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The Upwards-Spiral Era Of Home Prices Is Gone

A report from Mortgage News Daily. “Sometimes, someone unexpected comes into your life outta nowhere, makes your heart race, and changes you forever. We call those people cops. (Where did you think that was going?) There are always riddles and surprises out there, but one is not originators helping borrowers create wealth through leverage and tax savings. Lenders are, in one sense, in the business of creating wealth.”

“When it comes to the Fed, the question isn’t when, but how much, it will hike the overnight Fed Funds and Discount rates. As Bloomberg says, ‘Contrary to what many people seem to believe, the Fed doesn’t have a magic wand to bring down inflation quickly and painlessly…What the Fed does have the capacity to do fairly quickly, if it gets things wrong, is crash the housing market, the stock market, and the economy.'”

From Reuters. “Emerging markets must brace for monetary tightening in the United States and Europe while central banks must be clearer in their policy communication to avoid confusion, financial leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies are likely to warn this week.”

“To address the potential spill-overs to emerging markets of tighter monetary policy in the U.S. and Europe the IMF called in January for emerging economies to start working on defences now, reducing levels of debt in foreign currencies, hedging exposure, extending maturities to cut roll-over risk and prepare for bankruptcies of banks and companies. The same message is likely to come from the G20 meeting this week, the European document showed.”

From Capital and Main on California. “Connie Der Torossian, executive director of Homeownership OC, is an Orange County-based housing counselor who helps homeowners figure out ways to stay in their homes and safeguard their credit. ‘We had lots of people who had been on forbearance for over a year, and we can’t make the numbers work,’ said Der Torossian. The holidays provided some reprieve from foreclosures, but she expects that to change.”

“Robert Salazar is one who is leaving the state. His wife, Elena, was off her job staffing a hospital weight loss surgery unit for six to eight months during the pandemic. The couple received six months of forbearance from their mortgage servicer before filing for bankruptcy. In December, they decided to sell the house they purchased together three years ago and move to Arizona, where the cost of living is lower and they have family. A truck driver for In-N-Out Burger, Salazar, who is 50, was able to secure a transfer from his employer. He’s looking forward to the move. ‘It’s not fun living paycheck to paycheck,’ Salazar said. ‘We’re tired of being house broke.'”

“Guy Hart, who lives in a condo in Santa Monica, does not have a federally backed loan. His income dipped during the pandemic when the tenants in the duplex he owns as an investment property fell behind on their rent. He complied with the eviction moratorium and kept his tenants housed. Meanwhile, his servicer, Irvine-based Rushmore Loan Management Services, gave him only three months of forbearance on a condo that he bought for $330,000 in 1998. Rushmore began foreclosure proceedings against him last April.”

“Hart is in arrears by approximately $40,000 on the condo, said Sarah Shapero, his attorney. He fought off foreclosure years ago but was current on his mortgage before COVID struck. ‘I love the place and have worked really hard to get it and to maintain it,’ says Hart, who is 55. ‘I don’t think because of the pandemic and everything that transpired that I should be punished for that.'”

The Star Advertiser. “Hawaii’s neighbor island housing markets reported mixed numbers in January after setting median sale price records in 2021 for single-family homes and condominiums. Kauai saw its single-family home median price sink 10.7 % to $925, 000 from $1,036,000 and the median condo price fall 10.8 % to $490, 000 from $549,000.”

The New York Post. “A limestone mansion once owned by the late entertainment mogul Robert F.X. Sillerman has sold for $7.7 million. That’s $4.3 million less that what Sillerman and his wife had paid for the residence at 151 E. 72nd St. when they bought it for $12 million in 2013.”

From Bloomberg. “In London’s Royal Albert Dock, almost two dozen buildings conceived of as a new Chinese Canary Wharf stand mostly empty and in the hands of lenders who have finally pulled the plug. About 10 miles to the west, some construction workers angry at not being paid have downed tools on Guangzhou R&F Properties Co.’s flagship development in Nine Elms. And in Paternoster Square, in the heart of the City of London, the tycoon behind embattled developer Shimao Group Holdings Ltd. is in talks to sell a prize office building previously occupied by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.”

