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We’re Seeing A Little Bit Less Interest, That’s Reflected In The Prices

A report from the Herald Net in Washington. “The local real estate market took a breather from about Father’s Day, June 20, to mid-July, said George Caudill, a long time agent in Lynnwood. ‘It was snoozeville for a while.’ On the supply side, there’s a glimmer of hope — the number of Puget Sound-area listings is up 14% in recent months, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.”

From Lehigh Valley Live on Pennsylvania. “Sky high listing prices and bidding war frenzies are leading many Lehigh Valley buyers to give up all together and halt their housing hunts, area real estate agents say. Rebecca L. Decker Francis, who leads The Rebecca Francis Team affiliated with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, said she’s definitely seen a pause this summer with the willingness of buyers to compete. This is even happening with buyers who have a significant amount of finances to play with, she said.”

“‘It seemed that there was more panic amongst buyers who were willing to waive inspections, appraisal contingencies, among other things,’ Francis said of spring. ‘Now, we’ve found buyers dropping out of the market saying that they want to wait until the market cools off.'”

The Daily Progress in Virginia. “While the inventory of active listings is about half the level it was a year ago, more listings are being added to the market, which should provide more options for buyers, the report says. There were some early signs that moderation in the market could be on the horizon, it says, such as a slowdown in pending sales activity in June.”

“Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors President Quinton Beckham said some of the temporary influences that made homebuying a frenzy in the last year are now lightening up. ‘[I’m] knocking on wood that that continues to be the case for the rest of the year, so that when a buyer does find a home, they can go in and it’s a little bit more of a fair fight,’ he said.”

From Mansion Global on California. “The price of television host Ryan Seacrest’s Los Angeles compound just dropped $10.5 million. Set on 3 acres, the property is now asking $74.5 million, according to the listing.”

The Real Deal on New York. “Kenneth Lowe and his have purchased a unit in the One57 tower for $12.7 million, according to newly released property records. In recent years, One57 has experienced slow sales and some of its condos have been re-sold at a loss. Last month, investor Robert Herjavec purchased a condo at the tower at a $13 million discount from its asking price. Lowe received a discount too, although not as large as Herjavec’s. He paid $1.5 million under the $14.2 million asking price.”

From Bisnow South Florida. “As the coronavirus spread last year, there were stories galore about people moving away from major cities to places that are less dense and more affordable. South Florida was made out as a big beneficiary of this trend. In April, CBRE released a report analyzing U.S. Postal Service change-of-address data, and it found that move-outs from high-cost coastal markets accelerated during Covid-19. That included Miami, which in 2020 saw more moves away from the metro area (6.8 per 1,000 people) than in 2019 (6.3 people per 1,000).”

“CBRE Research Director Eric Willett told Bisnow that anecdotal reporting obscured the fact that ‘the Miami Metro area in the space of the pandemic was actually a net loser.’ The Miami metro netted a loss of 42,100 people in 2020, 11% more net move-outs than in 2019, the CBRE analysis found.”

From Toronto Now in Canada. “Toronto real estate broker Odeen Eccleston notes that the market has been cooling down and prices have been levelling off since March, when people were in lockdown and experiencing a sense of FOMO for missing out on larger properties as prices continued to climb. ‘It was just like a recipe for a scorching prices,’ says Eccleston, who says that people are just tired and hoping to enjoy their outdoor time during these months. ‘So we’re seeing a little bit less interest. That’s reflected in the prices for sure.'”

The South China Morning Post. “Hong Kong’s real estate buyers mostly ignored a weekend sale of leftover apartments at four residential projects, as they await newer offerings to come on to the market. Investors bought 30 of the combined 191 flats on offer at Seaside Sonata and Grand Victoria III in Cheung Sha Wan, as well as Aquila. Square Mile and Cetus. Square Mile in Tai Kok Tsui, representing 16 per cent of the total on offer this weekend.”

“‘These homes have been on the market for some time, and are more expensive than their launch prices,’ said Sammy Po, chief executive of Midland Realty’s residential department. ‘These units will continue to be available, so [buyers feel] there is no rush to sign up today, and will take longer to come to their decisions.'”

The Taipei Times. “The number of unoccupied houses nationwide totaled 876,000 units last year, or 11.94 percent of all houses, the Ministry of the Interior said in a report. Almost 30 percent of empty houses were owned by companies, suggesting that many corporate property owners engage in house hoarding, the ministry said. Excluding developers and builders, companies still owned 20 percent of empty houses, it said. The study contradicts Ministry of Finance reports saying that house hoarding subsided and there is no need for housing tax increases.”

