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A Sharp Reversal Of Fortune After An Era Of Cheap Money Ended

A report from the Arizona Republic. “During the second quarter, about 30 Phoenix-area ZIP codes saw home prices fall. In the first quarter, about 75 Phoenix-area ZIP codes posted declines in median home prices, compared with roughly 100 during 2022’s last quarter. Areas where prices fell also span the Valley and range in cost. Home prices also fell by double-digit percentages in central Mesa, Phoenix and Scottsdale. Glendale, Sun City and Carefree, as well as other parts of Phoenix and Mesa, saw single-digit home price declines during the second quarter. Paradise Valley, Maricopa County’s most expensive region, saw median prices drop about 5%.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. “A freeze has descended upon real estate development in Philadelphia, even as cranes dot the sky in Northern Liberties, University City, and parts of downtown. Many of the ambitious developments unveiled over the last year are paused, if not outright canceled. At 42nd and Market Street, in University City, Alterra Property Group has scrapped plans for a 352-unit modular apartment building. ’42nd and Market is not moving forward,’ said Leo Addimando, managing partner with Alterra, based in Philadelphia. ‘The combination of land cost, construction costs, interest rates, scarcity [of] debt capital for development, and rents don’t make for a viable project.'”

“Alterra isn’t alone. None of the projects The Inquirer spotlighted last summer, such as the Goldenberg Group’s 468-unit proposed tower at Broad and Lombard Streets, have broken ground yet. ‘We’re definitely seeing the pullback in private spending,’ said Lyndsey Christofer, head of real estate with the Philadelphia-based insurance giant Chubb. ‘We’ve seen more projects be delayed before the shovels have gone into the ground. We will see more of that.’ The so-called Riverwards neighborhoods of Northern Liberties, Fishtown, and parts of Kensington have seen so much new development that lenders such OceanFirst are concerned that new apartments won’t be able to command the rents that would allow them to profit and pay their loans back.”

From Fortune. “Boise’s meteoric rise to prominence as a Zoomtown during the pandemic was nothing short of remarkable. However, this euphoria was tempered by last year’s rapid hike in mortgage rates, which pushed Boise’s housing market into a correction. The aftermath was a 12.8% drop in Boise home prices between May 2022 and January 2023, according to Freddie Mac. There’s another reason that markets like Boise—and Austin—are at higher risk of further house price declines: Those overheated markets actually have some inventory.”

“In Boise, active listings in June 2023 were only down 13% from June 2019, while also up 80% from June 2021 (i.e., at the height of the frenzy). The presence of relatively higher levels of existing inventory for sale in Boise and Austin implies that these markets are more prone to experiencing price softening.”

The Herald Tribune in Florida. “According to Coldwell Banker Realty Realtor Sheryl VanDuren, who is based out of the Longboat Key office, ‘Many sellers still believe we are in a market that is bringing multiple offers or even full price offers. Here in the Sarasota/Manatee market, we are seeing around 3-4 months of inventory and price ‘improvements’ on many listings. If a seller takes the professional advice from their Realtor and that agent thoroughly does homework to come up with a competitive list price, the home will most likely go under contract in 30 days or so.'”

Community Impact in Texas. “Local real estate firm officials said hundreds of thousands of square feet of offices are vacant across Austin in spaces that are both directly leased and subleased. The trend has continued from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic through this summer; data from Aquila Commercial shows overall office vacancies in the city have increased by nearly 2 1/2 times since mid-2020. ‘Everybody’s questioning where are things going with the economy in general. Where’s the job market going? We’re all paying attention to that, and then you throw in the hybrid work model; we’re just in this weird space,’ said CBRE office broker John Gump said. ‘So you have lack of demand and you have increased availability. I think everybody’s just looking for a little direction in general. We’re all kind of waiting for that, it feels like, and we may not get it.'”

The Mercury News in California. “Construction has paused on a huge tech campus in downtown San Jose amid a feeble Bay Area office sector, dealing a fresh blow to the city’s already wobbly urban heart. Boston Properties has decided to hit the pause button on its Platform 16 tech campus in downtown San Jose, the real estate titan’s top boss told Wall Street analysts. ‘Unfortunately, market conditions in the Silicon Valley, including San Jose, have deteriorated meaningfully,’ Owen Thomas, chief executive officer of Boston Properties, said during the call to discuss the company’s second-quarter financial results.”