“It is a sign of how ripples from China’s troubled property markets are making waves overseas. ‘China’s debt-saddled private developers face growing risks of a liquidity crunch, with home buyers and bondholders’ shattered confidence raising the specter of broader financial contagion,’ Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Patrick Wong wrote.”

“The sharp reversal is a familiar pattern in London’s boom and bust real estate market that has seen successive waves of international capital wash in and out. The global financial crisis brought an end to a surge in debt-fueled Irish investment in the U.K. capital while Japanese investors racked up huge losses two decades earlier. ‘It isn’t that different from what we saw from Japanese investors a few decades ago,’ Andrew Thomas, London based head of international capital markets at broker Colliers International Group Inc said in an interview.’They ended up selling properties from their international portfolios in order to help stabilize their domestic markets.'”

The Guardian. “With the Federal Government’s legacy Railway Modernisation project, among other infrastructure, largely financed by loans from China, the hopes of millions of Nigerians looking forward to the ease that the project would bring to livelihoods and its impact on the economy when completed, may be dashed. Sources close to the discussion said China is gradually losing confidence in the ability of the country to manage the projects efficiently and be able to offset the facilities extended to the country. A source said China is concerned about the rising debt profile of the country. Hence, they are reviewing their relationship.”

“Back home, China is currently prioritising its relationship. The country is struggling to rescue the economy blighted by Evergrande crisis. In the last quarter of last year, Chinese property developers faced $10.2 billion in offshore debt. The figure is almost double this quarter, analysts have said.”

From Yahoo Finance. “Economists at Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are forecasting house prices to fall by 10 per cent next year and Westpac has forecast house-price falls of 7 per cent in 2023 and a further 5 per cent in 2024. The forecasts are predicated on the assumption that the Reserve Bank (RBA) will begin raising interest rates later this year and housing will be ‘collateral damage’ in the RBA’s efforts to keep inflation on target in the medium term.”

“But if house prices fall by the amounts predicted this time around, that will make it the biggest housing downturn in modern history.”

The South China Morning Post. “Shenzhen’s housing market has gone into deep freeze. Sales of second-hand homes plunged 60 per cent to 40,699 last year, from 95,273 transactions in 2020, according to data provided by the Shenzhen Real Estate Intermediary Association. Last year’s volume was the lowest since 2007. ‘The upwards-spiral era of home prices is gone, and home buyers are more willing to wait on the sidelines,’ said Fion He, director of Midland Realty’s research unit. ‘The trend is particularly clear when we look at the dormant lived-in homes in Shenzhen after reference home prices were released last year.'”

“The cool down of China’s US$1.7 trillion housing market is actually a result of rounds of cooling measures rolled out since 2017 to stem a housing market bubble. The administrative measures included caps on land and new home prices, restriction of resale of lived-in homes, hiking mortgage rates and a deleveraging campaign on home sellers.”

“The reference price of lived-in homes at 3,595 housing estates in Shenzhen was set between 10 per cent and 40 per cent below the prevailing market prices in the city, according to data disclosed on February 8 by the Housing and Construction Bureau. The lower reference price reduced the amount of mortgage financing that buyers can borrow on, because banks use them as the basis for their valuations.”

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This Post Has 74 Comments

  1. ‘What the Fed does have the capacity to do fairly quickly, if it gets things wrong, is crash the housing market, the stock market, and the economy’

    Wa happened to my fundamentals bloomberg? I gotta love letter, shortage dammit!

    ‘if house prices fall by the amounts predicted this time around, that will make it the biggest housing downturn in modern history’

    Oh dear…

    2. Yes, the Fed does have the capacity to screw up the housing market:
      Just look at what’s happened the last couple years!

      Look at Robert Salazar’s case – being house poor because of high house prices is not a sign of a good housing market. Repeat, house prices increasing faster than income growth IS NOT a good situation.

    3. I expect the FED to do everything in their power to never allow free markets. The question I have is ‘who gave the FED this much power, and why?’ It’s time to stop these deranged lunatics.

