thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

They Don’t Really Have Any Other Option But To Sell, Otherwise, The Bank Will Do It For Them

A holiday topic starting with the Union Tribune in California. “Over the past decade, the dream of homeownership became more elusive than ever as soaring home prices eroded any headway aspiring San Diego buyers made following the Great Recession. ‘It all comes back to housing prices. The American dream is going great for people over 65 but it’s eroding more for the bottom up,’ said Dowell Myers, a professor of policy, planning and demography at USC. ‘The losses are rising steadily from the bottom and that’s not good. You’re building more of the population on the lower trajectories of homeownership and they’re never going to bounce back up to the top. You still have a lot of older people who push the average up, but with each decade there’s no one at the bottom with success. It’s an inexorable decline.'”

“Real estate agent Jan Ryan has seen a lot of changes over four decades working with residential buyers in San Diego County. Ryan got her broker license in 1981 and can recall young families buying into their first home and starting a life through most of her career. That has largely changed in the last few years. She says she’s seen young families saddled with monthly mortgage payments of $5,000, on top of property taxes and insurance. ‘It just breaks my heart,’ she said.”

From Bisnow Houston. “Texas’ 20-year winning streak could be coming to an end. In what has been billed as the ‘Texas Miracle,’ the state transformed itself into the world’s ninth-largest economy on a triple-pronged promise: the Lone Star State has low regulations, low taxes and low costs. A major culprit? A severe lack of housing affordability that has many of Texas’ top cities hurtling toward the once-unthinkable reality that the gap between it and cities on the coasts is narrowing to more of a crack. ‘The housing advantage that we’ve had for decades is really gone,’ said Steven Pedigo, director of the LBJ Urban Lab at the University of Texas at Austin.”

“Growing discontent plus the prospect of losing the state’s economic ace in the hole is worrying developers, economic development experts, urban planners and politicians. Some of Texas’ immediate neighbors are smelling blood in the water and seizing the opportunity to show the state up on costs. Oklahoma, in particular, is making a major play as an alternative to Texas that is just as business-friendly and more affordable, to boot. ‘Now other states can take advantage and say, ‘Hey, you can’t afford to live in Texas, come to Oklahoma, come to Arkansas or Mississippi, Louisiana, because we have plenty of space and housing here,’ said Roger Arriaga, executive director for the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers.”

The Boston Globe. “The story of the last two years in Massachusetts has been this: if you like a state with high housing prices, a crumbling public transit system, cold winters, downtown neighborhoods that are as populated as Boston was in ‘The Last of Us,’ and a new tax on income above $1 million, we are the place for you. That’s not a good story under any circumstances, but it’s an especially tough tale at a moment when employees have unprecedented flexibility about where they work, companies are rethinking their commitment to physical office space, and venture capitalists who used to prefer backing startups inside of Route 495 are now placing their bets globally.”

“Even more worrisome is a poll that the Massachusetts Society of CPAs conducted in February. When asked about their high-income clients — people affected by the new tax on income over $1 million — these accountants said that 82 percent of these clients ‘have expressed plans to leave Massachusetts in the next 12 months.’ They are planning. To. Leave.”

The New York Times. “The math is hard to argue with. Buying a home near work is more lucrative than working. The growth of asset values has outstripped returns on labor for four decades, and a McKinsey report found that a majority of those assets — 68 percent — is real estate. Last year, one in four home sales was to someone who had no intention of living in it. These investors are particularly incentivized to buy the sorts of homes most needed by first-time buyers: Inexpensive properties generate the highest rental-income cash flows.”

“Real estate is a place where money literally grows on tree beams. In the last decade, the typical owner of a single-family home acquired nearly $200,000 in appreciation. ‘Another word for asset appreciation is inflation,’ the academics Lisa Adkins, Melinda Cooper and Martijn Konings write in ‘The Asset Economy,’ ‘an increase in monetary value without any corresponding change in the nature of the good itself or the conditions of its production that would make it scarcer or justify an increased demand for it.'”

WSB Radio in Georgia. “The change in housing needs and purchase behaviors caused by the pandemic saw hundreds of thousands move to areas in the Sunbelt, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, including the outlying areas of the Atlanta metro. Despite migration, there are millions of empty homes across the United States, and hundreds of thousands in the Atlanta area alone. For Atlanta, almost 10% of homes for rent were vacant. Census data showed that, as of 2020, 258,245 housing units existed in the City of Atlanta, and 2.4 million in the larger Atlanta metropolitan area.”

