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Its No Wonder That Sellers Are Slashing Prices In A Bid To Make Them Stand Out

A report from the Herald Tribune in Florida. “It is time to address the elephant in the room – are we in the midst of a housing bubble? While home prices have climbed at an accelerated pace over the recent months, this is driven almost entirely by the economic principle of supply and demand. Prior to the crash, builders, both large and small, were highly leveraged and building on speculation that the demand would catch up to their growing inventory of homes.”

“Today, however, the builders that survived that tumultuous time learned valuable lessons and are less leveraged and resistant to building large amounts of inventory beyond what their current demand requires. In fact, most builders would acknowledge that, due to labor and supply constraints, they cannot keep up with the demand for new construction brought about by the limited supply of resale homes.”

From KOAA in Colorado. “Rising construction costs are a major contributor to the lack of affordable housing in the Pikes Peak region, giving nonprofit home builders a new set of hurdles to clear. Lewis Medina’s been the CEO of Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity for a bit now. ‘With this affiliate, six and a half years,’ Medina said. ‘When I started here in the Springs, we had fully developed lots for like $22-28,000. Fully developed lots now are running at a minimum $69-100,000. As a non-profit, we have to raise all those funds to get the land.'”

From Builder Online. “It should not be a surprise to anyone who pays attention to the home building industry that one of the biggest issues facing builders in all areas of the country is the lack of vacant developed lots (VDLs). In 2009 at the height of the last housing downturn, the Atlanta market area had over 150,000 VDLs available during a time when we were starting less than 10,000 houses per year. Even today it appears on paper that we have too many lots on the ground.”

“In new-home neighborhoods in the metro area where sales are experiencing rates in excess of four units per month, there are only 3,481 lots available; sales rates of three to four per month have 8,230 lots available; sales rates of two per month have 9,290 lots available; sales rates of one have 12,569 lots available. The remaining 19,000 lots are in new-home neighborhoods with zero sales in the past year, making them essentially non-marketable.”

“The main reason these lots/neighborhoods experience no activity is due to them having been developed before the Great Recession in locations not close to traditional employment centers. If you remove these lots from the inventory, the months of supply drops to 20 months and puts Atlanta in the same boat as most other markets across the country—battling a shortage of lots.”

The Orange County Register in California. “Bad news: California home prices look bubblish. Good news: Values don’t have to crash painfully to correct the overpricing. Californians were left with understandable scars after the Great Recession shredded psyches, careers, checkbooks and net worths. But that doesn’t mean every time homebuyers get a little nutty — a well-documented California habit — sharp and swift price declines must follow.”

“The past year’s surprisingly strong home prices in a pandemic-tattered economy were unnerving. It was a surge propelled primarily by historically low mortgage rates that helped balloon house hunters’ urge for larger living spaces due to revamped coronavirus lifestyles.”

“‘Bubble’ means the price of an asset has exceeded its underlying value. Nobody has clearly explained to me how housing will remain unscathed after the virus is knocked down and the bargain financing disappears — even if the Federal Reserve gives plenty of warning, as it’s promising.”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union are still shooting for a sale in Sherman Oaks, cutting the price of their Mediterranean-style mansion to $6 million. That’s the same price they paid in 2018, records show.”

From Motley Fool on California. “Yawar Charlie has made his mark in two different careers: as an actor and a real estate agent. He combined those two on the CNBC show Listing Impossible, where agents work to convince clients to follow their plan to make difficult million-dollar properties sell. ‘The great thing about working on Listing Impossible is that it’s a very accurate portrayal of what it takes to sell real estate in Los Angeles. When you work in the ultra-luxury market, inevitably there’s going to be challenges with selling that home. Our show accurately depicts the challenges of selling homes that have been sitting on the market or are problematic in other ways.'”

“‘You probably know that real estate has long been the playground for the rich and well connected. And with a set of unfair advantages that are completely unheard of with other investments, it’s no surprise why. But those barriers have come crashing down – and now it’s possible to build REAL wealth through real estate at a fraction of what it used to cost, meaning the unfair advantages are now available to individuals like you.'”

From 48 Hills in California. “Heather Knight, the Chron City Hall columnist, is the latest on the Yimby bandwagon: Her piece this week argues that San Francisco is ‘one of the most conservative cities in California’ when it comes to housing. If, as the free-marketeers argue, more supply will bring down prices, the problem will just get worse: Unless you can bring down the cost of land, building materials, and labor (and I am not in any way in favor of bringing down the cost of labor by using non-union, exploited workers) you can’t significantly bring down the cost of new housing in SF. Not enough to matter.”

“What does bring down prices? A reduction in demand. We are seeing that now; prices are falling because we are in a pandemic, and people are unemployed, or leaving the city to work remotely somewhere else.”

