a credit card, take out a personal loan or ask family for financial help to handle unexpected expenses, according to a new poll from Bankrate of over 1,000 U.S. adults. Only about 3% of respondents say they don’t know how they would handle a $1,000 emergency.
      …

  15. Markets
    U.S. Dollar Suffers Its Worst Month in a Decade
    By Olivia Konotey-Ahulu
    July 31, 2020, 4:02 AM PDT
    Updated on July 31, 2020, 8:16 AM PDT
    – All major currencies advance against the greenback in July
    – Dollar demand wanes as Treasury yields drop, economy stumbles

    The euro rose the most in a decade this month, the British pound is headed for its best July since 1990, and for the first time this year, every major currency in the world rose against the greenback.

    A gauge of the dollar against its biggest peers is down 4.4% this month, the worst rout in a decade.
    …

    2. $91,9501 bd 608 sqft
      4514 S Camino Ejercito, Fort Mohave, AZ 86426

      https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4514-S-Camino-Ejercito-Fort-Mohave-AZ-86426/63494838_zpid/

      It’s supposed to hit 117 degrees today in FM. I wonder how that little window unit will hold up? What a got-forsaken place that is. I once worked a foreclosure out there that was literally an under-ground house. It was a big hole with spiral stairs going down and the “living” area was a circle around the hole. Jeebus it was spooky. No power of course so it was pitch black. I was worried about rattlesnakes, so I got out of there ASAP. It was on 10 acres, and you know what the lender was focused on? Whacking down the tumbleweeds (it was pretty much 10 acres of solid tumbleweeds). So I came up with some ridiculous bid to get them off my back. And never returned.

      1. “I once worked a foreclosure out there that was literally an under-ground house. It was a big hole with spiral stairs going down and the “living” area was a circle around the hole. Jeebus it was spooky.”

        Sounds like a “Silence of the Lambs” pit where you can keep an eye-peeled on your prey.

    3. One of the youtubers I follow just bought a 2-bed house in Bullhead City for $67K cash. I google-mapped around the town,and I have to say I do *not* understand the West at all. These houses have gravel for lawns, almost no vegetation to speak of, exposed out there in the open sunlight. Passengers in a 737 flying overhead could distinguish if you’re grilling chicken or steak. Those little buildings look like the ramshackle office of an impound lot. All that’s missing is the beaters and the chain-link fence. Don’t they like trees? Where do these people work (oh, the casino across the river). Where do they get their water (the river I guess)? And it’s not even nearly as weird as going just east of Bullhead City, to Golden Valley. Single-lane dirt roads with small houses dotted all over. Again, why? Is it really all methheads? Are they on the lam? Are they prepping for the apocalypse?

      1. Don’t they like trees?

        Trees don’t grow in the desert without abundant supplemental water. If you’ve never been out west you should take a trip. There are massively large swaths of desert where there are no trees for hundreds upon hundreds of miles. And when you do finally hit something that resembles a tree, it’s a Juniper.

        1. Mesquite does OK if you help it get started. And Joshua Trees of course. You see a lot of palms in BHC, a few in GV. Once I was coming from Lake Havasu City to BHC and saw on the map there was a short cut through to GV. Turned out to be dirt, got lost. I was driving around and came up this entrance to a huge abandoned development. The only thing they put up was hundreds and hundreds of super tall palm trees lining the entrance. Signs offering lots were falling apart. Like a movie. Then I remembered I had posted a big write up by some major paper about it and the tales of woe. I took pictures and they are on some drive somewhere. I always felt bad for those trees though. About half were dead and the rest were headed that way.

        2. I’ve been to Vegas a few times. We took a side trip to Death Valley and that was actually a little interesting. The rocks actually made sense compared to Vegas. Once you get off the main Strip it looks like just Bullhead city. Flat dirt and maybe some scrub, what I would expect to see on a construction site when they’re at the stage of planting the pipe farm.

          By “don’t they like trees” I was wondering why they couldn’t find another place to live. Yeah, so they all have minimum wage jobs at the casino. There are thousands of places to live where there are minimum wage jobs and the meth runs freely and trees grow by themselves. Like east of the Mississippi.

          1. Some people like wide open spaces. There is some beauty in the desert, especially when you get into northern NV with views of mountains from the desert.

          2. Like east of the Mississippi.

            There is a reason why the bulk of the nation lives east of the Mississippi.

            The west has a few things going for it:
            1) Low humidity. The east in the summer feels like a sauna to us.
            2) A lot less bugs.

            Coastal California can add climate to the list.

      2. A few years ago I learned the WalMart in BHC had to stop doing drug testing because they couldn’t keep enough employees.