      1. Last week Mauldin wrote a piece on the fed, “Time to Rethink the Fed,” and the need for a complete makeover.

  2. ‘new Chinese Canary Wharf stand mostly empty and in the hands of lenders who have finally pulled the plug…The sharp reversal is a familiar pattern in London’s boom and bust real estate market that has seen successive waves of international capital wash in and out’

    This isn’t new. These mammoth white elephants have been sitting there empty for almost a decade. It’s money laundering, which is what London does best.

  3. ‘An actor who admitted fabricating HBO and Netflix film deals in a $650-million Ponzi scheme that prosecutors say is the biggest in Hollywood history was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison. Zachary Horwitz, 35, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi to pay $230 million in restitution to more than 250 victims, including some who were financially ruined in what prosecutors called a crime of “staggering magnitude.”

    ‘Horwitz told Scarsi he made “misguided, awful decisions” as he tried to break into the movie business and was sorry for the “immense pain and hardship” he caused. His attorneys told the judge that Horwitz was “not mentally well” and should not have to miss his two toddler sons growing up.’

    ‘But Scarsi said it was striking that neither Horwitz nor his attorneys offered any explanation for the extravagant spending that was uncovered by federal investigators.’

    ‘Scarsi ran down part of the list: $706,000 on interior decorating, $605,000 on Mercedes Benz and Audi cars, $345,000 on private jet and yacht trips, $174,000 on Los Angeles party consultant services, $136,000 on Las Vegas casinos and nightclubs and $6.9 million in credit-card payments to American Express.’

    ‘Horwitz kept the scheme running for nearly seven years, using the money he took from new investors to repay old ones with returns from 25% to 45%. When the swindle collapsed, he owed them $230 million.
    Prosecutors say he drew from that money to cover his luxury spending and buy a $5.7 million Beverlywood mansion with a screening room and wine cellar. What happened to the rest remains unclear.’

    “These are all expenditures of other people’s hard earned money,” Scarsi said.’

    ‘In their memo to Scarsi, prosecutors said Horwitz caused “immeasurable pain” to many of the more than 250 investors in his phony film deals. While some were wealthy or institutional investors, others were middle-class or elderly people who lost their retirement savings, prosecutors said. They felt “shame, stress, depression, [temptations of] suicide, loss of dignity, and loss of faith in humanity,” their memo says.’

    ‘Three victims spoke at the sentencing. One of them, Scott Cohen, 52, the father of two six-year-old boys, told Scarsi he filed for bankruptcy as a result of putting money into Horwitz’s bogus deals. “The devastation has just been beyond words,” he said. Cohen called Horwitz “just another Bernie Madoff,” the New York financier imprisoned for running a $65-billion Ponzi scheme, the largest in history.’

    ‘In a court statement, Cohen wrote: “I am surviving on food stamps, family loans, unemployment and any work I can find while I battle the combination of all my money being stolen and my other business being shut down from Covid. I have NOTHING!”

    ‘Another victim, an unnamed cancer survivor also running a small business, recalled taking out a loan to invest in the film deals. Horwitz “spent in one month what it took me 15 years of honest work to accumulate and borrow against,” the person said. “I started my business with an inheritance that took my father 60 years of hard work to accumulate. Gone in a flash on defendant’s cars, jets and watches.”

    https://www.yahoo.com/now/actor-faked-movie-deals-sentenced-215827274.html

    How do you trust a guy with that much money when he really has never done anything in the business? It’s a ponzi scheme bubble!

    2. “…recalled taking out a loan to invest in the film deals.”

      “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” —Mark Twain

    3. If someone offers 25% returns, it’s a scam. If you’re greedy/dumb enough to “invest” then you get what’s coming to you.

    4. What happened to the rest remains unclear

      It’s hidden, for when he gets out. He’s rich for the rest of his life. It was successful.

    5. You never borrow money to go to the racetrack . Sounds to me like all these people wanted someone else to do the heavy lifting for them. And now that the blue haze from the funny cigarettes is starting to clear these dolts want someone else to shoulder the blame . Get off your lazy azz and get another job delivering pizza or one of the many new versions of meals-on-wheels that are making the rounds. Accept the blame for your mistakes and quietly start your lives again, I am tired of your whining.