The Times Hub on Canada. “COVID-19 prompted philanthropist Sophie Desmarais to leave Montreal. The youngest daughter of the late Paul Desmarais has just sold her penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton for $ 11 million – shattering a Quebec record for a sale on the real estate brokers’ MLS system. Surprisingly, Sophie Desmarais did not make any profit with this transaction. She had spent $ 11 million to acquire the property in 2016 and was asking for $12.9 million. ‘It’s like that,’ she sighs.”

From Moose Jaw Today in Canada. “It was a ‘crazy year’ for real estate last year, according to the Saskatchewan Real Estate Association’s economic analyst. The largest average market price increase, 7.7 per cent, was in Moose Jaw. Median home prices in this city jumped 68.8 per cent from a pandemic low of $177,450 to $269,500 by year’s end.”

“Among major markets, median home price in Regina increased 1.8 per cent to $277,000 from $266,000. Saskatoon median home price went up 5.2 per cent to $333,000 from $316,500. Swift Current prices fell 20.8 per cent to $237,500 from $300.000. Yorkton prices fell 28.1 per cent to $175,000 from $243,000. Melfort prices fell 30.3 per cent to $170,000 from $246,000. Estevan median price dropped 13.2 per cent to $130,000 from $150,000 while Weyburn ran down 3.2 per cent to $164,250 from $169,750.”

From Kent Live in the UK. “Sometimes no matter what you do you just can’t sell a property – even if there really isn’t very much wrong with it. The last year or so has been incredibly difficult for everyone, particularly for those trying to sell their homes. Its no wonder then, that sellers are slashing asking prices on homes across Kent in a bid to make them stand out to house hunters.”

“In many cases estate agents have reduced prices of some homes by more than 20 per cent. And others have had their prices cut by a third. Here are some of the properties in Kent sellers have been slashing the price on in the hopes of getting them to sell.”

From Forbes. “Good luck being a vacation-home buyer in 2021 in the U.S. Ironically, we paint an entirely different picture here in expat-friendly Mexico, particularly in San Miguel de Allende, in the very heart of Central Mexico. The vacation- and second-home market here has been over-supplied for two years, with the Covid-19 pandemic only exacerbating an already depressed market that began in early 2019.”

“Our current six years of for-sale inventory in a fly-in-only market during an airplane-averse pandemic has decimated prices with discounts reaching as much as 25% from spring 2020 pricing in previously high-demand locations. AMPI Mexico reported that while 2019 sales were down 35% from the year prior, 2020 sales dropped even more. The upshot? San Miguel is clearly a buyers’ market.”

From Bloomberg. “Signs of bubbles are everywhere as stock prices jumped by a magnitude not seen since the dot-com era, new share listings boom, and Bitcoin, though volatile, continues its generally upward climb. But if company earnings fall short of expectations or the vaccine rollout falters, there’s a risk markets will lurch as investors take money off the table.”

“‘There is no escaping that if you enhance liquidity dramatically, the money will go in search for yield and certainly can expose assets to mispricing,’ says Agustín Carstens, general manager of the Basel, Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements, the so-called bank for central banks. ‘This is a risk and something that needs to be recognized and that needs to be watched very, very carefully.'”

“As of Dec. 31, $17.8 trillion in debt was trading with a negative yield. Governments from Australia to Spain were effectively getting paid to borrow. Junk bonds in the U.S. were trading at yields similar to those of investment-grade corporate debt that priced just two years earlier. When Peru sold a debut 100-year bond in November, the instrument became the lowest-yielding security of such maturity ever issued by the government of a developing economy.”

“Even if things do work out as currently envisaged, there are risks. Japan is an example of the kinds of challenges that crop up if monetary policy remains stuck in place for a long time. Another weakness highlighted by Japan’s ­generation-long experiment with ultra-easy monetary settings is that the quantitative easing has undermined longer-term productivity by propping up businesses that probably should’ve been allowed to fail. That’s what happens when governments and companies can borrow so cheaply that there’s no incentive to make structural fixes that inflict short-term pain such as job losses.”

“‘Central banks [in advanced economies] are in a global liquidity trap,’ says Jerome Jean Haegeli, chief economist at the Swiss Re Institute in Zurich. ‘The liquidity bazooka buys time and pushes up asset prices but has zero value in improving economic trend growth. Like a black hole, once you are in it, it is extremely difficult to get out. That’s where we are in central banking, we are in a liquidity black hole.'”

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This Post Has 106 Comments

  1. ‘now it’s possible to build REAL wealth through real estate at a fraction of what it used to cost’

    IIRC this is the second time in a few months we’ve heard the fraction word about LA.