“Among the factors that haunt the now-scary Silicon Valley commercial real estate market: rising office vacancy rates, a surge in sublease space being placed on the market by tech companies, and nearly nonexistent demand for large hunks of office space. During the April-through-June second quarter of 2023, office vacancy levels reached all-time high levels in four key Bay Area markets: 31.8% in downtown San Francisco, 35.7% in downtown Oakland, 29.9% in downtown San Jose and 21.6% in Silicon Valley, according to separate reports from commercial real estate firms Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE. ‘Vacancy rates are some of the highest that we have seen in a couple of decades with no end in sight,’ David Taxin, partner with Meacham Oppenheimer, a commercial real estate firm.”

The Real Deal on California.”San Francisco’s Department of Homeless and Supportive Housing has entered negotiations on a lease to create homeless housing at an industrial site off Bayshore that would put 60 cabins and about 20 safe parking RV spots at the 2.25-acre site of a former drywall contractor. Scott Mason — an industrial agent whose own business, Calco Commercial, is located three blocks from the proposed site — said all the nearby business owners that he has spoken to are strongly against the project. He said the formerly ‘very bright, vibrant’ neighborhood where he has run his business for 35 years now looks like ‘Beirut after a bombing’ — issues he attributes to the Bayshore Navigation Center and Bayview Safe Navigation Center coming to the area.”

“Increased break-ins, drug use, drug dealing, human feces and urine on the street, fire risk from propane tanks and an ‘ungodly amount of trash’ are all the results of problems within those two shelters spilling onto the streets around it, he said. On a recent walk of the neighborhood, he counted 76 RVs and about 50 tents where there had been just a handful five years ago. ‘It’s a disaster,’ he said. ‘It’s becoming very difficult for people to conduct business in any kind of a normal fashion.'”

The New York Post. “After some six years for sale, downtown Manhattan’s ‘Pinnacle’ penthouse — a residence housed inside the iconic copper top of the famed Woolworth Building — has traded hands for $30 million, far less than the aerie’s original $110 million asking price.”

Blog TO in Canada. “Even if realtors and developers want to believe that Toronto’s real estate market is holding strong in the face of record inflation and sky-high interest rates, the steep downturn in sales volumes — and now, declining prices — tell a different story. Analyses of certain sectors of the market show that prices for new condos just dropped for the first time in a decade in the last quarter, and the 12-month running total for new condo sales sunk to the lowest level since 2009. Looking at the same data points from 2022, we can see that there had been 51,940 sales by this time last year, with an average price of $1,239,104 (per TRREB’s news release, though it is noteworthy that the 2022 charts in their actual report skew slightly different, showing a YTD average price of $1,222,174 by July). That’s a fall of nearly 10,000 sales and $100,000 in the typical price, showing how much quieter the market has been this year.”

The Telegraph in the UK. “More than a third (37pc) of London-based first-time buyers have left the capital to purchase a home – the highest level since 2018. Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said: ‘The likelihood that mortgage rates will stay higher for longer may keep the pace of London outmigration up.’ She said many households who bought a home at the peak of the London market between 2014 and 2016 may be looking to move over the next few years. Ms Beveridge added: ‘With property prices in parts of the capital lower today than when they bought, trading the city for a cheaper area outside the M25 might be the only option for those needing to upsize.'”

From Extra. “A decade of financial pain could be in store for mortgage holders with Leo Varadkar stating that rising interest rates could persist for 10 years. After a series of nine rate hikes by the European Central Bank, adding up to a €6,000 annual extra cost for some Irish households, the Taoiseach said rates of 3% to 5% may become the norm for the next five or 10 years. Rates are now at their highest level since 2000, rising to 4.25%, while the Taoiseach has said they could hit 5%, and be almost on a par with soaring interest rates in England, which have hit 5.25%. Mr Varadkar said the long period of low interest rates has come to an end. He said: ‘We had a prolonged period of very low interest rates… It might be the case that interest rates of 3% to 5% become the norm for the next five or 10 years and we need to bear that in mind. We had a very prolonged period of very low interest rates in Europe. That was unusual and that has now come to an end.’”

“Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty warned that many mortgage holders risk falling into arrears. Mr Doherty said: ‘This is a massive income shock for households. The Central Bank estimates that one in five households will see their annual mortgage costs spiral by more than €5,700 as a result of these rate hikes, with two in five seeing their annual mortgage costs rise by more than €3,000.’ ECB president Christine Lagarde said the bank’s next move to beat inflation would be guided by the data and ‘on the basis of that, we will determine whether we hike or whether we pause’. She warned: ‘What I can assure you of is that we’re not going to cut. That is a definite no.'”

From Reuters. “Germany’s largest real estate group Vonovia slipped to a 2 billion euro ($2.19 billion) second quarter loss and wrote down the value of its properties by 3 billion euros on Thursday in the latest sign of stress in the country’s property sector. After a decade-long property boom, Germany is undergoing a sharp reversal of fortune after an era of cheap money ended.”

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. “More than $500 million worth of major Sydney housing development projects are poised to hit the market as fugitive Jean Nassif’s failed property empire is rapidly dismantled by major lenders seeking quick sales to recoup debt. Thousands of anxious apartment owners living in Toplace buildings are concerned that nothing will be left over for them to fix serious defects as the big lenders move to offload Toplace assets to reduce their own losses. ‘The owners’ worst fear … is that any legitimate claim or opportunity to claw back funds for defective work is gobbled up by secured creditors,’ said a source close to one of the owner’s corporations.”

“The Herald revealed this week that court documents have detailed Nassif’s failed property empire has debts of more than $1.24 billion, including $88.5 million to suppliers and tradespeople. In June, a warrant was issued for Nassif’s arrest over an alleged $150 million fraud relating to falsified sales contracts to secure a $150 million Westpac loan on Toplace’s Skyview development in Castle Hill. While Nassif is believed to be in Lebanon, his daughter Ashlyn, 29, has had her legal practising certificate suspended while she fights the same fraud charges.”

“While Nassif has appointed administrators dVT Group to manage most of his crumbling empire, the banks and finance companies, who have mortgages over a number of development blocks, as well as unsold apartments in existing buildings, have moved quickly to appoint receivers to protect their interests. Among the projects poised for a quick sale is Nassif’s grand plan for the Box Hill City Centre in the city’s rapidly growing north-west. But all that now exists is a muddy basement in a field. Work has stopped, the project’s social media accounts have fallen silent and the phone number for apartment sales is rerouted to a person who said they had no knowledge of the project and hung up.”

“In one Toplace apartment block in Charles Street, Canterbury, the NSW Building Commissioner has issued urgent rectification orders which identify inadequate beams and support columns. Left unfixed, these could result in the ‘inability to inhabit’ the building or even its collapse. The owners’ corporation, representing 276 owners, has been left with a rectification bill of $16 million but the final cost could be much more. Real estate records reflect that the apartment block has already been a financial disaster for purchasers, who from 2014 paid between $445,000 and $750,000 for their apartments.”

“There has not been a sale in that block for almost two years and all but one resale has resulted in serious losses. One apartment, purchased for $590,000 in November 2016, was on the market for two years before finally selling for only $500,000 in June 2021. ‘Now I am so, so stressed and so worried that the building might collapse and hurt my tenants and I’m going to have to go back to work overseas to make more money to help pay for all this trouble,’ Margaret Wong, who bought an apartment in the complex off the plan.”

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This Post Has 76 Comments

    1. Rasmussen (7/26/2023):

      “The survey of 1,031 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on July 18-20, 2023 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

      Fifty percent (50%) of Democrats believe the U.S. economy has gotten better in the past year, but only 15% of Republicans and 21% of unaffiliated voters share that belief. Seventy-five percent (75%) of Republicans, 33% of Democrats and 62% of unaffiliated voters think the economy has gotten worse in the past year.

      Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Democrats rate Unelected Occupant good or excellent on his handling of the economy, an assessment with which only 15% of Republicans and 26% of unaffiliated voters agree. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Republicans and 60% of unaffiliated voters give Biden a poor rating on the economy, as do 18% of Democrats.”

      https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/archive/biden_on_the_issues/biden_gets_poor_rating_on_the_economy

      1. Fifty percent (50%) of Democrats believe the U.S. economy has gotten better in the past year

        If that means massive CPI inflation, 1/3 of all car loans are delinquent , mortgage rates have more than doubled, and homelessness and crime are skyrocketing, then yeah, the economy is doing great!

        1. the economy is doing great!

          This is the absolute truth according to the Party Leaders and their propaganda outlets. Anything else is bad information.

    2. The economy?

      People can not afford to buy food or pay rent. Economy. People can not afford to buy a car to drive to work or pay for gas. Economy. The regime of the Unelected Occupant has given over $100 billion of U.S. taxpayer money to Ukraine, the majority of which is completely unaccounted for. Economy.

      Someone on this blog yesterday was questioning the relevance of the stolen 2020 election to the discussion.

      In 2019, the United States had a mostly functioning economy. Anybody who wanted a job could find one and inflation was relatively low and stable. Economy.

      2020 gave us the intentional release of a deadly bioweapon that was created in a Chinese lab paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Economy. Closing businesses, rent moratoriums (essentially a suspension of contract law), $200 billion of CCP Flu funds totally unaccounted for. Economy. Fentanyl Floyd overdose while in police custody followed by $2+ billion of property damage and ACTUAL INSURRECTIONS in U.S. cities of self-declared “autonomous zones” the seizure of both public and private property. Economy. And in November 2020, the stolen election, which has resulted in the last 3-1/2 years becoming the worst economy this country has seen since Jimmy Carter or the Great Depression. Economy.

      What else about the economy? Giving and additional $600 a week of taxpayer money on top of regular unemployment to people forced out of their jobs because of a mild respiratory illness. Economy. Threatening people to get them FIRED FROM THEIR JOB for not getting injected with an experimental deadly gene-altering poison. I’d certainly call that one Economy.

      Won’t get injected with the poison, lose your job, can’t pay your mortgage or rent? That sounds like Economy. And who did this? The administration of the Unlected Occupant, the one who stole the 2020 election.

      Forced to choose between blood clots, heart attacks, strokes and becoming homeless because you lost your job? Economy.

      The recent threads about drug use and its impact on quality of life in urban neighborhoods. Economy. The crime that addicts commit to enable their addictions. Economy. The doubling, tripling, and more of cities’ budgets to address homelessness. Economy. That’s YOUR PROPERTY TAXES paying for that. Economy.

      Conclude with a personal anecdote, I bought the teardown house in a small town 100+ miles away, because Economy. I paid for it with cash, no lien. Living in the metro Denver Front Range no longer feels like the United States of America I was born in and grew up in. Economy. The way people here overwhelmingly vote, and the visible, undeniable deterioration of the quality of life and social conditions in Denver. Economy. I will NEVER pay property taxes to the City of Denver. Economy. The 2020 election was stolen in several other states, but the voters in Denver voted to destroy their own city and voted to destroy the nation, without needing to steal it, they actually voted for it. Economy. They voted themselves into the Doom Loop. Economy. And I’m voting with my money when I leave. Economy.

      3. They voted themselves into the Doom Loop.

        It breaks my heart to see this happen. Dumver isn’t yet as far gone as San Francisco, but it’s only a question of time.

      4. Same things happening here in Arizona.

        The thing I don’t understand is how these stolen elections continue. leftoids move away from an area after ruining it, then ruin the new area. All while the previous area continues going down hill. My only conclusion, we have millions of people who vote in multiple states.

        We need to completely wipe out every single voter role, then require in state ID to register anew. Same day voting, no mail in except overseas military. All else will result in a race to the bottom.