        I could tell you a lot of tales about Golden Valley. One retired former home builder from Ohio I knew bought a shack on one of those dirt roads in 2006. Over 200k IIRC. Walked away from it. Took part time jobs to get by, which is how I met him. I called once to ask if he would do something for me. He said they had decided to move back to Ohio, but along the way their RV caught fire and burned down to the tires. They made it back to Ohio with nothing but the clothes on their back.

        I can say this about GV. It is beautiful in the mornings. The sunlight on the slopes and the colored rocks and dirt that spreads out in big sweeps, every direction. Lots of snowbirds in the winter, BHC too.

      3. “These houses have gravel for lawns, almost no vegetation to speak of, exposed out there in the open sunlight.”

        They don’t call ’em “the arid 17 western states” for nothing. FWIW, our front yard should be xeriscaped, and lawn in the backyard for the dog-n-kids.

  17. Major shocker from Pimco: Junk bond investments in hotel and mall mortgages are toast.

    Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
    High yield bonds
    Pimco warns ‘significant pain’ still lies ahead for malls and hotels
    Chief investment officer Dan Ivascyn steers clear of riskier types of commercial mortgage-backed bonds
    A mall in New York. The coronavirus crisis has turned up the stress throughout the commercial mortgage-backed securities market
    © Getty
    Joe Rennison yesterday

    The chief investment officer of one of the world’s largest money managers is warning of further pain for owners of hotels, malls and office blocks across the US, spelling trouble for the $1.2tn market for bonds backed by the mortgages on these commercial properties.

    Dan Ivascyn, CIO at California-based Pimco, which oversees $1.92tn in assets, said it has steered clear of riskier debt linked to the sector in favour of securities that are better protected from defaults.

    “We are in the midst of a shock. You are going to see elevated losses across commercial real estate debt and equity,” Mr Ivascyn said. “We have avoided lower-rated tranches because they do not trade well during market volatility.”
    …

    1. “Pimco warns ‘significant pain’ still lies ahead for malls and hotels”

      Wonder if Powell will prepare a tossed green salad for them?

    2. Rules for Polite Discussion of Systemic Social Issues in the Black Community:

      1) They bear no responsibility to solve their own problems
      2) White racists are to blame

        2. I love the body piercings in the caricature. That is, I hate the body piercings. Actually, I can deal with body piercings EXCEPT for gauges. With the jewelry you can least remove the things and the hole heals up or it’s tiny. Gauges are permanent and therefore evil. Full-coverage tats are not far behind.

          1. Tattoos on a woman seriously downgrade her appeal, to me. She’s relegated to a lower class. They’re too trashy.

  19. Prior to the 2008 financial crisis, all three major ratings agencies gave AAA ratings to toxic-waste mortgage-backed securities bundled and sold to “investors” (bagholders) by U.S. banks. Of course no officials at the ratings agencies went to prison for this fraud. Now they’re being even more fraudulent by not giving the U.S. an honest credit rating despite our insane national debt and deficit spending, and the Keynesian fraudsters at the Fed pushing their money printing into hyperdrive.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/united-states-outlook-revised-to-negative-from-stable-by-fitch/ar-BB17qy05

    1. Agreed, the US shouldn’t be AAA (nor should a lot of things). But at least this is a step in the right direction: “Fitch Ratings revised its outlook on the country’s credit score to negative from stable, citing a “deterioration in the U.S. public finances and the absence of a credible fiscal consolidation plan.” “

    1. US is `printing’ money to help save the economy from the COVID-19 crisis, but some wonder how far it can go

      As far as they want it to go. The central banks run the world, and the US FED is the top dog. So, they answer to NOBODY. They will be clinking glasses with anybody who matters at Jackson Hole and Davos, explaining that their balance sheet may grow to $20 TRILLION and beyond, and it will be all smiles and handshakes and good times.

    2. Last “crisis” the Fed was lending dumpster loads of fresh dollars to other countries as well.

  22. Here is Portland, Oregon, you are starting to see homeowners who bought in the last two years attempt to rent their houses while trying to make a profit. Due to low down payments, houses are being priced anywhere from $1,200 to $1,500 above market rent, and of course, no ones taking.

    1. The short term rental market allowed these greedheads to temporarily stem their losses. That model is now moribund. Jacking up long term rental rates is pretty much impossible.

    2. A depression era vignette in the book, “Ten Lost Years,” the home owners moved into the basement, and rented their house, which included the wife acting as a concierge, cook, etc., in order to survive.

      1. In the depression stories, do they ever talk about the people who still had money? Who were these renters? And did they do something right to have it easier while old-timey FBs waited on them hand and foot?

  24. Since a lot of Doctors have come out in recent days saying the Malaria drug works, why the big suppression of this information?

    Doctors are rebelling against the false narratives it seems. So, who could trust these people trying to keep us locked down .