  2. ‘It was a ‘crazy year’ for real estate last year, according to the Saskatchewan Real Estate Association’s economic analyst. The largest average market price increase, 7.7 per cent, was in Moose Jaw. Median home prices in this city jumped 68.8 per cent from a pandemic low of $177,450 to $269,500 by year’s end’

    I guess the days of the $500,000 single wide are over up there.

  3. ‘six and a half years…When I started here in the Springs, we had fully developed lots for like $22-28,000. Fully developed lots now are running at a minimum $69-100,000. As a non-profit, we have to raise all those funds to get the land’

    This a$$ hat also says there’s no greed. Tripling empty land prices in 6 years. This is the trend I spotted starting in 2011. Land prices doubled and tripled all across the US, including tiny markets you never heard of. There’s yer bubble. Then you end up like Atlanta. We got 19,000 lot and sold none, but we gots a shortage! REIC is the biggest bunch of criminals on the planet, right after central bankers.

    1. I remember last bust when a 60 acre commercial parcel ended up selling for like $600,000. During the halcyon days, it was like $10,000,000 or something. This was raw dirt, nothing else. There wasn’t even ingress/egress. These numbers are by memory so not exact, but that’s the kind of crater that went on in the raw land market.

    2. Heh…. $2k for tillable is 75% higher than long term trend.

      Nothing puts a smile on my face like the ass pounding these guys are taking right now.

  4. ‘Californians were left with understandable scars after the Great Recession shredded psyches, careers, checkbooks and net worths. But that doesn’t mean every time homebuyers get a little nutty — a well-documented California habit — sharp and swift price declines must follow’

    Whine country. Oh they’ll bitch and moan every time they get their a$$ pounded. But right back on the zero work, easy riches they climb. I can’t have any sympathy for this state. No where are so many people locked with their heads up their “understandable” a$$es more than California.

    ‘the Chron City Hall columnist, is the latest on the Yimby bandwagon: Her piece this week argues that San Francisco is ‘one of the most conservative cities in California’ when it comes to housing. If, as the free-marketeers argue, more supply will bring down prices, the problem will just get worse’

    See it’s just public finger pointing and rehashing the same pointless arguments they’ve been having for over 20 years. “We can’t build a dog house to save our lives, it’s so expensive!”

    Get rid of guberment financing and what happens? Crater. Don’t tell me you want cheaper shacks.

    1. On utub:

      What’s Driving California’s Mass Exodus?

      a comment:

      ‘California: shoots its own foot
      California: “WhY dOeS It HuRt??!?!?”‘

  5. ‘Surprisingly, Sophie Desmarais did not make any profit with this transaction. She had spent $ 11 million to acquire the property in 2016 and was asking for $12.9 million. ‘It’s like that’

    A lot of bubble years gone poof.

    ‘still shooting for a sale in Sherman Oaks, cutting the price of their Mediterranean-style mansion to $6 million. That’s the same price they paid in 2018’

  6. ‘The vacation- and second-home market here has been over-supplied for two years, with the Covid-19 pandemic only exacerbating an already depressed market that began in early 2019’

    ‘Our current six years of for-sale inventory in a fly-in-only market during an airplane-averse pandemic has decimated prices with discounts reaching as much as 25% from spring 2020 pricing in previously high-demand locations. AMPI Mexico reported that while 2019 sales were down 35% from the year prior, 2020 sales dropped even more’

    I’ve been watching some ex-pat videos about rental markets around the world. There are some greater than 50% off deals in Thailand and Vietnam. And it’s going to get worse as they are building like mad and the guberments, especially Thailand, are completely shooting themselves in the foot on the CCP virus reaction. They’ve got 70 people dead, and are destroying their tourist economy.

    1. Thailand News Today | Survey shows a third of tourism businesses are broke or shut down | January 25

      1. Survey shows a third of tourism businesses are broke or shut down

        And the other 2/3 are hanging on by a fingernail.

        Now that the US requires a negative COVID test to re-enter the country, Mexico’s tourism biz, which hasn’t been doing great to begin with, is preparing for the worst. I guess if you want a beach vacation, you’ll have to go to Florida.

        It will take decades to recover from the lock down damage, both domestically and globally.

        1. I know of a guy who tested positive around Thanksgiving. He’s a lineman and got hurt really badly on the job and is in the hospital. He still (or again) tests positive.

          You could be stuck in Mexico a very long time.

          1. You could be stuck in Mexico a very long time.

            Exactly, why take the risk?

            Anyway, I’m sure AMLO is thrillled by Biden’s decision, as are millions of Mexicans who are now facing unemployment and penury.

      2. Same utub channel:

        Phuket Airport is empty
        Jan 24, 2021

        All food places closed. No one at the airliner check-ins. Only security present. Phuket’s economy is 90% tourism.

    2. They’ve got 70 people dead, and are destroying their tourist economy.

      It’s not they. It’s the developed world. But now, with the Virus gone, it should be all clear now. Thank God for Cheater Joe!