      5. Economy was doing mostly okay in 2019? Really? That’s a bit myopic, don’t you think? The economy has not been mostly okay for the last 40 years! Bubble after bubble, boom-bust to boom-bust. Right or left, red or blue has little to do with it. The financial system that both sides support is broken. Both sides need to work together to abolish the Fed and come up with something that at least works. When stubborn ideology stands in the way of willingness to work together nothing improves. It’s like living the definition of insanity; doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So go ahead and put the senile dude in office who can barely stand up or the orange man with a masterful combover. The result will be the same until the whole thing collapses. The current financial system is doomed regardless of political ideology. There have been two sides at war here for decades and nothing has gotten better. Do I have the answer? Nope. But I do know that until the two-sided stupidity stops the solution will not present itself.

        1. Agree 100% with everything you say. The far right and the far left is too far apart. It’s where the dumbest hang out on both sides.

        2. or the orange man with a masterful combover.

          If you want good hair, really good hair, look no further than Canada. You couldn’t ask for more if hair is your thing.

          1. You didn’t get the point at all, or didn’t read the post. I could care less about any of them. They’re all puppets. Blue, red and in between. Thinking any elected anybody is gonna fix this thing the way we are currently doing things is a joke.

          2. Correction..…I used the word “we”. I emphatically mean “they”. And they is all inclusive.

  2. ‘Home prices also fell by double-digit percentages in central Mesa, Phoenix and Scottsdale. Glendale, Sun City and Carefree’

    Well well well, I’m surprised the AR let this get out. There’s a graphic you can click through at the link. Is 29% crater a lot?

  3. ’42nd and Market is not moving forward…The combination of land cost, construction costs, interest rates, scarcity [of] debt capital for development, and rents don’t make for a viable project’

    Wa happened to my shortage Leo?

      1. “Among the factors that haunt the now-scary Silicon Valley commercial real estate market: rising office vacancy rates, a surge in sublease space being placed on the market by tech companies, and nearly nonexistent demand for large hunks of office space.”

        “Increased break-ins, drug use, drug dealing, human feces and urine on the street, fire risk from propane tanks and an ‘ungodly amount of trash’”

        I’m sure these things are completely unrelated.

  4. ‘He said the formerly ‘very bright, vibrant’ neighborhood where he has run his business for 35 years now looks like ‘Beirut after a bombing’

    We gotta know Scott, are the bum urine resistant lamp posts holding up?

    ‘Increased break-ins, drug use, drug dealing, human feces and urine on the street, fire risk from propane tanks and an ‘ungodly amount of trash’ are all the results of problems within those two shelters spilling onto the streets around it, he said. On a recent walk of the neighborhood, he counted 76 RVs and about 50 tents where there had been just a handful five years ago’

    This bum thing got out of hand not that long ago.

    1. Bums? These are your “unhoused neighbors,” Mr. Jones. Pejorative labels are evidence of BadThink.

    2. “got out of hand not that long ago”

      Spring 2022 was when the INVASION of homeless came to my neighborhood.

      There’s always been encampments in and around Central Denver. Living in the South Denver suburbs, I noticed the problem moving south down Broadway. Into Baker. Past Alameda. Past Mississippi. Past Evans. Into Englewood. Into Littleton. Also spreading southward along Santa Fe with the same trajectory.

      I moved to another apartment a year and a half ago, to get away from Broadway. Anywhere there is a 24 hour gas station or 7-Eleven, there is a radius of property crime.

      1. Anecdotals. The Wal-Mart in the Englewood City Center shopping area now has men’s underwear locked in cases that require a sales associate with a key. This is pretty new.

        The Stinker gas station in Hampden Ave displays a sign on the restroom door that reads “no restroom overnight because of fentanyl.” It specifically names fentanyl as the problem.

        There have been people living under the Santa Fe overpass above Hampden for about 2-3 months now, with no action from the city to remove them. Go see it for yourself, drive on westbound Hampden and look up at the shelters constructed under the bridge, which last I checked, is public infrastructure paid for by taxpayers.

      2. Spring 2022 was when the INVASION of homeless came to my neighborhood.

        I strongly suspect that the true number of Dumver homeless is being swept under the rug. It’s far, far worse than the gooberment will admit and gets worse every day.