“The number of homes sitting empty while millions struggle to find housing isn’t restricted to metros in the Peach State. Census Bureau data also shows that while Americans traversed the nation to find new communities, the number of homes sitting empty was in the millions. ‘In 645 of the nation’s 3,143 counties, seasonal units made up at least 50% of the vacant housing in the county,’ the Census reported. ‘In 1,313 counties, seasonal units outnumbered the combined total number of units for rent or sale that were vacant.’ The Census Bureau reported there were 4.3 million vacant seasonal units throughout the country, with seasonal units being the largest category of vacant housing inventory ‘again.'”

From Investor Place. “Speaking of banks and real estate, idiocy is repeating itself. Remember the whole housing crisis of 2007 that nearly took down the U.S. banking system? Do you recall what caused that? In large part, it was banks extending risky loans to subprime borrowers. But we’ve learned, right? There’s no way our lending institutions would repeat that same mistake again…”

“Well, feast your eyes on this delightful MarketWatch headline: Home buyers will now be able to put down as little as 1% on their home, Rocket Mortgage says. Rocket Mortgage is allowing low- and moderate-income would-be homeowners to buy homes with just 1% down on their purchase price. And I know this makes you nervous, but don’t worry! This is in no way, shape, or form like the ‘no down payment’ mortgages in the subprime crisis. After all, this is an enormous ‘1%’ down payment. See? It’s miles above 0%!”

“Rocket Mortgage’s CEO Bob Walters assures us that borrowers will have to meet ‘stringent’ credit standards. In fact, Walters is so certain that nothing could go wrong here, that this new 1%-down loan doesn’t even require the borrowers to pay mortgage insurance. Rocket Mortgage will pay it for you! (Is it relevant that Rocket Mortgage reported a net loss of $411 million in Q1?)”

Thunder Bay News Watch. “According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, there was a 30 per cent decline in the number of homes sold in April 2022 compared to the same timeframe the previous year. The average price of a home in Thunder Bay also saw a decrease of 5.7 per cent averaging out to approximately $345,000 for a single detached home. The term ‘house poor’ has been around for ages, but for this generation of home buyers that really is coming to fruition. There was frantic buying at the height of the pandemic when interest rates were at record lows. However, the peak of COVID years continues to get further away and the markets continue to fluctuate.”

“Jay Tysoski, a partner and Mortgage Broker at Mortgage Connection, said being ‘house poor’ could be more of a reality for many owners. ‘Maybe they are financially making their payments and they’re able to afford everything that they have, but they also never prepared for a life of not being able to travel when they want to or not being able to eat out or do different other things that they would have expected that they would continue to be able to continue to do simply because they were doing the ‘grown-up thing’ and buying a home,’ he said.”

“‘Just because you can read it doesn’t mean that you understand it. You want to make sure that if you are stressing the limits of your affordability, you have to understand on the backside what the consequences of that could mean, which could mean missing payments, your mortgage defaulting, the bank taking ownership of your home,’ Tysoski said, adding those are some of the extreme examples the broker makes when a buyer purchases a home beyond their means.”

From CTV News. “As household debt and the cost of living continue to rise, fears of a looming recession grow. Mortgage debt in particular was put ‘on a fast track,’ according to RBC. ‘By late-2021, Canada’s household debt-to-income ratio had exceeded pre-pandemic levels. And it’s remained elevated ever since,’ the RBC Proof Point report reads. Victor Tran, mortgage and real estate expert with RATESDOTCA, says many Canadians may have difficulty coming up with the necessary cash or finances to continue to pay their mortgage.”

“‘They don’t really have any other option to get out of it, but to sell their homes,’ Tran told CTVNews.ca. ‘Otherwise, the bank will do it for them.'”

ABC News in Australia. “Around half of fixed rate borrowers whose low-rate home loans are expiring over the next two years are planning to leave their current lender, but it’s those customers who can’t that might prove a bigger problem for the banks, new research finds. Banking analyst Jon Mott said the answers would concern bank bosses, and also highlight the problems confronting many home owners.”

“‘With around $360 billion of fixed rate mortgages maturing this year many customers are facing an increase in interest rates from around 2 per cent towards 6 per cent,’ he wrote. ‘With APRA requiring the banks to continue using a 3 per cent serviceability buffers, many customers who took out mortgages during 2020-21 are now likely unable to refinance their mortgages and are facing significant financial stress. Our survey indicates around 20-25 per cent of this cohort of mortgagors are in this predicament. This is consistent with estimates from NAB.'”

“NAB has responded to the report, and said its chief financial officer recently estimated that between 15-20 per cent of borrowers were in this situation, with current estimates from the bank sitting at 16 per cent. This group of borrowers unable to refinance their loans have been widely dubbed ‘mortgage prisoners.’ Mr Mott said banks are likely to help many customers in this group to avoid default by putting some onto interest-only repayment periods or extending the term of the loan, both of which reduce repayments in the short-term but increase the cost of the loan over its life.”