      2. But now, with the Virus gone, it should be all clear now.

        Sleepy Joe just made it worse for any foreign tourism destination: you can’t come back unless you pass a Covid test.

  8. ‘The strategy is clear and deliberate: Snuff out volatility from the bond market and make debt the cheapest it’s ever been to deter saving and encourage investment. The hope: Cheap cash leads companies to invest and hire as rising asset prices make people more confident and ready to spend. The inevitable side effect: More volatility for assets (apart from bonds) as investors chase returns around the world. And, of course, the risk: Bloated asset prices pop, undermining financial stability before the real economy can benefit from all that cash’

    And round we go. I used to hash out these globalist soft ball pieces on central banks. You can go read their horsesh$t if you want. It could have been written a decade ago. “Oh these people have no choice! We gotta bury the masses in poverty cuz we gotta!”

  10. since 1990 housing in the DC area up 300% minus repairs ,so a net of 250%?
    stocks S&P up 600%
    or 1900% w divs reinvested

    small hose big portfolio
    people used to say cheap cars big houses

  11. Dominion Voting Systems is suing Rudy Giuliani for defamation, $1.3 billion. No need to post a link, it’s all over the news. Gonna get interesting.

        1. Would Dominion be stupid enough to launch such a public lawsuit without some ironclad assurance that they were going to win? What if some deep-stater is able to rig the jury selection somehow? I’m seriously thinking that this trial should be held in a high-trust neutral foreign country… like, I dunno … New Zealand? Belgium? Iceland? Japan?

          1. Would Dominion be stupid enough to launch such a public lawsuit without some ironclad assurance that they were going to win?

            I wondered about that myself. Hopefully they can’t prevent evidence from being presented that they don’t like.

          2. You have to assume Dominion has judges in their pocket. This could get very dark in making the questioning of fraudulent elections verboten and subject to severe monetary damages.

            Time to water the tree of liberty.

          3. prevent evidence

            We live in a world of impressions. They don’t even have to follow through with a court case and evidence. People will forever have the impression that Rudy got sued for a Billion, so he is cancelled and disgraced.

            Just like the impression that the past president was Impeached and will always be impeached. Twice!

          4. People will forever have the impression that Rudy got sued for a Billion, so he is cancelled and disgraced.

            Now that the left has worn out the weaponization of shame, people like Donald and Rudy succeed by being shameless. This will be tricky to navigate but I’m confident if he fails it won’t be due to cancellation and disgrace. I don’t think that stuff matters to anyone who counts any more.

          5. I don’t think impressions matter anymore. The purpose of impressions is to convince, and who needs convincing of anything anymore, on either side?

            Jazzie, it’s not just questioning the fraud. More like, if the prosecution can somehow manipulate this case to make Dominion look legit, it would give Dominion license to spread their now-honest machines all across the world with impunity. They can sell elections to whatever dictator wants one. That’s why I would rather this case go to a foreign country, one where the judges are less accessible. That said, this might be a completely different set of judges from the ones that handle political cases.

            It’s funny, the comments on the MSM YouTube video that reported the lawsuit were all celebrating Rudy’s impending frogmarch. I don’t think a single comment said “Hmmmm, I’m curious to see this phantom evidence the wingnuts can’t shut up about,” or “Maybe this will calm down the wingnuts,” or “Gee whillikers what if we find that out those machines really were hacked?” Nope, they are all dead positive that there’s no evidence, because the court cases said so and because the Senate said so and because George Snuffluphagus said so. Maybe they really aren’t so bright?

          6. Maybe they really aren’t so bright?

            I like to tease them about not being so bright. But I think the real problem is that they trust the media. Especially when the media is telling them exactly what they want to hear.

  12. “‘You probably know that real estate has long been the playground for the rich and well connected. And with a set of unfair advantages that are completely unheard of with other investments, it’s no surprise why. But those barriers have come crashing down – and now it’s possible to build REAL wealth through real estate at a fraction of what it used to cost, meaning the unfair advantages are now available to individuals like you.’”

    Bahahahahahaha … let’s have a bit of fun and pick this statement apart:

    “You probably know that real estate has long been the playground for the rich and well connected. And with a set of unfair advantages that are completely unheard of with other investments, it’s no surprise why.”

    Translation: “These Movers & Shakers are really sumtin’, while you are not”.

    “But those barriers have come crashing down – and now it’s possible to build REAL wealth through real estate at a fraction of what it used to cost, meaning the unfair advantages are now available to individuals like you.”

    Translation: “Now you, too, can be magically transformed into a Mover & Shaker which means that you, too, can become really sumtin’.”

    Mr. Banker says: “Come into my bank and lay your signature down on my ‘You Are Really Sumtin’ Life Transformation Plan’ and watch and experience and your life becoming magically (and irreversibly 😁) transformed.”