From Stuff New Zealand. “In a sign of how hot the market had been running CoreLogic said Hamilton’s 6.1 per cent growth was still strong, though ‘a noticeable drop from the double-digit increase in the three months to the end of June.’ Nick Goodall, CoreLogic’s head of research, told Stuff  ‘the fact we can call a six per cent increase a slowing down is crazy talk.’ ‘There are signs of a slowdown, but it’s a very slow slowdown,’ he said.”

“‘The exceptional rate of growth witnessed following the economic recovery after the pandemic-induced lockdown was not sustainable,’ said CoreLogic’s head of research Nick Goodall. ‘However with an asset class the size of the residential property market, which now exceeds $1.54 trillion and remains attractive due to still low interest rates, any slowdown was destined to be gradual.'”

Related Posts

The Housing Market Appears To Be In Free Fall

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This Post Has 103 Comments

  1. “Almost 30 percent of empty houses were owned by companies, suggesting that many corporate property owners engage in house hoarding, the ministry said.”

    Totally makes sense, as long as central bankers are pumping up the value of property.

    1. Japan is the remarkable thing. An actually declining population (google “Japan population”) and increasing house prices (google “Japan house price index”). Modern monetary policy in action I suppose.

      1. The Japanese have been cooking their books for decades.

        “Japan is a bug waiting for a windshield to happen.” —Unknown

  2. ‘anecdotal reporting obscured the fact that ‘the Miami Metro area in the space of the pandemic was actually a net loser.’ The Miami metro netted a loss of 42,100 people in 2020, 11% more net move-outs than in 2019’

    There were probably 100’s of articles written about the big move to Miami!

    And they were all horsesh$t. Here’s more:

    ‘From July 2020 through March 2021, sheriff’s departments across the state enforced lockouts of at least 7,677 households, according to data obtained through public records requests from all but two of California’s 58 counties. Similar data from March 2020 until August showed the state carried out at least 2,000 evictions, bringing the total number of California households locked out throughout the pandemic to nearly 10,000, at minimum.’

    ‘The number of evictions has accelerated in 2021 – and they are happening despite a series of moratoriums’

    https://www.kcrw.com/news/articles/calmatters-tenants-eviction-long-beach

    This isn’t what most of the media say.

    1. There is no eviction moratorium. The CDC is a non-profit with no authority. No one can overrule millions of private contracts. They have been stringing along this falsehood the whole time. There are entire states that completely ignored the “moratorium.” Have you heard one peep about the CDC coming down on them? Nope.

      It’s like the mask mandate in Arizona: it’s mandatory! oh, but there never was one. There’s a bunch of lying going on about all sorts of things.

      1. CDC is a non-profit

        The CDC is a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC Foundation is an independent nonprofit and the sole entity created by Congress to mobilize philanthropic and private-sector resources to support the CDC. The CDC Foundation undoubtedly influences the CDC.

      2. Are there any repercussions if I do get evicted in violation of the order?

        Yes. the CDC says a person violating this Order may be subject to a fine of no more than $100,000 or one year in jail, or both, if the violation does not result in a death, or a fine of no more than $250,000 or one year in jail, or both, if the violation results in a death, or as otherwise provided by law.

        An organization violating this Order may be subject to a fine of no more than $200,000 per event if the violation does not result in a death or $500,000 per event if the violation results in a death or as otherwise provided by law.

        The U. S. Department of Justice may initiate criminal proceedings as appropriate seeking imposition of these criminal penalties.

        The question is: Is the captured Dept. of Justice acting criminally as well as the CDC? My guess is YES. The rule of law is gone, which is why everybody should start avoiding paying taxes and do everything in their power to starve this illegitimate Biden Coup d’etat.

      3. Oxide posted “Nevermind that the variants emerged before people were being injected with the vaccine”. It took me a few days to get back to this with the relevant information.

        Regarding the current clinically relevant variants see the information below. There is no implication here that coincidence or correlation means cause.

        The “delta variant” “outbreak” occurred in India in December 2020.

        https://asm.org/Articles/2021/July/How-Dangerous-is-the-Delta-Variant-B-1-617-2

        The South African beta variant outbreak occurred in October of 2020.

        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7813514/

        Clinical trials of Indian ZyCOV-D and Covaxin vaccines were initiated in the summer of 2020 with the phase 3 trial of Covaxin beginning in November of 2020 and including 26000 participants spread across different geographic locations in India. The Pfizer phase 3 trial concluded in November 2020 and included ~44000 participants from 4 countries on 4 different continents including South Africa. The AstraZeneca phase 3 trial concluded in late 2020 and included ~11500 participants. By midsummer of 2020 there were 4000 people enrolled in AZ clinical trials for same. Astazeneca clinical trials included studies in South Africa which commenced in July 2020. The Moderna phase 3 trial concluded in November 2020 and included ~30000 participants. Johnson and Johnson concluded phase I/II studies of its COVID vaccine in late 2020. The Sinovac phase 3 study in Turkey including 13000+ participants began in September 2020. Phase 3 testing of Sinovac took place in Brazil in late 2020. Clinical trails of Sinovac in phase II took place in Indonesia, Chile, and the Philippines in mid 2020. Phase 3 Sinovac trials were expected to conclude in late 2020 in Indonesia. Phase 3 results of the Russian Sputnik vaccine including 16000 participants were announced in November 2020. These are just some of the vaccines undergoing clinical testing throughout 2020. India eased travel restrictions in August 2020 to allow for more international travel. The outbreaks of the current variants of concern happened concurrent with and after the initiation of wide scale global clinical testing involving tens of thousands of people.