  5. ‘Many sellers still believe we are in a market that is bringing multiple offers or even full price offers. Here in the Sarasota/Manatee market, we are seeing around 3-4 months of inventory and price ‘improvements’ on many listings’

    You should call up Larry and give him an earful Sheryl, he keeps saying it’s red hotcakes.

  6. If a seller takes the professional advice from their Realtor and that agent thoroughly does homework to come up with a competitive list price, the home will most likely go under contract in 30 days or so.’”

    No sale, no commission. Starving realtors won’t have time to waste on obstinant greedhead sellers.

    2. after reading about the worldwide housing fraud & mayhem, especially in Australia & China, the only real estate I’d purchase now are red and green Monopoly pieces.

  7. After a decade-long property boom, Germany is undergoing a sharp reversal of fortune after an era of cheap money ended.”

    Fake wealth created by fake money is flying off to whatever afterlife awaits debauched fiat currencies. Got gold? Got silver?

  8. Yahoo Finance
    Americans are moving further away for affordable homes and ‘grandbabies’
    Rebecca Chen
    Sun, August 6, 2023 at 4:52 AM PDT·3 min read

    Americans have widened their house hunt, moving further and further from their original homes.

    The median distance that buyers traveled to their new home was 50 miles in 2022, according to data published by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That’s more than triple the median distance moved in the last 30 years, which ranged from 10 to 15 miles.

    “People moved to favorable weather, taxes, more space, affordability, [and a] good job market,” Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist, said during a real estate summit. “We actually saw that people moved a much longer distance than we have seen historically.”

    And for younger baby boomers who are leading the charge on these longer-distance moves, the reason is much more personal.

    “Grandbabies,” Lautz said. “They’re chasing that grandbaby multiple states away, just to be down the street.”
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/americans-are-moving-further-away-for-affordable-homes-and-grandbabies-115259279.html

    1. ‘…more than triple the median distance moved in the last 30 years, which ranged from 10 to 15 miles.”

      Evidently a 40%+ increase in housing prices since 2020, due to a massive influx of pandemic era easy money lending into speculative real estate investor purchases, has made it harder for owner-occupant buyers to find another place near their current residence.

  9. Yahoo Finance
    T-bills look even better for savers after the Fed’s latest interest rate hike
    Kerry Hannon
    Thu, August 3, 2023 at 11:48 AM PDT·5 min read

    Savers looking for a safe, steady, angst-free investment for a year or less can now get the best yields in years from Treasury bills — thanks to the Federal Reserve.

    Not even a downgrade of the US credit rating could derail those returns.

    Treasury bill yields are above 5% after the Federal Reserve lifted its benchmark lending rate by a quarter-point last week, pushing interest rates to their highest level in 22 years.

    A one-year T-bill is now yielding 5.36% versus 3.09% a year ago. A six-month T-bill was at 5.52% compared with 3% a year ago, and the three-month T-bill was yielding 5.53%, up from 2.56% a year ago.

    While these short-term securities issued by the federal government are not a swing-for-the-fences type of investment, T-bills currently offer savers a better yield than most online savings accounts and short-term certificates of deposit.

    “Cash-like assets, including T-bills, can provide investors with a sense of safety and control during market volatility, but it’s important to separate emotions from strategy,” James Martielli, head of investment trading services at Vanguard, told Yahoo Finance. “Recent rate hikes have increased returns across this category, but the role of these assets remain unchanged.”

    Even after Fitch Ratings agency this week lowered the US sovereign debt rating to AA+ from its top score of AAA, experts expect the move will have “no material impact on Treasury yields.”

    “The US Treasury market is the global safe haven,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told Yahoo Finance. “Sure, the US has significant fiscal problems and our politics are a mess, but that’s nothing new. It’s been that way, more or less, since the nation’s founding. The US Treasury has been good money, through thick and thin, and global investors know it.”
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/t-bills-look-even-better-for-savers-after-the-feds-latest-interest-rate-hike-184807315.html

    1. Cash strapped home debtors should ignore this post, as you will not be able to afford to buy Tbills yielding over 5% if all of your free cash is going towards paying off a bubble priced house.