“He also said banks may encourage some customers to sell their properties before they default. However, he still expects a growing number of customers to fall behind on repayments and potentially default on their mortgage. ‘We expect mortgage arrears to rise sharply over the next 12-18 months as these customers revert to higher interest rates and these loans season,’ Mr Mott predicted. ‘In our view it is inevitable many customers will not be able to meet their higher repayments and a rise in credit impairment will likely be seen.'”

Related Posts
This Post Has 80 Comments

  2. “an increase in monetary value without any corresponding change in the nature of the good itself or the conditions of its production that would make it scarcer or justify an increased demand for it”

    That’s a long winded way to say The Rent Is Too Damn High.

    $5,000 a month mortgage payments aren’t any better.

    Where are working people supposed to actually live?

  3. ‘She says she’s seen young families saddled with monthly mortgage payments of $5,000, on top of property taxes and insurance’

    That’s some sound lending right there. With a saddle to boot.

    1. ‘It just breaks my heart,’ she said.”

      I wish there was video of this, because there’s no way the relitter said that with a straight face.

  4. Denver7 — Groups call on next Denver mayor to end evictions by 2025 (5/27/2023):

    “Community organizations that help people facing evictions are calling on the next mayor of Denver to reduce and eliminate evictions by 2025.

    “It’s unbelievably expensive,” said Zach Neumann. “People cannot afford to live in Denver, and they can’t afford to live in Colorado.”

    Neumann is the CEO of the Community Economic Defense Project, a nonprofit founded in 2020 to help people facing eviction and foreclosure.

    That’s why his organization is among two dozen nonprofits now calling on the next mayor of Denver to end evictions for unpaid rent by 2025.

    They’d leave it up to the new mayor to find ways to pay for it.

    “There are a number of ways this can get funded, but we expect and hope that whoever the next mayor is will make this a priority,” said Neumann. “We’ve got to stop evictions.”

    https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/groups-call-on-next-denver-mayor-to-end-evictions-by-2025

    1. Follow the money on these “housing advocates,” and it invariably leads back to the Fed’s private equity accomplices who are trying to drive independent landlords out of business and snap up their properties on the cheap. You will NEVER see these “housing advocates” protesting outside the #1 root cause of unaffordable housing: the Federal Reserve.

    3. “They’d leave it up to the new mayor to find ways to pay for it.”

      Why bother paying when the Socialist Republic of Denver can simply nationalize private property as a campaign promise?

  5. ‘This group of borrowers unable to refinance their loans have been widely dubbed ‘mortgage prisoners.’ Mr Mott said banks are likely to help many customers in this group to avoid default by putting some onto interest-only repayment periods or extending the term of the loan’

    They are already helping bunches Jon. These sh$tholes with a queen on their pesos started throwing FBs into negative amortization loans as soon as the defaults started rolling in. Previously verboten, BTW. Here in the US, we’ve already set up a HAMP type program. How many people even know that? And that extends the ‘forbearance’ help from CCP virus that’s going on 3 years now.

  6. ‘In what has been billed as the ‘Texas Miracle,’ the state transformed itself into the world’s ninth-largest economy on a triple-pronged promise: the Lone Star State has low regulations, low taxes and low costs. A major culprit? A severe lack of housing affordability that has many of Texas’ top cities hurtling toward the once-unthinkable reality that the gap between it and cities on the coasts is narrowing to more of a crack. ‘The housing advantage that we’ve had for decades is really gone’

    I’ve tracked this sorry state of affairs for a while. It was around 2014 IIRC, that NPR started a series on rural sh$tholes like Fredericksburg where shacks had shot up over $400k. Why? Federal home loan limits went there, and prices always follow. No regard to incomes, job opportunities, etc. And they’ll say these are ‘non-prime’ conventional loans. Which is beside the real dogs at FHA, VA and USDA.