    Nothing makes sense except for a some kind of a power grab using Covid-19 to accomplish it. They didn’t care if the Protestors spread the disease ,which no doubt happened. Nothing about this rings right .
    And it’s very strange that Dr Fauci acted like the virus was no big deal at first, than changed to the extreme measures he did. Than it doesn’t apply to Protestors, than lock down again.

    Government agencies again as a agent for a agenda , just like the FBI bogus Russian Hoax. Teachers Gov Union refusing to open up schools, while Europe has no problem doing it based on the science.
    It seems very contrived and fake. Almost like they want to crash the private sector segment of Commerce, so the big monopolies take over that can survive this shut down. This is evil, that all I know. Who would want these powers running their life.? Evil,Evil, Evil,

    1. Big Pharma wants big money and the rest want Trump out of office. The only consolation is that WHO is still testing HCQ for early use. it was only the late/hospital use that they discontinued, although you’d never know that from the shill media.

      I’m pretty incensed with Fauci. He didn’t like the Ford HCQ study, peer-reviewed or not, saying that it wasn’t a double blind RCT prospective study.

      Well, if that’s his gold standard, then he’d better disallow Remdesivir too. I don’t think the Rem papers were ever peer-reviewed. (Oh, what’s that you say? 9 days of a hospital IV, at $3000/dose with who knows what for the hospital stay? Help us, Gilead Sciences, you’re our only hope.)

        1. Remdesivir Gets Lukewarm Endorsement From Experts in Covid Fight
          By Jade Wilson
          July 30, 2020, 4:01 PM PDT
          Trials of remdesivir have had limitations, journal says
          Panel calls for more study of Gilead drug in Covid patients
          Remdesivir
          Remdesivir Photographer: Ulrich Perrey/AFP via Getty Images

          Gilead Sciences Inc.’s remdesivir is worth prescribing for patients with severe Covid-19 though evidence of its benefits remains inconclusive, according to a panel of international experts convened by the British Medical Journal.

          The effectiveness of most interventions with remdesivir is uncertain because most of the trials so far have been small and have limitations, the authors said in a review for the journal.

          The antiviral medication has received worldwide attention as a potential treatment for severe Covid-19 and is already being used in clinical practice. The European Commission signed a 63 million-euro ($74 million) contract with Gilead this week for batches of the drug to be made available in European Union countries from early August.

          Remdesivir may be effective in reducing recovery time in patients with severe Covid-19, though more trials are needed to confirm this, the experts said. The drug probably has no important effect on the need for mechanical ventilation and may have little or no effect on the length of hospital stay.
          …

        2. Remdesivir kinda sounds like a big nothing burger of a treatment.

          You go to war with the army you’ve got. That’s what Rumsfeld said anyway. Never forget he’s a Gilead guy.

  25. I am waiting for COVID to end and tech layoffs in bay area to cause inventory to rise and prices to drop in Sacramento and Placer county real estate.

    1. The jobs market has nothing to do with the real estate bubble. It’s due to loose lending. Until the lending dries up, look for more of the same. You’re trying to attach fundamentals to a market that is completely detached from them.

    2. Big Government calling the winners and losers, not the people. Big Government had already taken over when Trump got in. Trump wasn’t suppose to get in. I have never seen a President have so many forced against him.

      Half of the Country doesn’t matter to these power mongers that are fueling the agenda of Government for the Government and Globalist Monopolies. The way they even talk about Trump voters is discussing, like they don’t have a right to exist or have representation in the election process.

      More than 25 years of takeover that Hilary would of furthered . Evil power hungry traitors who could care less about democracy.
      Just how much do you like this deranged Big Government and their Globalist partners and Looter rioters. Not good.

    1. Five pending transactions between $1.66-2.095M should have buyers feeling a little sick too.

    2. I don’t like the Sagecrest house at all. They pumped up the volume on the bedrooms for no reason. Kitchen and living areas are unremarkable. It’s cheap-y; typical for 2005. It’s like they tried to be luxurious and the designer failed. I guess what you’re really paying for is the land.

      Whoh, that Highlands ranch IS nice. It was built in 2010, so I guess builders were not in a hurry and could concentrate and quality, and it shows. The walls are a little too sponge-painted Southwest-y tan, but it fits the region. And the decor all matches. I like that the bedrooms are a manageable size — too many McMansion bedrooms are big enough to feel like a hotel lobby. The pool is kinda disturbing tho because I can’t figure out where the water is. Maybe it’s the camera angle. One complaint is that there’s not much entertaining space on the lot and the driveway looks like a tight fit.

      1. I DO NOT like the Highlands Ranch house. First off, that granite countertop theme is so played out it’s like somebody wearing bell bottoms from the 1970s in the late 1980s. And a mini grape orchard? WTF? What do you do with that? That’s waaayyyy too many grapes to eat, and not nearly enough to make wine or sell. I suppose you could take them to a farmer’s market or something, but how stupid…

        1. waaayyyy too many grapes to eat, and not nearly enough to make wine or sell.