  4. ‘gave him only three months of forbearance on a condo that he bought for $330,000 in 1998. Rushmore began foreclosure proceedings against him last April’

    ‘Hart is in arrears by approximately $40,000 on the condo’

    Where did you go with the cash out refi money Guy?

    2. “….Where did you go with the cash out refi money Guy?..”

      Booze and broads.. The rest I simply wasted…

  5. ‘Extremely hard to watch Chrystia Freeland talk about “following the money” with a straight face when Canada has refused to do exactly that for years re: housing, fentanyl, international organized crime, rampant money laundering, etc etc etc.’

    ‘Oh you’re going to require crowdfunding platforms to report to FINTRAC? The same FINTRAC whose real estate money laundering audits fell by 67% as the market went insane?’

    ‘And it wasn’t just real estate. FINTRAC examinations across all financial sectors incl. banks & money service businesses dropped by 62% in the last fiscal year. There’s been zero political will to change this— God forbid it tarnishes Canada’s house trading economy.’

    https://mobile.twitter.com/SabrinaMaddeaux/status/1493343375805845505

  6. What is interesting —- this is probably the most important tier1 city after Beijing given the huge investment and high-tech companies. If it is starting to stall, what the heck is happening at tier 3 cities that the ADVChina guys document on their youtube channel.

    Shenzhen’s sales plunge underscores the challenges that lie ahead for China’s government in resuscitating growth in China’s version of the Silicon Valley – home to several of China’s largest technology companies from Huawei Technologies to Tencent Holdings and DJI – amid a resurgent Covid-19 pandemic and a slowing economy.

    1. China is going to get interesting next week after the Olympians go home. To-do list:

      1. Eliminate political rivals
      2. Lift lockdowns and let a billion people get sick at the same time.
      3. Confiscate property of all Evergrande employees to pay off Chinese investors.
      4. Invade Taiwan
      5. Profit!

  7. From the Economist below. The only explanation can be foreign $s – but if China is tapering down outflows, and covid travel restriction as so bad in NZ, what is really going on.

    The average home in Auckland, the commercial capital, now costs NZ$1.4m ($935,000), 35 times the median income.

    Auckland is at the centre of a house-price boom that is roiling the country. Low interest rates and lashings of fiscal stimulus have sent prices soaring everywhere. But even by those standards New Zealand’s recent gains look stratospheric. Last year its house prices rose by more than a quarter, according to CoreLogic, a business which tracks them.

    1. The average home in Auckland, the commercial capital, now costs NZ$1.4m ($935,000), 35 times the median income.

      Sounds like the perfect time for the Ardern government to pull the trigger, declare that the Great Reset has begun, and start confiscating housing, which will become property of the state, meaning globalists.

      After all, it’s for everyone’s good.

      1. Nah – surprisingly that would not work. To keep her loyal cadre of suburban and urban white collar workers, she need the the ‘extended housing industry’ and that needs foreign $s to keep the ponzi scheme going.

  8. ‘We had lots of people who had been on forbearance for over a year, and we can’t make the numbers work,’ said Der Torossian.

    We here at the HBB refer to such people by their proper name: F*cked Borrowers (FBs). Extend & pretend simply defers the inevitable, Connie.

    1. From the same piece: “Now, help for Californians has arrived in the form of a $1 billion federally funded program that will allow homeowners to write down principal on their loan. But will it be enough?”

      IIRC, $1 billion is $1,000 million, so maybe 2,000 3/2 spec homes? In other words, they’re not going to make a dent in this problem. Odds are this program is designed to help a specific investor.

      1. A band aid, like when Habitat builds a single house and delivers it to a “deserving” family amidst a lot of fanfare. The city council in my little burg has endless meetings about “affordable housing”, while their current policies keep pushing prices into the stratosphere,

  10. Viral Anti-Xi Article Reveals CCP Infighting That May Derail Xi’s Bid For 3rd Term, Analysts Say | ZeroHedge
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/viral-anti-xi-article-reveals-ccp-infighting-may-derail-xis-bid-3rd-term-analysts-say

    (a snip)

    “Gao said that the CCP’s rigid dictatorship is growing increasingly fragile, and may break at any time.