    ‘Limits for FHA Loans in Gillespie County, Texas range from $472,030 for 1 living-unit homes to $907,900 for 4 living-units. Conventional Loan Limits in Gillespie County are $726,200 for 1 living-unit homes to $1,396,800 for 4 living-units. The 2023 Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) limits in Gillespie County is $1,089,300. HECM limit does not depend on the size of the home. ‘

    ‘Conventional loans (also called “conforming”) are loans that conform to the requirements set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy home loans from lenders to provide liquidity. This allows lenders to continue lending to home buyers. Otherwise, banks might not have enough money on hand continue lending. Fannie and Freddie set strict standards for the types of loans they will buy. ‘

    ‘VA Loans are similar to FHA Loans in that it allows you to buy a home with very little money down. However VA Loans are only available to veterans of the Armed Forces. With VA loans the Department of Veterans Affairs guarantees the loan on the veteran’s behalf. The maximum the VA will guarantee is set to the same amount as the single-family Fannie/Freddie Loan Limit. So the Gillespie County, TX 2023 VA Loan Limit is $726,200 ‘

    ‘ The minimum loan amount in Gillespie County is $5,000 dollars and may go up to $907,900 depending on home size and loan type. In order to qualify for an FHA loan, you must be planning to live in the home. Although a loan can include some renovation costs, FHA loans cannot be used for real estate investments in Gillespie County. Additionally, your loan amount cannot exceed the value of home you are purchasing.’

    ‘The FHA Limits, VA Loan Limits, HECM Loan Limits, and Conforming Loan Limits listed on this page apply to Gillespie County, Texas which includes the following cities: Fredericksburg, Harper, Stonewall, Doss, and Willow City. ‘

    https://fhaloans.guide/loan-limits/texas/gillespie-county

    1. ‘Although a loan can include some renovation costs, FHA loans cannot be used for real estate investments in Gillespie County. Additionally, your loan amount cannot exceed the value of home you are purchasing’

      One of the biggest REIC lies. I’ve documented it dozens of times. Buyers agent calls sellers agent: hey, can we raise the price to cover the closing costs and then you credit that back to the buyer at closing? Sure thing pal!

      Voila! – an over 100% loan, underwater from day one. And the appraiser has never failed to hit the number in the examples I’ve witnessed.

      1. The whole concept of “buyer’s agent” is inherently deceptive, when both realtors have a vested financial interest in colluding to get the highest possible off for a shack.

      2. IN 2001 I sold my home to an FHA buyer (never again BTW, FHA loans are a giant FU to the seller) and they upped the price by 15k and I “gifted” 15k to some foundation and some foundation “gifted” 14k as a down payment for the buyer. So this scam has been around a long time (at least 20 years)

        1. I once sold a house to a buyer with a VA loan. They came back and tried to tell me to remove a wrought iron railing that ran the entire length of a massive wraparound 2nd floor deck and staircase down to the ground level, then replace it with wood. I laughed and told them to pound sand and I would sell to the next buyer. Suddenly it was no longer a problem and it was approved.

  8. Despite migration, there are millions of empty homes across the United States, and hundreds of thousands in the Atlanta area alone. For Atlanta, almost 10% of homes for rent were vacant.

    But…but…muh inventory shortage!

  9. “Around half of fixed rate borrowers whose low-rate home loans are expiring over the next two years are planning to leave their current lender, but it’s those customers who can’t that might prove a bigger problem for the banks, new research finds.

    Now youse can’t leave.

    1. Home
      Markets
      Jim Rogers is bracing for the worst bear market of his life, de-dollarization, and higher interest rates. Here are the investing legend’s 7 best quotes from a new interview.
      Theron Mohamed
      May 29, 2023, 6:45 AM ET
      Jim Rogers
      REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

      – Jim Rogers is preparing for the most devastating bear market of his lifetime.

      – The veteran investor sees higher interest rates and serious threats to the US dollar.

      – Rogers is bullish on commodities and skeptical that governments will adopt bitcoin.

      Jim Rogers is bracing for the biggest market downturn in eight decades.

      The 80-year-old investor issued the grave warning during a recent RealVision interview. He also cautioned the US dollar’s global dominance is under threat, and higher interest rates will be necessary to rein in soaring prices.

      The cofounder of George Soros’ Quantum Fund also slammed US lawmakers for the current debt-ceiling debacle, touted commodities as the best hedges against inflation, and dismissed the idea that governments will embrace bitcoin.

      Here are Rogers’ 7 best quotes, lightly edited for length and clarity:

      1. “The next bear market will be the worst in my lifetime, because the debt has gone up by such staggering amounts in the past 14 years.” (Rogers said the 2008 crash was caused by excessive amounts of debt, and borrowing has ballooned since then, suggesting a far worse downturn lies ahead.)
      …
      https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/jim-rogers-stock-market-outlook-crash-dollar-crypto-bitcoin-debt-2023-5?amp

      1. “The veteran investor sees higher interest rates and serious threats to the US dollar.”

        Don’t higher interest rates usually mean a stronger dollar?