        Regarding the question of preexisting variants in general, see below. This was an assessment of the variants in the available SARS sequenced genome databases as of last summer.

        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7375210/

        “We identified 5775 distinct genome variants, including 2969 missense mutations, 1965 synonymous mutations, 484 mutations in the non-coding regions, 142 non-coding deletions, 100 in-frame deletions, 66 non-coding insertions, 36 stop-gained variants, 11 frameshift deletions and two in-frame insertions.”

        This is not medical advice of any kind and for informational purposes only.

        1. I don’t know if the variants are caused be the vaccinated or by the unvaccinated. I’m hearing both. But it appears that the mutations are occurring without the help of vaccinations. Variants are just choosing from the same pool of mutations.

          1. I cannot comment further without risking Ben having his blog shutdown and domain name seized. People can draw their own conclusions.

          3. I don’t really care about any of this anymore. This entire situation is so overblown it’s embarrassing.

          4. Geert Vanden Bossche: Mass infection prevention and mass vaccination with leaky Covid-19 vaccines in the midst of the pandemic can only breed highly infectious variants.

          5. In other words, leaky vaccines exert evolutionary pressure on viruses causing mutations.

          6. The primary implication appears to be that these variants were the result of vaccinations — specifically, vaccination trials. That would explain why the variants showed up before vaccines were rolled out to the general public. But then, these same countries were filled with people who had already contracted COVID and had natural antibodies, and there were many more people infected than there were people getting a vaccine in a trial. So the virus could have been evolving to avoid the natural antibodies and not the vaccine antibodies.

            At this point, what does it matter? I think the politics are far more dangerous at this point.

          7. evolving to avoid the natural antibodies

            Not if the natural antibodies are sterilizing compared to the leaky vaccines.

          8. So the virus could have been

            It’s hard to see the complete jigsaw puzzle when half the pieces given you are bogus. A walk in the woods might be good. I had a very interesting talk with a elderly Mennonite woman yesterday. She has no radio news or internet. She was quite sane and at peace.

          9. Not if the natural antibodies are sterilizing compared to the leaky vaccines.

            There’s a paper in Cell which says that Pfizer is as good at neutralizing Delta as natural antibodies. Astra-Zeneca is leaky. Against the Beta strain, they all suck. Let me know if you want the reference or gory deets.

            As for which antibodies sterilizes better, one way to determine that is to do what the CDC did: find a few breakout cases in people who have had previous infection but no vaccine. Take a nasal titer and compare the number of Delta particles to vaccinated and unvaccinated people with no prior infection. If you find this data I’d be interested in seeing it.

          10. Pfizer is as good at neutralizing Delta as natural antibodies

            Did you check for conflicts of interests?

          11. The paper has something like 50 authors with a dozen different funding sources. A couple of them are advisors on pharma boards (not Pfizer) and I think two of the authors had a hand in developing the vaccines. The paper shows an awful lot of data too. IMO there are too many people involved and too much data gathered to co-ordinate any kind of conflict. These researchers clearly did a LOT of work and it must be disheartening to hear it all so casually dismissed.

            https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00755-8?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867421007558%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

  3. ‘Elani Austin says encounters with homeless people in Palm Springs are becoming the norm, like the one her wife had a couple of days ago inside a liquor store on Palm Canyon Drive.’

    “There was a guy in front of her clearly a homeless person gesturing madly and screaming at the guy at the counter … the guy behind the counter said, ‘If you hadn’t have been here I don’t know what would have happened, I don’t know if he would have attacked him or what’.”

    ‘She says that’s just the tip of the iceberg, “Across the street from Rite Aid one of my friends got knocked over right after Christmas, her purse got ripped away from her, she hurt her elbow,” says Austin adding that she’s afraid when she goes out to do laundry or walk her dog because of other experiences she’s had doing everyday tasks, “everywhere I look there’s homeless people.”