    “Cai listed the crises the regime in Beijing is facing across China now, which include more white- and blue-collar unemployment, the financial crisis facing China’s largest real estate predators, the regime collecting more tax and fees from people who can’t earn a living and unprofitable enterprises, strict COVID-19 policies that further damage the economy and threaten peoples’ lives, and young Chinese who refuse to have children even after marriage.”

    The article is worth a complete read.

  11. A report from Mortgage News Daily. “

    “When it comes to the Fed, the question isn’t when, but how much, it will hike the overnight Fed Funds and Discount rates. As Bloomberg says, ‘Contrary to what many people seem to believe, the Fed doesn’t have a magic wand to bring down inflation quickly and painlessly…What the Fed does have the capacity to do fairly quickly, if it gets things wrong, is crash the housing market, the stock market, and the economy.’”

    – The Fed certainly has a ‘magic wand’ to create fiat $ and in so doing, inflation. No one seemed to mind that part of it as asset prices went ‘to the moon.’ Magic wand = printing press.

    – Current ‘official’ inflation = 7.5%. Reality is more like double that.

    – The Fed can either continue to support asset prices or stomp out inflation. These are now mutually exclusive. To “wip inflation now,” they’ll need to raise rates higher than inflation, but that will also kill asset prices and the economy. No good outcomes. If they don’t raise rates, then asset bubbles will burst on their own anyway, but later and from a higher level and goods and services inflation continues, leading to moar civil unrest. I don’t see door #3.
    – We’re screwed either way. Pay now or pay (a little) later.
    – Interesting times indeed!

    1. Door 3 could be great reset, with a lose-lose for a lot of things. Destroy the USD, bond market, gut kick to the economy. Globalist scum to the rescue. Can’t be ruled out.

      I started to wonder about this scenario when they needlessly and in lockstep attempted to destroyed the world economy. They’d still be at it if they could.

  12. I read somewhere and then looked it up because it’s so massive I didn’t believe it…..there are over 65 million empty housing units in china. Enough to house everyone in france. Lol. To steal a quote from Ben….is that a lot? I totally understand over shooting, it happens in business everyday….but 65 million. Lol damn….I wish I had some of that confidence….or maybe not.

      1. here are over 65 million empty housing units in china. Enough to house everyone in france

        And Spain too, if you have 3 per unit.

    2. The following script is from “China’s Real Estate Bubble” which originally aired on March 3, 2013, and was rebroadcast on August 3, 2014. Lesley Stahl is the correspondent.

      ‘If you go to China, it’s easy to see why there’s all the talk of a bubble. We discovered that the most populated nation on Earth is building houses, districts and cities with no one in them. Gillem Tulloch is a Hong Kong based financial analyst who was one of the first to draw attention to the housing bubble in China. He’s showing us around the new eastern district of Zhengzhou, in one of the most populated provinces in China – not that you’d know it. We found what they call a “ghost city” of new towers with no residents, desolate condos and vacant subdivisions uninhabited for miles, and miles, and miles, and miles of empty apartments.’

      ‘Gillem Tulloch: So what they do is they invest in property because property prices have always gone up by more than inflation.’

      ‘Lesley Stahl: And they believe it will always go up?’

      ‘Gillem Tulloch: Yeah, just like they believed in the U.S.’

      https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinas-real-estate-bubble-03-03-2013/

    3. There are 25 million excess, empty and defaulted houses here in the US.

      Portland, OR Housing Prices Crater 22% As US Homeowners Slip Deeper Underwater

      https://www.movoto.com/or/97214/market-trends/

      As one national broker explained, “Remember folks… current asking prices of resale housing is 350% higher than long term trend and double construction costs. Now prices are falling.”

  13. Am spending a few weeks in Sarasota Florida, In Pinecraft Park area , Its the Amish Winter Wonderland, No Horses here, they ride 3-wheeled bicycles and-or walk here or there all day, it’s really something .. The city runs a seasonal bus all day , to Siesta Beach ,the nicest beach I’ve seen in some time ,it’s about 20 minutes away.
    In this aprox 10 sq. mile area , there are many thousands, of flat like Florida houses , none have my name on it ,we just Rent a house ,and indulge in the culture .
    A local Real Estate agent told me he can’t find houses to list, they go so quickly, He told of one young Amish businessman, who was desperate to buy a house in the enclave, and he managed to list one just hours before the Amishman was due to get back on the crowded Amish charter Bus, to head back to PA.
    He did a hurried walk through, and then pulled out his checkbook, wrote out a 450K Check ,and said “Take care of the details” , and that was about it …..That’s a degree of trust that takes years to build, and tomorrow’s 80 Degree weather here does help …..