    (Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha)

    1. ‘…and watch and experience and your life becoming magically (and irreversibly 😁) transformed…”

      Mr. Banker

      Lets look at the bright side:

      With life expectancies north of 100 years predicted to become common, maybe some actually could fulfill your ‘You Are Really Sumtin’ Life Transformation Plan’

      After all, 90 is the new 40.

      Cheers!

  13. COVID-19 will cause twice as much homelessness as Great Recession, researchers say (1/25/2021):

    “Over the next four years, the COVID-19-related recession is expected to cause chronic homelessness to increase some 49% nationwide, according to new research from the Economic Roundtable, a non-profit urban research organization based in California. The homelessness crisis is expected to peak in 2023, researchers found, with an additional 603,000 working-age adults without a place of their own to sleep.

    “Disconnection from work is a degenerative dynamic — less work, less earnings, less stable living conditions, and further disconnection from work,” the researchers wrote. “It is not total job loss, but rather loss at the margins of the labor market that is the primary cause of economically-driven homelessness.”

    The situation will be even worse in California, which was already the epicenter for the country’s homelessness problem before the pandemic. Chronic homelessness is expected to increase 68% in the Golden State, with an additional 131,400 homeless adults. Of these people, over a third will be located in Los Angeles County alone.”

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/covid-19-will-cause-twice-as-much-homelessness-as-great-recession-study-finds-11610482333

    Happy 10 month anniversary of 2 weeks to flatten the curve.

  14. “I trust Hunter, he’s the smartest man I know”- Joe Biden

    Hunter started banging his dead brother’s wife, got her hooked on crack, then cheated on her with a stripper. THe stripper got knocked up and hunter refused to support the child until he was forced to divulge his tax records.

    This is the illegitimate president’s family. Klassy…

    1. According to “Dr.” Jill Biden, decency was on the ballot.

      Banging your widow sister in law is the decent thing to do!

  15. ——————-
    Fauci suggests Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine could win emergency-use authorization in just two weeks

    1/24/2021 Marketwatch (and NY Post) “The vaccine from New Brunswick, N.J.–headquartered J&J JNJ, 0.58% doesn’t have the same need to be kept supercold, Fauci said, and only requires one dose. Those factors will make a big difference in the ability to get the shots to people, he said. “It gives a wider range of flexibility,” he said.

    Johnson & Johnson has said it expects to have 100 million doses available by April.

    A vaccine developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University has received emergency authorization in the U.K. and could receive a similar go-ahead in the European Union in mere days. It, too, is relatively easier to store and transport and carries a relatively lower price tag per dose.”
    ——————-

    1. In similar news, the British are now saying that the Kent variant is both more infectious AND more deadly. All the more reason to step up these vaccinations. Luckily, the current vaccines protect against the Kent variant. The South African variant, we’re not sure yet. I note that nobody is calling Biden “xenophobic” for shutting off travel from South Africa.

    2. IMO, these vaccines are great news. It’s great news even for people who are against vaccines and/or think it’s a hoax. If the case count is lowered, governments will have no excuse to maintain lockdowns, masks, or eviction moratoriums.

      My only worry atm is that South African variant. I saw a vid this morning interviewing the head of Moderna. He said that the current Moderna vaccine only produces 1/6 the amount of antibodies when exposed to the SA variant. They think it’s still enough to protect against the SA variant. Even so, they aren’t sure if that protection will be fully sufficient, or long lasting. Therefore, they are working on a one-shot booster to specifically target the SA variant.

      1. I read there is a LA variant of corona. That virus is mutating like a Virus with 7B hosts. Its never going away it will be like seasonal flu .

  16. Over 300,000 homeless in Clownifornia alone. That’s more than half of Wyoming’s population. I expect it won’t be long until it’s more than the Cowboy state’s population.

      1. Now that the pigmen and their cronies stole almost everything, they want to figure out a way to end the lives of millions of people who have nothing so they don’t have to take care of them or risk a revolt.

        1. It crosses my mind that the mRNA vaccines are being given mostly in the first world.

          Draw your own conclusions.

      2. the recoveryless recovery will be permanent

        That was the plan, to create a new permanent underclass that is completely dependent on government handouts.

    2. yesterday I saw homeless enforcement, a security guard, older looking women hard to tell with mask, went up and started taking pictures of a younger women begging at Rose and the Sam’s club parking lot entrance. Younger women packed up and left. White beggar lady. Then security guard went across the parking lot entrance and started talking and joking with Mexican looking guy selling flowers on opposite corner. Oxnard CA. I was also driving around Montecito CA no beggars there at least not out on the street corners. Montecito beggars are on facebook virtual signaling for the money.

      1. Beggars are noticeably on the rise in my little burg, especially in the downtown area, with its pricey new apartments.