    ‘And she’s not the only one who says they’re scared to being their own neighborhood. “I’m real afraid, when you get accosted walking to your car when you don’t give a homeless person money and they followed my all the way to my car … I’m an elder I’m not a young person who can easily run from these people,” said another Palm Springs resident who did not want to be identified adding, “the problem is getting these people off the streets not just into a hotel, but getting them into a treatment center getting them into a mental health facility.”

    https://nbcpalmsprings.com/2021/08/03/palm-springs-residents-sound-off-on-homelessness/

    1. Austin says she’s tired of politicians who make promises and then don’t show results, instead of getting better it’s getting worse, “I know they got a bunch of money and I don’t see where it’s done any good.”

      I’m sure a lot of six figure “experts” were hired at city hall, and that everyone got a big raise. It did them a lot of good. Of course, there’s no point for them in solving the homeless problem, because once they do, they aren’t needed anymore.

      I’d say vote the bums out, but Dominion will make sure that doesn’t happen. All I can say is get out of Dodge. Yeah, you’ll have to say goodbye to the great weather, maybe even shovel snow.

    2. I *LOVE* all the articles about violent, criminal homeless on this thread, especially because it’s all happening in Democrat Party cities.

      You’re getting exactly what you voted for, and you deserve all of it, and worse.

      1. You’re getting exactly what you voted for, and you deserve all of it, and worse.

        I’m sure that most of these people simply cannot make the connection, or as Upton Sinclair might have said, they refuse to recognize it because they are part of the machine.

  4. ‘The Los Angeles City Council gave final approval on Wednesday to an ordinance outlawing camping around parks, libraries and other facilities, over objections from critics who said it would punish people for living on the streets.’

    ‘Mark Brady, who manages the Barnsdall Square Shopping Plaza in Hollywood, told council members that he drew a link between the homeless encampment that runs along the sidewalk on Vermont Avenue and attacks that have occurred on the shopping center’s employees.’

    “Customers have expressed to me and to the managers of the stores that they do not feel safe going to the stores,” he said. “These small businesses are being killed. They’re hanging on by dear life.”

    https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-28/anti-camping-vote-la-homelessness

    1. I just don’t understand my coworkers that are eager to go back into the office downtown and dealing with the homeless, encampments, etc. Forget “risk of Covid”, that’d be my greater concern — the lack of common decency and rule of law.

      Glad to be somewhere that doesn’t encourage such things (aka not Seattle)

  5. Question for anyone who’s ever built a home — did you hire a designer to help with overall layout and materials (basically help consult with architect and builder)?

    We’ve interviewed a few, and got estimates back that are way more than I would have imagined ($60k), though that also includes consulting for picking all fixtures, furniture, etc.

    Might just have to go with big open concept (single big rectangle) and millenial gray all around and call it a day! Hoping not, though, so curious how any others may have approached this.

    1. No, I haven’t built, but those prices look like you’re starting from scratch. You might want to look into pre-designed floor plans, like e-plans dot com. You buy the blueprints for a couple thousand and then you can hire an architect for custom or final touches. However, if your plot of land has unusual slopes or other issues, you may need to pay for an architect to design the house around the topography.

    2. A couple of friends with enough money to build from scratch started with a concrete slab shop and lived in the office portion before building their house. One of them bought plans from a simple but successful spec home design. He later sold due to the workload of the property and his ageing body unable to endure the demands, but they did realize a net profit.

    3. Some custom home builders have plans to start from. For instance, wife’s cousin built a home. The builder they used had plans off the shelf so to speak that hey had built previously. This wasn’t part of a planned community or anything, just plans the builder had built previously elsewhere. The cousin added some tweaks here and there. That was one of the reasons they used that builder.

    4. Just to clarify to everyone responding here..I’m asking about INTERIOR designers, not architects/plans.

      I know you can buy plans online, I’ve looked at many as I’m all about not spending money I don’t need to. We’re going with an architect because we’ve not found anything that will work with how we live (no kids, two adults and dogs, etc etc)

      What I’m asking about is having a designer involved to help think about aspects I’d hope the architect does, but maybe not to the same level of detail — how space will be used, flow/movement through the house, how furniture can be oriented given the layout, etc. I expect this to be an input as we iterate on the plans from the architect

      (we’ve already found value in this just in our consultations, but that’s likely just due to me having no clue what I’m doing! 🙂

      (@oxide, no topographical issues to deal with — we have plenty of flat land to place the house and pasture for the critters)

      1. having no clue what I’m doing

        If it were me, I’d have no problem with all of that. I have a Pinterest board with hundreds of ideas. In your case, and assuming your significant other is likewise clueless, I would advise an interior designer. Houzz is a great resource for this.

      2. I’m asking about INTERIOR designers

        Dear friend, do not pay someone else to make these decisions for you. Especially not tens of thousands! My grandfather’s best friend wrote a book about building a log cabin (nearly a century ago). I have the hand written version.

        You need to mark out an outline on the ground and image yourselves using it, with all your peculiar “flows” and furniture. You cannot farm this sort of thing out.