    1. Forbes
      Forbes Digital Assets
      Biden Will ‘End Up Killing It’—Serious Crypto Warning Could Spell Chaos For The Price Of Bitcoin And Ethereum As Debt Ceiling Deal Reached
      Billy Bambrough
      Senior Contributor
      I write about how bitcoin, crypto and blockchain can change the world.
      May 28, 2023, 7:20am EDT

      Bitcoin (BTC -1.2%) and ethereum—the two largest cryptocurrencies—have exploded back into the limelight this year amid fears the U.S. is waging a secret war on crypto.

      The bitcoin price has bounced back from late 2022 lows of around $16,000 per bitcoin in the aftermath of the FTX crypto exchange implosion, pulling the ethereum price with it, even as a leak revealed a Democratic plan for a crypto crackdown.

      Now, after Elon Musk issued a surprise crypto warning this week, U.S. presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has warned the Biden administration has “it out for bitcoin” and could end up “killing it” completely.
      …
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/05/28/biden-will-end-up-killing-it-serious-crypto-warning-could-spell-chaos-for-the-price-of-bitcoin-and-ethereum/?sh=1209d978213a

      1. Crypto proves that you don’t even need to have a tangible product to scam people out of everything, just the promise of riches.

          1. It kept a lot of humans alive and hopeful through otherwise unbearable circumstances over the course of history.

    2. Here’s Why Senator Ted Cruz Likes and Owns Bitcoin
      Author: Dimitar Dzhondzhorov
      Last Updated Apr 27, 2023 @ 14:15

      Ted Cruz is fond of BTC because of its decentralized nature and anti-inflationary characteristics.

      The American politician serving as the junior United States Senator for Texas – Ted Cruz – thinks bitcoin could be a lifeboat amid the inflationary environment supposedly created by Washington’s irrational decisions.

      He revealed holding slightly more than 2 BTC and having a standing order to buy more of the primary cryptocurrency every Monday morning, regardless of its price.
      …
      https://cryptopotato.com/heres-why-senator-ted-cruz-likes-and-owns-bitcoin/

      1. Any person – anybody – who believes in crypto is automatically filed under “very dull, greedy person” in my database.

        1. Fair enough, though I have to confess that many otherwise reasonable people I know have succumbed to crypto’s spell. The under-40 crowd seems particularly vulnerable. It’s like this remarkable drug that induces euphoria when prices are bubbling up and agony, anger, and vituperation at the point of Ponzi collapse.

          2. It’s like this remarkable drug that induces euphoria when prices are bubbling up and agony, anger, and vituperation at the point of Ponzi collapse.

            That’s called greed.

      1. Before the Fed rolls out its CBDC, they have to eliminate all rival counterfeiters.

    4. I guess nobody in politics is ready just yet to admit that crypto is a Ponzi asset which primarily serves to reallocate wealth from greater fools to winnahs.

      1. The Financial Times
        Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd
        Temasek cuts pay of employees behind failed $275mn bet on FTX
        Singaporean state investor ‘disappointed’ with the investment in the failed cryptocurrency exchange
        The logos of Temasek and FTX
        Temasek, one of the world’s largest investors, said the FTX investment had a ‘negative impact on our reputation’
        Mercedes Ruehl in Singapore
        6 hours ago

        Singaporean state investor Temasek cut the pay of staff responsible for its failed $275mn investment in FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed last year.

        Temasek, one of the world’s largest investors, said it was “disappointed” with the investment and the “negative impact on our reputation”, after it was criticised for backing the start-up. The investment constituted 0.09 per cent of its S$403bn (US$298bn) portfolio.

        “Although there was no misconduct by the investment team in reaching their investment recommendation, the investment team and senior management, who are ultimately responsible for investment decisions made, took collective accountability and had their compensation reduced,” Temasek said on Monday.
        …

  13. The Financial Times
    Chinese economy
    ‘Confidence is a big problem’: China’s economic recovery loses steam
    Weak property sales, industrial output and consumption sap confidence in rapid bounceback from Covid
    A woman walks in a train station in China
    A spate of disappointing economic data has undercut expectations for China’s growth prospects this year
    Joe Leahy and Xinning Liu in Beijing, Thomas Hale in Shanghai and Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong yesterday

    For Anna Li, this year has been the worst she can remember for finding a job in China — harder even than during the pandemic.

    “I’ve been applying for jobs for half a year. I’m really exhausted but I’ve not received an offer yet,” the 25-year-old graduate in the country’s wealthy eastern Shandong province said, adding that even if she did land a position, salaries for office jobs were often unlivable.