          I didn’t look at the house listing, but I’ve owned a few century old places that had a small planting of grapes. They were just concord and would provide enough to make a nice batch of preserves for the thrifty home economist.

        2. What do you do with that?

          There are a number of small wineries in the valley that this neighborhood overlooks if someone didn’t want to experiment with wine-making. I’ve also learned from the grapevine at the Encinitas house that frozen grapes make excellent ice cubes for white wine.

          1. I’ve got two dehydrators already. The rental property where we live in Poway has around 30 macadamia nut trees. Before I tore my ATFL, I would harvest and dry them. Talk about a labor intensive and unprofitable endeavor! What the co-op pays out is much less than the cost of labor to harvest. My family and friends loved their mac nut gifts for the first couple of years!

    1. So, question. If California has such nice weather, then why do these houses need 4 garages? Why not keep the cars outside? Salt? For $2M, I expected a nicer pool. And too much space devoted to woman-primping. He makeup stand is bigger than my bedroom.

        1. Garages are also for other toys and storage, since we don’t really have basements or attics.

  28. Comical story from JtR/SocalJim: Our new listing of a 2005-built home on a culdesac for only $739,000! The Zillow history shows that the house was rented the first of April, and as soon as the new tenant moved in, she told the landlord that she was not going to pay rent because of the eviction moratorium. The owner decides to cheap-sell it with a non-paying tenant inside, but no takers. The ensuing hysteria around the house caused by people thinking they might be able to buy one for $100k under value eventually caused the tenant to move out.

    1. The ensuing hysteria around the house caused by people thinking they might be able to buy one for $100k under value eventually caused the tenant to move out.’

      That’s an Idea right there deadbeat tenant versus hundreds of lookie loos

  29. “…Over 40% of California’s renters are currently unable to pay their full rent…”

    How are those RBS’s (Rent-Backed Securities) looking these days?

    2. Was the government takeover of the private housing market even legal, much less prudent? I’m hoping at least some of the specially favored investors whom the federal government helped to distort the private housing market to an unprecedented degree are now eating massive losses on their rental investments.

      1. When Wall Street Is Your Landlord
        With help from the federal government, institutional investors became major players in the rental market. They promised to return profits to their investors and convenience to their tenants. Investors are happy. Tenants are not.
        Story by Alana Semuels
        February 13, 2019
        Technology

        In 2010, at the height of the foreclosure crisis, the federal government watched nervously as hundreds of thousands of families lost their homes. Empty houses blighted neighborhoods, their shades drawn, their yards overgrown. Without some kind of intervention, federal officials worried, the housing market would continue in its free fall, prices would keep dropping for existing homeowners, and the economic recovery, already tenuous, would be imperiled.

        But who would fill these empty homes? Few Americans were in a buying mood, and for those who were, mortgages were harder to come by than they had been before the crash. So the government incentivized Wall Street to step in. In early 2012, it launched a pilot program that allowed private investors to easily purchase foreclosed homes by the hundreds from the government agency Fannie Mae. These new owners would then rent out the homes, creating more housing in areas heavily hit by foreclosures.
        …

        1. They promised to return profits to their investors

          Hmm, we’ll see how that turns out.

  30. “As Lori Loughlin and her husband await sentencing for their role in the college admissions scandal…”

    I think more people have gone to prison for trying to get their kid in a better college, than went to prison for causing the GFC.

    1. The priorities of the justice department are despicable. Don’t get me wrong, Laughlin and her husband deserve everything they have coming, but where are the Feds on insider trading, securities and banking fraud, etc.? Speaking of Laughlin – why aren’t those little hotties of hers getting prosecuted, too?

  31. Right. The size of the Fed’s balance sheet is merely the amount of debt, including a portion of the $26.5 trillion U.S. national debt, which the Fed has “temporarily” cancelled through monetization.

    And if I understand the claims of Modern Monetary Theory, there’s no limit on how much debt the Fed can similarly bury on its balance sheet.

    1. Landed wrong; was meant as a response to
      The Original Anonymous
      August 1, 2020 at 1:14 pm

  32. If the stock market is really getting Unlimited support, why are the HODlers so worried?

  34. I would like to see Ben address large institutional investors like Blackrock and Wall Street firms and foreign money behind the inflated housing prices and low inventory. They buy the homes and rent them out. That is why first time home buyers are not able to buy a place to live at a reasonable cost.

    1. “I would like to see Ben address large institutional investors…”

      The HBB has exposed these insiders for years. Do some searching with [site:housingbubble.blog] at the end of your query.

    2. I don’t mind if they want to take that risk. The problem is when the Fed has their back at our expense.

    3. I would like to see Ben address

      Ben keeps this blog for his own research purposes. We are appreciative beneficiaries and guests of that research.

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