  15. German TV Presenter Pushes For Mandatory Vaccination – Then Collapses Live On-Air

    by Adan Salazar
    February 15th 2022, 11:49 am

    A German TV interviewer fainted during a newscast just seconds after she pushed for mandatory vaccinations.

    The incident happened during a live on-air N-TV news broadcast while reporter Clara Pfeffer was interviewing politician Sepp Müller.

    Corona Realism@holmenkollin+++ Breaking +++

    German TV interviewer pushes for sooner enforcement of generel vax mandate, then collapses live on air due to climate change.

    https://twitter.com/holmenkollin/status/1493566363054583808?s=20&t=mW8fQ1QIEGPY56aXzmRa5g

    1. She could feel it creeping up, but she fought back in vain sort of like Lou Ferrigno sneaking in on Bill Bixby when someone was trying to take his schitt.

    2. That is priceless. Being that this is happening so often on camera, you have to wonder how many “little people” are experiencing this?

  16. Had to buy 20 sheets of 1/2 or excuse me 15/32 plywood at Home Chepo today.

    Nov. 2, 2021 it was $29.15 a sheet.

    Feb. 4, 2022 it was $38.95 a sheet.

    Today it is $48.65 a sheet or 20 sheets for the bargain out the door price of $1,041.11

    1. I’ve been doing a lot of demolition for remodels recently. I took in some scrap copper yesterday and got paid $2.84 / pound for #1 insulated.

      No real benefit from that, as it’s all going to pay higher prices for food and gas.

      Let’s Go Brandon!

  17. interesting. He does not seem to care about the official Fed policy (2% inflation) or doing the proper thing for the citizens or economy. He is more concerned about how the Fed looks. And i thought he was one of the more reasonable Fed presidents.

    ———————-
    St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard made his case for a rapid move higher in interest rates, saying Monday that the central bank needs to react to accelerating inflation.

    “I do think we need to front-load more of our planned removal of accommodation than we would have previously. We’ve been surprised to the upside on inflation. This is a lot of inflation,” Bullard told CNBC’s Steve Liesman during a “Squawk Box” interview.

    “Our credibility is on the line here and we do have to react to the data,” he added. “However, I do think we can do it in a way that’s organized and not disruptive to markets.”

    2. another interesting timbit. Raise the rates too quickly and the mortgage backed security on the fed balance sheet will fall in value. So are they officially backed into the corner

      One area of interest will be in how the central bank will begin reducing the nearly $9 trillion in asset holdings, which doubled during the coronavirus pandemic as the Fed bought up trillions in Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities.

      1. will fall in value

        Then they can brag about balance sheet reduction. I can’t see why anyone would care, they’ve already blown the money (which they made up).

  18. I hear debtdonkeys cry
    I hear them woe
    They never learn
    a steady diet of crow
    And I think to myself
    ………..What a wonderful world💕

    Arrington, TN Housing Prices Crater 31% YOY As Rural Lot And Land Prices Plunge

    https://www.movoto.com/arrington-tn/market-trends/

    As a national land broker explained, “There is a globe full of land were fully 95% of it goes undeveloped. Land is essentially worthless dirt. If you paid more than $500 an acre, you got ripped off.

    1. “I hear debtdonkeys cry
      I hear them woe
      They never learn
      a steady diet of crow
      And I think to myself
      ………..What a wonderful world💕”

      Awesome lyrics!

      Looking forward to seeing it go viral. 🙂

  19. Headline: Wholesale prices rise 1% in January, up near-record 9.7% over the past year. But heck the S&P is up because of a chance of ‘peace in the Ukraine’. When was the last time we saw 10% inflation – and we know that 10% is with some fudging by the govt agencies

    Prices at the wholesale level jumped twice the expected level in January as inflation pressures were unabated to start the year, the Labor Department said Tuesday.