    Five years ago, China’s economy was growing fast enough that many graduates were able to snap up good jobs. Now, their prospects are less certain, as the country’s economic recovery is failing to pick up pace six months after authorities began to roll back President Xi Jinping’s tough zero-Covid regime.
    …

  14. Powerful Corporations pushing a form of Marxism globally, to create equity they say.
    Make everyone equity deprived, control all resources, and have Stakeholder Governance by a One World Order/Great Reset. Objectives:
    Destroy Capitalism
    Destroy the family
    Destroy the individual for the collective
    You will own nothing, and eat bugs
    Fake narratives like Climate Change and Panademics, to justify total control of populations, and a deliberate depopulation agenda.
    Destruction of small business, and transfer of wealth to Monopoly Corporations.
    .Control of information and fake news and brainwashing and fear mongering to get compliance from the sheep.
    Medical Tyranny and fake vaccines.
    Infiltration of Governments, Corruption of Science ,on education and medical systems by , bribery, extortion, , perverse incentives , defunding, threat of job loss, to comply with agendas.
    Invasion of Borders to undermine systems..
    Rig election to put Attempt to transfer power t

    1. I accidentally pressed send before I completed list of the methods employed for take over of globe, but you get the idea.
      Global treaties to override constitutions, racism narratives to divide and conquer, transgender agenda to attack normies, increase crime, rigged economic systems.
      Labeling major populations terrorists, and total attack on whites. Just on and on with what they are doing to take over. including proxy war, reduction of food production and energy needs, etc etc.
      They ( The powers that be) have this crazy timeline to implement their One World Order. The end game is a Brave New World/ 1984 type total control of Globe.
      This was all pre-planned by these nuts starting over a hundred years ago. Total war on humanity so these Powers can enslave humanity to have their stupid utopia of total control of earth..

      1. That all sounds about right.

        See also: the book The Creature From Jekyll Island.

    2. Destroy the family

      40 percent of all births in the US are now out of wedlock.

      All is proceeding as planned.

      1. “40 percent of all births in the US are now out of wedlock.”

        The reward is housing, health care, SNAP benefits and a lifeline smartphone.

      2. I happen to watch old “Judge Judy” episodes. Kids born out of wedlock has been going on for over 25-30 years. The hubris of the litigants is shocking, pervading all walks of life regardless of skin color, gender and education. One thing that is striking is the complete lack of common sense and understanding even after the judgement went against them.
        The “done nothing wrong” theme reminds me of corporations paying a fine without admitting guilt.

  15. Condo investors in Toronto were counting on appreciation – not on cash flow. And if mortgage rates dont come down they will be in trouble. Remember, this is recourse – so the developer can come after the ‘investor’ that only put down 5%

    The situation has declined further this year to a loss of $400 on average in the first quarter, says the report. It notes that 14 per cent of investors were losing $1,000 or more a month and a third were down at least $400.

    Units that sold for peak prices in late 2021 and early 2022 will be completed and investors in those condos will close in a higher interest rate environment than that in which they were purchased. glory days headtopics.com

    Thirty-nine per cent of condos in the GTA are held by investors who use them as rentals, including 59 per cent of the units built in the last year — a figure that’s risen 20 per cent in the last decade, according to census data in the report.

    1. Remember, this is recourse

      I wonder how many Neo-Canadians will pack their bags and head back home with their still unconfiscated savings.

    2. “Condo investors in Toronto were counting on appreciation – not on cash flow.”

      Is this somehow unique to Toronto?

      In an era of runaway money printing, isn’t every real estate investor on the planet counting on appreciation, even if their cash flow doen’t pencil out?

      1. Prof B,
        A slight cash flow loss (maybe < 5-10%) perhaps for commercial, residential houses.

        A 20% to 33% cashflow loss is massive – you really are counting on appreciation in the 3-5 year timeframe.

        1. “A 20% to 33% cashflow loss is massive – you really are counting on appreciation in the 3-5 year timeframe.”

          Given the Fed’s track record of bailouts, I suppose that’s reasonable.

          1. Given the Fed’s track record of bailouts, I suppose that’s reasonable.

            If the Fed drops rates down again to bail out housing, I may get just a giant mortgage. Why not when I can’t lose?

    1. The Daily Hodl
      $30,000,000,000 Exits US Banking System in One Week As Deposit Flight Grows
      Daily Hodl Staff
      May 27, 2023

      New numbers from the Federal Reserve show the amount of money people are pulling out of their bank accounts is once again on the rise.

      According to stats compiled by the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) system, depositors yanked $30 billion out of American bank accounts from May 10th through May 17th.

      That represents an increase of more than $4 billion over the previous week.

      The US banking system now has a total of $17.15 trillion in deposits, compared to $18.03 trillion one year ago.

      The deposit flight follows the failures of three large regional banks – Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic.