      1. FBs can still buy small T-bills…they’ll just have to economize someplace else. Food, for example. Himalayan rabbit is just the ticket for FBs on a tight budget. As in, we found Himalayan in the road.

        1. Himalayan rabbit is just the ticket for FBs on a tight budget. As in, we found Himalayan in the road.
          I see lots of Canadian Geese hanging around cr@pping every where and I can’t help but think the Asian lady in the Chicago area, who, years ago, was “harvesting” these geese for food had the right idea. If I recall correctly she was arrested for this common sense approach to keeping the area “clean.” Maybe this harvesting will comeback in style.

          1. That happens here in the winter. Some of the geese seem to think, “good enough” and stop migrating.

          2. stop migrating

            When we had killed most of them off with DDT, there was a big hatch operation here in the states. They were released here and now this is their home.

          3. Migratory waterfowl, squirrels in parks, and fish in Koi ponds are all at increased risk as bands of starving realtors turn feral.

      1. T-bills might be a no-brainer compared to the piddly .15% interest rates on bank accounts, but methinks I’ll keep converting my debauched Yellen Bux into God’s money – especially silver & platinum – on every dip. With the Fed & Brandon regime hurtling us down the road to Venezuela del Norte, stacking the shiny, as well as lead & brass, seems like the real no-brainer.

    3. Bloomberg
      Warren Buffett Is Buying Treasuries Regardless of US Downgrade by Fitch
      Rachel Evans
      Thu, August 3, 2023 at 5:55 AM PDT·2 min read
      In this article:

      (Bloomberg) — It’s business-as-usual for Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway after Fitch Ratings’ downgrade of the US.

      “Berkshire bought $10 billion in US Treasuries last Monday. We bought $10 billion in Treasuries this Monday. And the only question for next Monday is whether we will buy $10 billion in 3-month or 6-month” T-bills, Buffett said on CNBC. “There are some things people shouldn’t worry about,” he said. “This is one.”
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffett-buying-treasuries-regardless-112513557.html

    4. Financial Times
      Berkshire Hathaway Inc
      Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile nears all-time high at $147bn
      Warren Buffett backs short-term Treasuries despite Washington political climate
      “Our investment income is going to be a lot larger this year than last year, and that’s built in,” Warren Buffett told investors in May
      Eric Platt in New York August 5 2023

      Berkshire Hathaway’s cash and investments in short-term Treasuries surged to $147bn at the end of the second quarter, underscoring Warren Buffett’s faith in the backbone of global financial markets despite the rocky political climate in Washington.

      The sprawling conglomerate — which owns the BNSF railroad and Geico insurer — increased the holdings by nearly $17bn in the second quarter, to sit just below an all-time high of $149bn set in 2021. More than $120bn of that sum is invested in short-term Treasury bills.

      The disclosure came days after rating agency Fitch stripped the US of its prized triple A rating. Analysts cited Washington’s repeated stand-offs over the debt ceiling, which drove the Treasury’s cash balances to dangerously low levels.
      …

  10. And when it comes to the comments, maybe I just need to be enlightened on how stolen elections and vaccines directly relate to housing bubbles.

    A comment from yesterday. Am baffled that seemingly erudite posters would fail to see the connection between systemic corruption and a scamdemic pushed by tools of the globalists to concentrate all wealth and power in the hands of a corrupt and venal .1%. These globalist scum “elites” are pushing our current societal breakdown as a necessary pre-condition to their “Great Reset.” If you think your housing values or net worth won’t be affected by this evil totalitarian agenda, you haven’t been paying attention.

    1. +1

      It is all tied back to the broader economy, your standard of living, the future that parents want for their children.

      The past three and a half years have been the darkest time in this country of my lifetime, rivaled a distant second only by the run-up to the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.

      I think the best outcome one could hope for is the peaceful dissolution of the United States into separate nations. Which the globalists will never allow, because it would impede their systematic and coordinated demolition of the economy, which benefits only them.

      If the topics discussed here with the permission of our gracious blog host seem tangential to the central topic, instead of complaining about it the offended could kindly go back to Reddit. That website has a “karma score” ranking system to enforce the hivemind of NPC regurgitation of regime approved talking points.