    5. Ugh. I hate the newer houses with their cheap vaulted caverns. Appreciate my current 70s digs more and more.

      At least I can change the light bulbs.

      1. At least I can change the light bulbs.

        You mean you don’t want to go to the garage and drag back the massive stepladder into the house, risking your life as you travel through the excess altitude in order to change a bulb? Let me guess, you also don’t want to pay the extra money to heat and cool all those extra cubic feet of air volume? Geez, it’s like you’re practical or something.

  6. ‘The homeless encampment next to the King County Courthouse in Seattle is so dangerous that Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht is ordering most of her professional staff members to work 100% remotely.’

    ‘Johanknecht cites the “unsafe environment around the courthouse, administration, parking garage, and corrections facilities,” along with labor union concerns, as contributing factors in her decision. The announcement was made in a Monday memo to office staff. The King County Sheriff’s Office is located in the courthouse in downtown Seattle.’

    ‘The move comes days after a homeless man was charged after allegedly attempting to rape a seven-month pregnant woman in a county courthouse bathroom.’

    ‘Next door, City Hall Park has become overrun with homeless people. It’s been the site of a stabbing homicide, a brutal kicking-death of a senior citizen’s dog, a recent fatal drug overdose, and frequent assaults. The City of Seattle refuses to sweep the encampment as community activists claim all sweeps are inhumane.’

    ‘You cannot overstate the message this staffing decision sends. It’s so dangerous in downtown Seattle in and around the courthouse, thanks to the out-of-control homelessness crisis and park that looks like a third-world country, that not even non-commissioned staff working for a law enforcement agency are safe. Staff at the courthouse and jurors, plaintiffs, and defendants are equally unsafe. And the city does nothing.’

    https://mynorthwest.com/3065732/rantz-king-county-sheriff-orders-staff-work-from-home-king-county-courthouse/

    I said in the spring of 2020 it looked like these cities were purposefully destroying themselves.

    1. Seattle is getting exactly what it voted for, LOOSERS!

      At least there’s no more mean tweets now, right?

    2. “The homeless encampment next to the King County Courthouse…”

      Mayor Jenny Durkan’s shrine to wokeness!

    3. Hmm. Is this enough to scare away the realtors from the courthouse foreclosure auction? I hope so.

  7. Does it seem peculiar that the Fes has sparked a raging wildfire in the housing market, and they show no signs of slowing the rate at which they pour gasoline into the fire?

    2. The FED is behind the wheel at full throttle with an empty whiskey bottle in hand. It’s scary how reckless these pigs are.

  9. What are they going to do when the portion of their voting block they use to swing the swing states figure out their SNAP card buys way less food than it used to?

    Never mind, easy fix.

    The Alzheimer Patient in Chief will just whisper into a microphone…

    We put Three-Hundred dollars a month more per child on their SNAP cards.

    1. What is their voting block going to do? Vote Republican and get a job? They might grumble, and maybe they’ll get a bone tossed their way, but they will continue to pull the D Lever. And even if they don’t, Dominion will say that they did. Problem solved.

  10. robinhoodum is going nuts today Day’s Range 54.40 – 77.03

    66.54+19.74 (+42.19%)
    As of 9:59AM EDT. Market open.

    2. It was up like 80%+ at one point. This is what the FED has created – a nation of reckless gamblers. They forced people out on the risk curve with their zero rates. You can 80% return IN A DAY, but you can’t even get 1/2% in a YEAR on savings. Jerome Powell needs to be executed.

  12. Will this really change anyone’s mind?

    New York (CNN Business)Vanguard, one of the world’s largest asset managers, is offering employees $1,000 to get vaccinated.
    The incentive shows how aggressively some companies are moving to encourage workers to get vaccinated as concerns about the Delta variant mount. All of Vanguard’s approximately 15,500 US employees are eligible and must show proof of vaccination by October 1.

    “Vanguard recognizes vaccines are the best way to stop the spread of this virus and strongly encourages crew to be vaccinated,” Vanguard spokesperson Charles Kurtz said in a statement. “As such, we are offering a vaccine incentive for crew who provide Covid-19 vaccination proof.”

    Vanguard confirmed the $1,000 figure, first reported by Bloomberg News, and said the incentive is designed to recognize employees who took the time to “protect themselves, each other and our communities by getting vaccinated.”

      1. I was pondering how many $ would it take for me to risk the death shot. I still don’t have a number.

        1. Marketwatch is continuing its campaign of fear. Paraphrase of the article: “Yada yada, Delta is so contagious that herd immunity is farther down the road. Instead of 70% immunity, we need something like 85-90% immunity. So of course, get your vax, that’s the only way.”

          Looks like another telegraphing from the media: They intend to hold vaccinated people hostage until every is vaccinated, aren’t they. Not gonna work. Every day they do that, they’ll lose more vaccinated votes than they will gain vaccine takers.