    3. “Over 300,000 homeless in Clownifornia alone.”

      I watched another “leaving California” video by CNBC last evening that cited 47% of the entire U.S. homeless population were in the Golden State! Great weather?

  18. A report from the Herald Tribune in Florida.
    HOME FRONT: Hot market not sign of housing bubble
    Peter Crowley
    Jan. 24, 2021

    “It is time to address the elephant in the room – are we in the midst of a housing bubble? Given the curveballs that we have been dealt in the past twelve months, I am squarely out of the prediction business. Who would have thought that after a global pandemic that led to a national shutdown of our economy and an ensuing economic recession that the housing market would react so favorably?”

    “While home prices have climbed at an accelerated pace over the recent months, this is driven almost entirely by the economic principle of supply and demand. Simply stated, we do not have a sufficient supply of homes to satisfy the current housing demand. Therefore, the competition for the available homes in the market is driving prices higher.”

    – “…supply and demand.”
    – Not the slightest mention of record low mortgage rates due to rabid MBS purchases by the Fed. Low rates are driving prices up along with many moving out of the cities and into the suburbs.
    – This is all normal, esp. in the middle of a global pandemic and recession. It’s all “supply and demand” driven. /s
    – Key info. from article: “Peter Crowley is the president of Re/Max Alliance Group.” Absolutely no conflict of interest here. /s
    – We won’t mention all of the other Fed-induced asset bubbles as part of the massive Central Bank “everything bubble.”
    – Just like with every instance of Socialism tried throughout history, “It’s different this time,” and the outcome will be good, because we’re trying a different form of asset bubble and it sure to work. /s
    – The “elephant in the room” is once again being ignored because there’s money to be made on the way up. We won’t worry about what happens when it pops.

    “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.” – Mark Twain

    “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein (misattributed) – Narcotics Anonymous

    “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

    https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/082515/how-do-asset-bubbles-cause-recessions.asp
    How Do Asset Bubbles Cause Recessions?
    By Investopedia Staff | Reviewed By Somer Anderson
    Updated Sep 20, 2020
    “Asset price bubbles shoulder blame for some of the most devastating recessions, including those faced by the United States in its history. The stock market bubble of the 1920s, the dot-com bubble of the 1990s, and the real estate bubble of the 2000s were asset bubbles followed by sharp economic downturns. Asset bubbles are especially devastating for individuals and businesses who invest too late, meaning shortly before the bubble bursts. In this regard, asset price bubbles bear a similarity to Ponzi or pyramid scams. The inevitable collapse of asset bubbles wipes out net worth of investors and causes exposed businesses to fail, potentially touching off a cascade of debt deflation and financial panic that can spread to other parts of the economy resulting in a period of higher unemployment and lower production that characterizes a recession.”

    “Key Takeaways
    + Asset bubbles exist when market prices in some sector increase over time and trade far higher than fundamentals would suggest.
    + Expansion of the supply of money and credit in an economy provides the necessary fuel for bubbles.
    + Technological factors, incentives created by public policies, and the particular historical circumstances around a given bubble help to determine which asset classes and industries are the focus of a bubble.
    + Market psychology and emotions like greed and herding instincts are thought to magnify the bubble further.
    + When bubbles eventually pop, they tend to leave economic pain in their wake including recession or even depression.”

    1. Housing bubble symptom #1:

      MSM articles which claim there is no housing bubble popping up like mushrooms

      1. When MSN uses words like phrases “supply/demand” and “economics 101” to explain everything you know you’re being lied to.

  19. The main reason these lots/neighborhoods experience no activity is due to them having been developed before the Great Recession in locations not close to traditional employment centers.

    Wait, I thought now being farther away from employment centers was a good thing? Shouldn’t those things be selling like crazy?

  20. Runaway train!

    The Financial Times
    Runaway Markets
    Charts that Matter Equity valuation
    US stock rally drives ‘ludicrous index’ towards dotcom era heights
    Rising number of US-listed equities are exhibiting signs of investor euphoria
    Eric Platt in New York
    2 hours ago
    Wall Street exuberance barometer charges back towards dotcom boom heights
    This article is part of the FT’s Runaway Markets series.

    Booming stock prices have inflated one measure of Wall Street exuberance back towards levels seen just before the dotcom bubble burst more than two decades ago.

    Shares in 79 companies listed on US stock exchanges have more than doubled in the past three months. These companies — all worth more than $500m — trade at a price-to-sales ratio higher than 10, more than three times the ratio across the benchmark S&P 500 index.
    …

    1. yea probably a good time to lighten up on stocks. I’m getting old don’t need to take the hit if the stock market tanks. Totally surprised it has not already ? Bitcoin ?? Telsa ?? I remember POT and DRYS and farther back Enron and Lucent.