      The Los-Angeles based PacWest, which has been in the spotlight as the latest bank trying to keep afloat, is selling $2.6 billion in real estate construction loans in a bid to improve its balance sheet.

      According to a Federal Reserve report, more than 700 American banks are considered to be facing “significant safety and soundness risk” due to unrealized losses that exceed 50% of their capital.

      In the report, the Fed calls out its own interest rate hikes as the core reason those banks are now in a precarious position.
      …
      https://dailyhodl.com/2023/05/27/30000000000-exits-us-banking-system-in-one-week-as-deposit-flight-grows/


      1. The deposit flight follows the failures of three large regional banks – Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic.

        There seems to be a presumption that the broad-based reduction in bank deposits is a result of fear around banking stability, rather than a rational response to banks continuing to offer near-zero yields in a world where the 6mo Tbill yield is approaching 6%.

        I’m happy to report that I’ve done my part to defund the banks, moving my funds in search of a better yield.

  21. A Washington state appeals court has granted an emergency injunction to a retired doctor facing disciplinary action from the Washington Medical Commission (WMC) over articles he wrote against the official COVID-19 narrative in 2021.

    Dr. Richard J. Eggleston, a retired ophthalmologist in Clarkston, Washington, faces disciplinary action over articles published in the Lewiston Tribune he wrote challenged the prevailing information and guidance regarding the pandemic.

    During the pandemic, doctors could be accused of spreading misinformation if they provided advice contrary to the official information. This included, for example, advocating or prescribing treatments such as ivermectin or disagreeing with the effectiveness of face masks and vaccines.

    The United States officially ended the pandemic emergency on May 11.

    The WMC filed charges against Dr. Eggleston, accusing him of unprofessional conduct, including spreading false information and misinformation about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its treatments. They assert that his actions violated state laws related to moral turpitude, misrepresentation, and interference with an investigation.

    In response to the charges, Dr. Eggleston has maintained his innocence and has argued that his articles are protected under the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. He sought to have the disciplinary proceedings dismissed on the grounds that the statutes applied by the WMC infringed upon his constitutional rights.

    Despite a separate, initial motion to dismiss being previously denied, the recent emergency injunction granted by the appeals court now provides a temporary reprieve for Dr. Eggleston. The injunction halts the disciplinary proceedings while the court further examines the case.

    The WMC wants to carry out the fact-finding hearing, they say, to protect public health and fulfill its disciplinary responsibilities for the medical profession “and to resolve issues of fact and credibility that require the expertise of the Commission to resolve,” according to a court filing (pdf).

    Court Commissioner Hailey L. Landrus noted in her ruling that while putting a stay on the proceeding would inconvenience the commission—as lawyers for the WMC argued—it doesn’t demonstrate harm to the public.

    Dr. Eggleston, on the other hand, argued that he sought to halt the disciplinary proceedings to assert his First Amendment right to free speech.

    Landrus favored the retired doctor’s argument, saying public dialogue by professionals receives strong First Amendment protection, and the mere fact of prosecution can have a “chilling effect” on the exercise of these rights for Dr. Eggleston and other medical professionals.

    “Dr. Eggleston has a competing interest in enjoining the disciplinary proceedings in order to seek First Amendment protection for his speech, which is the reason for the administrative proceedings in the first place. Denying a stay would, according to Dr. Eggleston, violate his constitutional right to free speech,” Landrus said in her ruling.

    “Balancing the parties competing interests and hardships favors Dr. Eggleston,” the court commissioner added.

    She found that it would be more efficient to review the trial court’s decision on the injunction instead of proceeding with a lengthy administrative hearing. Granting the injunction could potentially resolve the entire proceedings, saving time and resources, she noted.

    The court’s decision to grant the emergency injunction comes as a significant development in Dr. Eggleston’s ongoing legal battle with the WMC.

    The granted stay of the proceedings will delay hearings scheduled to commence this week, Wednesday through Friday. This delay provides a short window of opportunity for the WMC to withdraw the charges against Dr. Eggleston. However, if the WMC chooses not to withdraw the charges, the legal process will proceed as planned.

    “I’m very happy to see that this part of the legal system understands this First Amendment issue and basic rights to get accurate information from a physician,” Dr. Eggleston told The Defender.

    The legal team representing Dr. Eggleston expressed their satisfaction with the court’s ruling to grant the stay of proceedings. Todd Richardson, one of Dr. Eggleston’s lawyers, emphasized the significance of protecting First Amendment rights.

    “As Americans, if we don’t conscientiously defend these foundational rights and freedoms, we may soon wake up to realize we have lost them,” he told The Defender.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/washington-doctor-facing-probe-for-criticizing-covid-policies-wins-emergency-injunction_5295545.html

    1. The government, with globalist thug corporations as their enforcers, told doctors “say and do this or your career is over with.”