          More and more, it looks like the UK method of ripping off the band-aid is the way to go. Evidently someone in the UK realized that when you have an R0=6-8, it’s impossible to isolate and contact trace your way out of it. UK had already gotten most of its old and vulnerable vaccinated, so they took out the restrictions, and let Delta run rampant. The UK Delta peak was: Cases: 80% of the big post-Christmas peak. Deaths: 6.2% of the big post-Christmas peak. Looks like they have another month or so to go. Meanwhile in the US, it’s all masking, forced vaccines, and threats of more lockdowns, and dragging this out forever. 😡

          1. US, it’s all masking, forced vaccines, and threats of more lockdowns, and dragging this out forever
            Clay Travis (Outkick the coverage) mentioned that in England 92% of its population has Covid antibodies either from vaccines and/or infections based on detailed analysis. (Note that the new cases are now falling rapidly) He speculated, as have I, that we (the US) should be near the 90% mark as well. 70%+ (18+) & 68% (12+) have had the vaccine and most likely 35-40% have had covid. Without direct testing hard to know the exact %’s but the % with antibodies (12+)has to be in the 80-90% range.

          2. I hope you’re right, but notice that the CDC isn’t even tracking this stuff anymore!

            If cases go down, they can say “look, the masks are working, keep it up, just another six months.. ” Just like the freekin’ war in Iraq. And if cases start going down more, they can haul out a new variant and start the cycle over again. Meanwhile, they suspend evictions and kill business and rig elections for eternity. Will the ever end?

          3. Will the ever end?

            Where TF is our military?! Biden and Walensky are knowingly and willfully violating our Constitution.

          4. The military is too busy cross-dressing. This isn’t a military issue — yet. Ben says judges in AZ have been ignoring the eviction moratorium the entire time. Let’s see what other judges do, especially in blue states.

          5. Some judges in some counties. We saw recently the same in Idaho and NC. It’s not just evictions, sheriffs in CA and AZ said they weren’t the mouth hanky police and refused to enforce that. What were the big penalties for doing so? Nothing.

        2. No amount of money would make me take the jab.
          Than they own you,
          Some people sold out for French fries and a hamburger.

    3. How would you like to be the guy who got the jab because the bar was offering a free beers for anyone getting the “vaccine” and is now suffering from any one of the long list of adverse reactions. Hope that beer was worth it buddy.

      1. “…any one of the long list of adverse reactions.”

        Like intubation and death?

        Oh wait…those are consequences of getting a bad case of the covid without the jab!

        1. Pfizer’s 6-month follow up data shows 15 deaths in the vaccine group to 14 in the placebo group with an absolute risk reduction (meaning vaccine vs no vaccine) of 0.13%.

  13. FDA aims for full approval of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine by Labor Day: report

    “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is aiming to grant full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine by Labor Day or sooner, according to a new report.

    There has been growing pressure on the FDA to give full approval of the vaccine, which was approved on a emergency basis last year. Some vaccine holdouts have cited the lack of full approval as a reason to avoid the shot, and it is hoped that approval will boost public confidence and encourage more people to get vaccinated.”

    I don’t think anyone cares about “encouraging” people to get vaccinated. The FDA wants this approval to clear any legal hurdles to mandates for private companies, schools, passports, etc.

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fda-aims-for-full-approval-of-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-by-labor-day-report-11628035841?mod=home-page

  15. Congratulations Tamyra Mensah-Stock

    NBC mentions her race in the headline and at the end of the 4 minute interview makes an attempt to have her support the propaganda machine but they must be very disappointed with her answer.

    Tamyra Mensah-Stock Becomes 1st Black Woman to Win Gold in Wrestling

    By Bryan Murphy • Published August 3, 2021 • Updated 3 hours ago

    https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/tokyo-summer-olympics/us-wrestler-tamyra-mensah-stock-going-for-gold/2577857/

  16. The DOW has suffered a small booboo this morning. I fully expect it to completely reverse all losses and end in positive territory. While most are calling for a crash, I am anticipating DOW 50,000. The trillions they printed have legs. Boy do they have legs….

  17. “Now, we’ve found buyers dropping out of the market saying that they want to wait until the market cools off.”

    by years end as prices collapse all the financial talking heads will crow in unison: “the SMART money got out early.” caw caw.

    1. Local observations: House asking $2.15M is back on the market after buyer got “cold feet” and that 1980s tract home dropped its price $199K and is now pending.

    2. by years end as prices collapse all the financial talking heads will crow in unison: “the SMART money got out early.” caw caw.

      Or they will repeat that good oldie: No one could have seen it coming.

  20. My apologies if this was already posted.

    Household debt jumps by the most in 14 years to nearly $15 trillion in the second quarter

    Jeff Cox
    PUBLISHED TUE, AUG 3, 2021

    Household debt rose by its highest dollar amount in 14 years during the second quarter, thanks mostly to a surge in the housing market that brought the collective American IOU to just shy of $15 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.