    2. Does the fact that the Fed and other central banks are running Unlimited Quantitative Easing and interest rate suppression somehow rule out the possibility of an unsustainable stock market bubble?

      Me confused…

      1. DOW
        30,960.00 -0.12%
        S&P 500
        3,855.36 0.36%
        NASDAQ
        13,635.99 0.69%

        Featured
        Track the Covid economy
        Is the stock market in a bubble? The debate is heating up
        By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business
        Updated 9:53 AM ET, Mon January 25, 2021

        London (CNN Business) As stocks hit record highs, Wall Street banks are getting more and more inquiries about whether the boom, which has some parallels to the dot-com era, will result in a similar bust.

        What’s happening: “We are receiving numerous questions [about] whether a bubble is potentially forming in financial markets,” Mislav Matejka, JPMorgan’s head of global and European equity strategy, said in a note to clients on Monday.

        But the research teams at big banks are hesitant to sound the alarm, pointing to historically low interest rates and the huge sums of cash still being printed by central banks.
        …

        1. Could those big bank research teams be actively trying to confuse the sheople, while piling into big shorts?

          Nah…that’s unpossible…

          1. They say a lottery is a tax on people that are bad at math. We need a corollary that bubbles are a tax on people who are bad at psychology and history.

          1. Lacking fundamentals the markets are being driven by the lemmings, up or down. The 10-yr yield curve used to be a good indicator, a financial barometer, but that was before the rates hovered near the zero bound. Just waiting on the financial meteor to strike.

      2. Buy, buy buy! Sell, sell, sell!

        [Big bear hibernation yawn in response…]

        Stock Market Today
        Dow Jones Futures: Stock Market Rally Plunges, Then Recovers; Apple, Tesla Surge To New Highs
        SCOTT LEHTONEN
        11:04 PM ET 01/25/2021

        Dow Jones futures, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures, were lower late Monday after the brief intraday stock market plunge. Apple and Tesla stock surged to record highs Monday, while Dow Jones leader Microsoft is breaking out past a new buy point.

        The stock market plunged midday Monday, only to spend the rest of the session recovering amid a sharp increase of volatility. At the stock market open, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite advanced as much as 1.4% to record highs. Then, the composite quickly erased its gains and sold off 1.3% before eventually closing with a 0.7% gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged just 0.1% lower, or 36 points, while the S&P 500 rallied 0.4%.
        …

    3. Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.

      — Irving Fisher, Early October 1929

    1. “devastating social, emotional and economic impacts of this virus”

      California’s tax base will NEVER recover. That place is done.

  23. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/25/california-lifts-covid-stay-at-home-order-statewide-allowing-restaurants-to-reopen.html

    “Seven weeks ago, our hospitals and front-line medical workers were stretched to their limits, but Californians heard the urgent message to stay home when possible and our surge after the December holidays did not overwhelm the health care system to the degree we had feared,” Ghaly said.

    Oops our bad. It’s a good thing federal bailout money is a comin’. Thank you other states for opening up and getting the tax revenues for us. Ben, yer need to pay yer taxes so CA can get the bailout.

  28. NBC, ABC and CBS SPECIAL REPORT

    House managers walk article of impeachment to senate

    What a joke.

    Made for tevee mini movie as these masked @ss clowns walk the halls looking somber while New World Norah O’Donnell and presumably her counterparts on the other Networks describe the gravity of this Wheel of Fortune interrupting historical BS moment.

    1. I’m so tired of the theatrics. I have never seen the BS displayed so clearly as the “insurrection” and subsequent impeachment. What a complete and utter show of faux gravity and seriousness. The adults are in charge now. Yeah right.

    3. House managers walk article of impeachment to senate

      I’m kind of curious. Will the full test of this speech that is a crime ever be read in full as part of the proceeding? I don’t know. I’ve invested the five minutes. The WaPo has it up, along with a timeline that shows the breach at the Capitol Building happened before the speech ended. Maybe the trial is a non-starter, cause they might air the truth?

      Yes, impressions are everything, until reality shows up.

  29. is that allot ??

    Crooks stole at least $11 billion in California jobless benefits in 2020, official says
    Published: Jan. 25, 2021 at 7:55 p.m. ET
    By Associated Press

    Criminals took advantage of poor security measures; nearly $20 billion more under suspicion

  30. After Joe Biden signing…

    Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation

    You had better take a good look as Dalilah Muhammad breaks the world record in the Women’s 400m Hurdles because no matter how the “Fact Checkers” try to sugarcoat it there were 300 high school boys who ran faster times in that event last year.

    As you can see in the NY Post article below, some “boys” have already started competing and winning state championships in girls track.