    The producer price index, which measures final demand goods and services, increased 1% for the month, against the Dow Jones estimate for 0.5%. Over the past 12 months the gauge rose an unadjusted 9.7%, close to a record in data going back to 2010.
    Excluding food, energy and trade services, co-called core PPI climbed 0.9% for the month, well ahead of the 0.4% estimate.
    For the 12-month period, the measure increased 6.9%. Both core and headline PPI gains over the year were 0.1 percentage point lower than the record levels hit in December 2021.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/15/producer-price-index-january-2022-.html

    1. “Excluding food, energy and trade services”

      Commencing next month, the core inflation number will be based solely on the prices a toothless 40 year old hooker charges for her services. “Inflation down 20% YOY in February”.

      1. Food and energy are essentials for U.S. consumers, so I don’t get the rationale for excluding them from headline inflation numbers.

        Luckily they are not excluded from my Vanguard Energy Fund HODLings, which are up about 75% since when I bought them in spring 2020.

  20. “The upwards-spiral era of home prices is gone, and home buyers are more willing to wait on the sidelines.”

    On to the upwards-spiral era of interest rates!

  21. Hmmm … sound like THEY know what’s just around the corner:

    After noting that some Australians have died from adverse reactions, a reporter asked Morrison if he believed those people had been properly informed of potential side effects. Morrison responded by defending Australia’s max vaccination program, saying that Australians took the vaccine under their own free will.

    I wonder if this will be the year when the SHTF with the Jab Narrative.

    1. Moderna’s stock is 70% off from its high and its CEO nuked his Twitter account last week. And, a former Blackrock portfolio manager is calling out Pfizer’s clinical trial fraud. The tide has changed.

  22. Two Teen Boys Found Dead in Bed 3 & 4 Days After Receiving Second Dose of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine

    by Adan Salazar
    February 15th 2022, 5:39 pm

    A second dose of Pfizer’s experimental Covid-19 jab caused the deaths of two teenage boys, according to a study released by clinical pathology researchers.

    The paper, co-authored by forensic pathologists at Yale and the University of Michigan, was highlighted on social media Tuesday by renowned cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough.

    “Parents and kids should know more deaths will happen,” McCullough warned.

    The autopsies of the two teen boys, whose names, ages and locations are not revealed, were studied in a paper published Tuesday in The Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine medical journal.

    The two teen boys “were found dead in bed 3 and 4 days after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,” the paper states, adding, “Both boys were pronounced dead at home without attempted resuscitation.”

    https://www.infowars.com/

  23. The real comedy of this 0:33 video is listening to the laughter coming from the lapdog real journalists.

    Biden Tells A Story About Putting A DEAD DOG On A Random Woman’s Doorstep

    Feb 15, 2022
    11,483 views

    President Joe Biden told a story about putting a dead dog on a random woman’s doorstep, during his remarks at the National Association of Counties in Washington, D.C. on 2/15/2022.

    https://youtu.be/PWy7ZrJRobs

  25. You never borrow money to go to the racetrack . Sounds to me like all these people wanted someone else to do the heavy lifting for them. And now that the blue haze from the funny cigarettes is starting to clear these dolts want someone else to shoulder the blame . Get off your lazy azz and get another job delivering pizza or one of the many new versions of meals-on-wheels that are making the rounds. Accept the blame for your mistakes and quietly start your lives again, I am tired of your whining.

  27. “Kauai, however, saw its single-family home median price sink 10.7 % to $925, 000 from $1, 036, 000 and the median condo price fall 10.8 % to $490, 000 from $549, 000.”

    I don’t see information about whether that’s a year-on-year change (CR8R) or one month (catastrophic).

    Either way, you can stick a fork in the Kauai housing bubble.

  28. Working out at LA Fitness sans mask for the first time in months. Feels like someone just released me from prison.

    2. sans mask for the first time in months.
      I was in Jacksonville Fl earlier this week. Almost No one had a mask on. Back in NC, well, still lots of people wearing masks up here. Totally different “feel/vibe” between the 2 areas.

      1. Even though the mask law expired in our county last week, I’m still seeing oldsters donning masks at Safeway.

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