    Total debt balances jumped $313 billion in the April-to-June period, the sharpest rise since the same period in 2007.

    Most of the gain came from mortgage originations, both initial purchases and refinances, which have been on fire as the Federal Reserve has kept benchmark borrowing rates anchored around historic lows.

    Mortgage balances increased $282 billion for the period, up 2.8% rise from the first quarter and 6.7% from a year ago, for a total of $10.4 trillion.

    Over the past four quarters, mortgage originations have totaled close to $4.6 trillion, amounting to 44% of all outstanding home loan balances.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/03/household-debt-jumps-by-the-most-in-14-years-to-nearly-15-trillion-in-the-second-quarter.html

  21. Pentagon is to make the COVID vaccine mandatory for ALL 1.3M U.S. troops after Biden asked Defense Secretary ‘look into’ into ordering service members to get shot

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9862689/Defense-Secretary-Lloyd-Austin-wants-require-U-S-troops-coronavirus-vaccine.html

    Following a directive by President Joe Biden to explore the matter, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is leaning toward requiring all U.S. troops to get vaccinated for the coronavirus.

    The Pentagon chief has been examining the issue as the Biden administration looks for ways to boost vaccination nationwide, while protecting military personnel who must content with viral variants even as they carry out their duties of providing for the national defense.

    2. “Twenty years after the War on Terror began, it’s time that we took a long, unsparing look at what it really achieved.”

      Under the guise of Nation Building and spreading democracy Israel and the U.S. had twenty-years to modernize Israel’s air defense network with systems like Iron Dome with the U.S. picking up the cost. Israel now has aircraft outfitted to drop heavy bunker busting munitions with special penetration triggers that were developed by U.S. Sandia National Laboratories. Then there are several fleet of VTOL aircraft like the Osprey that cost $70k/hr to operate that the taxpayer’s children…and grandchildren will support. And then there is…$$$…ad nauseam!

      This level of support wouldn’t have been possible if we had let the CIA destroy the Taliban and kill Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora in Dec 2001 and quickly return home.

  23. This wave of the mania is in plain view for all the world to see. No amount of central banker equivocation will serve to hide it.

    The Financial Times
    FT Series Global house prices: Raising the roof
    Global Economy
    ‘It has never been like this’: US house price spiral worries policymakers
    FT Series: Pandemic-fuelled boom boosts smaller urban areas but revives affordability concerns
    …
    Columbus’s average sale price has jumped 15.8 per cent in the past year, according to Columbus Realtors, the local industry body of which Jones is president.

    “People say to me, ‘Don’t you love this market?’” he said at a recent open house for an almost 6,000 square foot family home with a listing price of just under $1m in a residential neighbourhood east of downtown Columbus.

    “I say, ‘Not especially, because I represent buyers and sellers alike’,” he added. “Somebody is a loser here.”

    Other places have experienced even more frenetic sales. Median home prices in Austin, Texas, have risen 40 per cent year on year, according to online real estate brokerage Redfin. Buyers have also flocked to Phoenix, Arizona, where prices are almost 30 per cent higher in the same period. In Detroit, Michigan, they have risen 56 per cent.
    …

    1. Housing market wealth effects are a good thing, right?

      From further down in the article:

      “The high cost of housing keeps millions of families up every night,” Fudge warned. “They wonder if they can afford to keep a roof over their head — and still manage to keep their lights on, to pay for their prescriptions, to put food on their tables.”

    2. Many choice comments follow this article. For instance:

      ‘George Washington
      11 hours ago

      US Policymakers concerned, eh? LOL. They created this. They’re breaking housing affordability just like they broke “affordable” college. Too much, waaay too much liquidity. Not to worry however, I’m sure the US Policymakers will come up with some new policy to “fix” it. It will probably look like free/cheap/more/more/more easy money to help people “afford” housing. Hey, when things get totally out of hand and they move to the nuclear option, maybe they’ll cancel my mortgage debt when they cancel the student debt. Time to load up on debt folks. I think I’ll take out a big new refi and buy a bunch of Robinhood call options.’

  25. We could have drilled the oil at home and saved trillions wasted on beating hornet’s nests with a stick and hoping for the best.

  27. Does it seem like reports of “market turmoil” these daze are overwhelmingly reflected in prices?

  28. Unease over US recovery triggers market turbulence
    Alex Gluyas
    Markets Reporter
    Aug 5, 2021 – 3.07pm

    Mixed signals regarding the pace of the US recovery rattled markets overnight, with fluctuations amplified by comments from the Federal Reserve’s Richard Clarida underlining that the economy’s recovery remains on track and a pullback in support could be imminent.