    Women’s 400m Hurdles Final – World Record | World Athletics Championships Doha 2019

    492,298 views•
    Premiered Mar 27, 2020

    https://youtu.be/JD37yYSLiS0?t=155

    Biden’s executive order unlevels the playing field for girls

    By Post Editorial Board
    January 21, 2021

    https://nypost.com/2021/01/21/bidens-exec-order-unlevels-the-playing-field-for-girls/

    1. People will do anything for a college scholarship. I can imagine parents pressuring their sons into “identifying” just to get them onto the girls teams to vie for da munny. Soon the entire girls team will be made up of ambitious identifiers. Only 1-2 of them will get scholarships. What happens to the rest of them? Do they un-identify back to being boys?

      1. What happens to the rest of them? Do they un-identify back to being boys?

        Probably. It’s just another ClownWorld feature that we will end up getting used to, along with other classics, such as drivers licenses for illegals, women pretending to be business owners to get Federal contracts, shoplifting $1000 only considered a misdemeanor, etc.

    2. Im not sure why my comments didn’t go thru a few days ago, but if “journalists” ask the first question “How are records broken.?” …Incrementally 0.1 second here 1/4 inch there, 05 points we could approach this rationally. If a trans won by a nose a photo finish like in horse racing, I could be convinced it would be fair to bio women. If say a woman’s best is 50′ in shotput and a trans does 53 feet that should be disqualified as a bio-woman would never be able to beat that record, but 50′ and a 1/2 inch is ok.

  31. I would have had this posted a few minutes earlier but I pictured the faces of real journalists shocked faces and had to stop laughing first.

    Trump establishes ‘Office of the Former President’ in Florida

    By Victor Morton –
    The Washington Times –
    Monday, January 25, 2021

    Joe Biden had the Office of the President-Elect; now Donald Trump has the Office of the Former President.

    Mr. Trump established the office in Palm Beach County, Florida, where his Mar-A-Lago estate is located to “carry on the agenda of the Trump Administration through advocacy, organizing, and public activism,” a press release from the new office said.

    The office gives the ex-president a formal vehicle to coordinate future public appearances, statements and official activities. The office might be especially valuable since he is banned from the social-media outlets he had used to great effect while president.

    “President Trump will always and forever be a champion for the American People,” the press release said.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/25/donald-trump-establishes-office-former-president-f/

    1. Good. I think in the past there was a gentleman’s agreement that former presidents kept a lower profile and didn’t comment about the current president’s job performance, especially negatively. In return they were treated with dignity and respect both while in office and afterwards. I think that’s all gone now, so he may as well get on with the business at hand.

  32. Don’t forget about illegals being counted in the census. You wouldn’t want people that aren’t supposed to be here to go without representation would you?

  35. Merck Scraps COVID Vaccines; Says It’s More Effective To Get The Virus And Recover

    by Steve Watson
    January 26th 2021, 4:17 am

    Vaccine manufacturer Merck has abandoned development of two coronavirus vaccines, saying that after extensive research it was concluded that the shots offered less protection than just contracting the virus itself and developing antibodies.

    The company announced that the shots V590 and V591 were ‘well tolerated’ by test patients, however they generated an ‘inferior’ immune system response in comparison with natural infection.

    https://www.infowars.com/

  36. Here’s What We Know About Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Plan

    BY JAMIE DUCHARME
    OCTOBER 30, 2020 12:58 PM EDT

    Reading the plan, “I couldn’t stop thinking, ‘What if we had this all along during the pandemic?’ What a different place we would be in,” says Dr. Leana Wen, a professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken School of Public Health.

    https://time.com/5905502/biden-covid-19-plan/

    Biden says nothing can change the trajectory of the Covid pandemic over the next several months

    PUBLISHED FRI, JAN 22 20214:54 PM EST

    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/22/biden-says-nothing-can-change-the-trajectory-of-covid-pandemic-over-the-next-several-months.html

    1. Seven point plan:
      1. More testing, at-home tests, contact tracing
      2. Ramp up PPE production
      3. Provide guidance + money for reopening businesses and schools
      4. Vaccine distribution plan
      5. Protect vulnerable populations like elderly and POC + real-time data dashboards.
      6. Monitor global health risks
      7. Universal masking.

      The ONLY piece of this plan that’s new is the at-home testing (which I’ve been pushing for a while). Everything else is already being handled at the state level.

      1. already being handled at the state level.

        That right there is the point entirely. The Libs don’t like having a Republic, where states have their own rights and responsibilities. Concentrating control upwards is the game.

  37. Biden is even worse and more deranged than I thought he would be. A traitor to this Country , yet Trump is being impeached as if he was.
    These screwballs that have taken control of the Government and the Media are guilty of crimes against humanity , starting with the covid 19 scam, election steal, and highjacking the first amendment . Our enemies are rejoicing in this outrageous attack on the USA so a group of madmen can rule, so our enemies can prevail .

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