    2. America is one step away from our own “Great Leap Forward” and “Cultural Revolution”. What’s 25-50 million dead unenlightened conservative scumbags. Then we can have our “Final Solution” and finish the job thus leaving America a truly Shining City of sexual perverts.

      Punishing a physician for doing what this doc did is proof that this country is in deep do-do. Do you want to know why more docs didn’t question the “Authorities”? Any academic doc that did would have been fired and lost their license.

      And the freedom loving American public would have done absolutely nothing in protest. So next time you criticize the German people for hosting the Holocaust, just look in the mirror and out your window. Those same people are here right now, they are US.

  22. How is changing the rules while the game is underway to “get shorty” supposed to save the banks from their underwater balance sheet and deposit flight problems?

    1. OPINION REVIEW & OUTLOOK
      Scapegoating the Short-Sellers
      Banks want the SEC to prevent bets that share prices will fall. Bad idea.
      By The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board
      May 29, 2023 4:12 pm ET
      Journal Editorial Report: The week’s worst and best from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson and Dan Henninger.
      Images: AP/Zuma Press Composite: Mark Kelly

      Short-sellers are always a punching bag in a down market, so it’s not surprising that banks are accusing shorts of manipulating stock prices during the current banking anxiety. There’s scant evidence of illegal activity, but banks want the Securities and Exchange Commission to take some short-seller scalps to protect their own.
      …

      1. Last bust they trotted-out The Forehead to rescue the banks since they “lubricate” our economy with credit. Have to wonder who it will be this time?

  23. Business
    Homeownership in San Diego loses ground in last decade, especially for minorities and younger, middle-aged households
    Jahara Peters, with her 8-week-old son Elijah, was able to purchase a home in Spring Valley three years ago with her husband Justin after saving up for several years.
    (Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
    Newly released data from the 2020 census shows the San Diego homeownership rate slipping to a little over 53 percent from a decade earlier, as surging housing prices make it increasingly hard to transform renters into owners.
    By Lori Weisberg, Phillip Molnar
    Graphics by Karthika Namboothiri
    May 28, 2023 5:30 AM PT

    Over the past decade, the dream of homeownership became more elusive than ever as soaring home prices eroded any headway aspiring San Diego buyers made following the Great Recession.

    By 2020, the proportion of households owning a home had fallen from 54.4 percent 10 years earlier to 53.5 percent — the lowest decennial rate in four decades.

    Newly released 2020 data from the U.S. Census paints a picture of members of San Diego households — be they young or middle-aged, White, Black or Hispanic — losing ground in the quest to buy a home. While the overall homeownership rate fell by a percentage point, that modest decline masks the much larger drops among nearly all age groups in the county.

    The only notable exceptions to the downward trend were in the Asian population — where the overall proportion of households owning homes grew by nearly 3 percentage points — and the county’s oldest residents, age 75 and older, who saw their homeownership rate rise by more than 2 percentage points.

    By contrast, the drops among all other adult age groups ranged from 2 percentage points to as high as 5 — for those age 45 to 54.

    “It all comes back to housing prices. The American dream is going great for people over 65 but it’s eroding more for the bottom up,” said Dowell Myers, a professor of policy, planning and demography at USC. “The losses are rising steadily from the bottom and that’s not good. You’re building more of the population on the lower trajectories of homeownership and they’re never going to bounce back up to the top.

    “You still have a lot of older people who push the average up, but with each decade there’s no one at the bottom with success. It’s an inexorable decline.”
    …
    https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2023-05-28/homeownership-in-san-diego-loses-ground-in-last-decade-especially-for-minorities-and-younger-middle-aged-households

    1. Can we agree that an infestation of real estate infestors fueled by easy money loans has left San Diego’s housing market FUBAR?

      “… and the county’s oldest residents, age 75 and older, who saw their homeownership rate rise by more than 2 percentage points.”

      Can a 75 year old get s mortgage that extends beyond his life expectancy?

      1. Can a 75 year old get s mortgage that extends beyond his life expectancy?
        Yes, it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of age. (as long as they are of legal age)

        1. I wonder if there’s some legal way to reject such a mortgage based on ability to pay. After all, it’s pretty well known that a 75-year-old doesn’t have 30 years of W-2s ahead of him. I suppose a bank could demand 15-20% down so they could sell the house without a loss.

      2. Early boomers enjoyed the fed’s repeated stock market intervention over the decades, and many of them owned homes before the government dabbled with inflation to pay its bills.

Comments are closed.