    Equities and bond yields whipsawed on Wall Street after ADP non-farm payrolls data revealed private companies added just 330,000 jobs in July, well short of the street’s forecast of 653,000.

    “This fuelled fears that the rebound in the US economy is running out of steam,” market analyst at Equiti Capital David Madden said.

    The yield on the US 10-year note subsequently plunged to a low of 1.12 per cent, while S&P 500 futures traded down 0.65 per cent given the physical market was closed at the time, according to National Australia Bank. The US dollar also fell sharply.

    It marked the smallest gain in private payrolls since February, which illustrated an evident slowdown from the pace of job growth achieved in the second quarter.
    …

  29. Would you pay a government for the privilege of loaning them your money?

    Given all the consternation over inflation heating up, how does this even make sense?

    1. The Financial Times
      Sovereign bonds
      Bond rally pushes global stock of negative-yielding debt above $16tn
      Tumbling yields defy expectations that Covid recovery would spark sell-off
      Montage of different currencies
      Big moves in the market for government bonds from the US, Germany, Japan and France have dragged yields below zero in some economies
      Tommy Stubbington in London August 4 2021

      The value of the world’s stock of negative-yielding debt has ballooned to more than $16.5tn, the highest in six months, as a relentless global bond rally drags borrowing costs below zero.

      Government bond yields have tumbled in recent weeks as some traders have piled in, a move that has blindsided many investors who expected an economic rebound from the pandemic along with rising inflation to lift long-term borrowing costs.

      While some of the biggest moves have come in the US Treasury market as traders unwind their bearish bets, bonds in Japan and the eurozone — the two main bastions of negative-yielding debt — have also benefited.

      Japan’s 10-year yield dipped below zero this week for the first time since December. In Europe, Germany’s 10-year yield fell to minus 0.51 per cent, the lowest level since early February. The country’s 30-year yield has also fallen beneath zero, meaning all of Germany’s debt, which serves as a reference for bonds across the eurozone, now trades at negative yields.

      Riskier borrowers in the currency bloc have followed in Germany’s wake, with France’s debt trading at sub-zero yields up to maturities of 12 years, Spain up to nine years, and Italy and Greece up to seven years.

      The global pile of negative-yielding debt has grown from just above $12tn in mid-May and is closing in on December’s record level of more than $18tn, according to an index compiled by Barclays.

      Negative yields mean investors are willing to pay for the opportunity to lend their funds. Those who hold this debt to maturity are guaranteed to make a loss.
      …

  30. Next variant is the Lambda Variant from South America. 200 cases in US.
    They aren’t going to stop the never ending fear, cover up of adverse effects from vaccines, go after children and repeated lockdowns while blaming the unvaccinated.

    1. Barron’s says no reason to fear, if you’ve been vaccinated:

      “Compared with the original virus strain, the NYU team found that Lambda was about 3-times more resistant to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine antibodies, and 2.3-times resistant to Moderna-generated antibodies.”

      https://www.barrons.com/articles/lambda-variant-delta-vaccine-resistance-51628096302

      I don’t have the greatest grasp of these antibody neutralization titer experiments, but from what I’ve read, 2-3 times more resistant is a not a big number. IUCU researchers don’t star worrying until the resistance reaches ~6.

      Peru is having massive issues because they are using the Sinovac vaccine, which doesn’t do a good job against these South American strains.

  31. Here’s some more juicy propaganda:

    https://www.9news.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/out-of-state-patients-in-colorado-hospitals/73-404fed6d-c831-4183-9a27-0ef76d4fe894

    Hospitals in Colorado are starting to admit more patients into intensive care units (ICU) due to COVID and its variants.

    “I personally have not taken care of a patient in the last two months that has had the vaccine. So all my patients that I see in the ICU are unvaccinated,” said Dr. William Janssen, Section Head of Critical Care at National Jewish Health.

    Some patients being transferred to National Jewish and Denver Health are not Coloradans.

    Uh huh, I’m sure they’re putting sick people in airplanes and flying them to Denver. And contrary to what’s happening in other countries, NO ONE who is vaxxed is going to the hospital. Of course, they aren’t actually saying that, because it can be easily disproven. Instead they rely on anecdotes. Like with the old Folger’s Crystals ads, you just keep asking doctors until you find one who says what you want. And for all we know “Dr. Jannsen” isn’t who he says he is. I recall a tweet from some doctor who claims her ER is bursting at the seams. Turns out, she was a veterinarian.

    They really are cranking up the fear porn. Funny thing is, I was out and about today. Everyone I saw was unmasked and no one looked worried. I haven’t heard through the grapevine of anyone who has been hospitalized. No one. Yet here we are, back to the sky is falling BS.

    1. “Some patients being transferred to National Jewish and Denver Health are not Coloradans.”

      Could be illegal aliens too.

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