  11. Where is AlbuquerqueDan when you need someone to make a hopeful statement about Chinese economic prospects?

    1. Financial Times
      Chinese economy
      Chinese economists told not to be negative as rebound falters
      Authorities struggling to restore confidence in post-Covid recovery want analysts to avoid mention of deflation risk
      People’s Liberation Army soldiers stand in front of the People’s Bank of China in Beijing
      China’s economy is suffering from weak consumer demand, declining exports and an ailing property sector
      Sun Yu in Beijing August 5 2023

      Chinese authorities are putting pressure on prominent local economists to avoid discussing negative trends such as deflation, as concerns mount about Beijing’s ability to boost a flagging recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy.

      Multiple local brokerage analysts and researchers at leading universities as well as state-run think-tanks said they had been instructed by regulators, their employers and even domestic media outlets to avoid speaking negatively about topics ranging from fears of capital flight to softening prices.

      Seven well-regarded economists told the Financial Times that their employers had told them some topics were off-limits for public discussion. The China Securities and Regulatory Commission, the stock regulator, has accused brokerage analysts of playing up risks facing the economy, which is suffering from weak consumer demand, declining exports and an ailing property sector.
      …

  13. Off topic, and deliberately so.

    William Butler Yeats — The Second Coming (published 1920):

    “Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    Surely some revelation is at hand;
    Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
    The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
    When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
    Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
    A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
    A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
    Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
    Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
    The darkness drops again; but now I know
    That twenty centuries of stony sleep
    Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

    1. And what FB, his hour come round at last, slouches toward the bank to drop off his house keys?

      See what I did there? How’s that for “on topic.”

  14. Brampton Home Prices Fall $86,000 in just 2 Months!
    Honest real estate talk 🇨🇦
    Aug 5, 2023
    Brampton real estate market declines 51% in just 2 months. Spring real estate market has come and gone in Brampton. Home sales less than 400 in July (that includes homes and condos in all of Brampton). Prices have also started to drop. Detached homes in Brampton have dropped over $80,000 in average in just 2 months. Freehold townhouses have dropped around $40,000.
    Will the Brampton housing market recover in the fall? That remains to be seen but for now the crazy buying frenzy for homes in Brampton seems to be over.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-sX-lIY1pU

    10:25.

    2. Brampton is a major suburb of Toronto for anyone wondering why Brampton comes up a lot. It appears the downside slope is starting to mirror the frontside there. I’m not from around there but this *could* mean they are dealing with a bubble that is popping. Nah, it’s probably fine, just need to wait for fall for sales to pick up. All their new Nigerians and such will need houses too. 🙂

  16. The purple headed Wokee-doke who thinks it’s ok for boys to put on a dress and compete with women (now that she’s done being overpaid) shanks her kick. 🙂

    ‘Sick Joke’: Megan Rapinoe Ends Her Career with Missed Penalty Kick that Costs U.S. the World Cup

    SIMON KENT
    6 Aug 2023

    The international career of Megan Rapinoe ended in a dramatic penalty shoot-out against Sweden on Sunday with her failed kick at goal helping to send the U.S.A. team crashing out of the soccer World Cup underway in New Zealand and Australia.

    Rapinoe and Sophia Smith missed penalties that could have given the U.S. the win, and Kelley O’Hara missed the Americans’ final shot to give Sweden the opening it needed.

    comments

    Wally Dump the Uniparty
    44 minutes ago
    She’s an embarrassment to the USA, not because she missed that kick but, because of who she is as a person.

    LeeJ409 Wally
    37 minutes ago
    What a wonderful way to start a Sunday! The woke Team USA eliminated and Rapinoe humiliated as an added bonus.

    Kevin355 sagitator
    18 minutes ago
    The women’s team lost to a Boy’s 15U soccer team. Need we say more about equal pay.

    Agent Liberty TurboGurn
    38 minutes ago
    That purple-haired wannabe dude couldn’t keep up with a boys 15U team, let alone the big boys.

    https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2023/08/06/sick-joke-megan-rapinoe-ends-her-career-with-missed-penalty-kick-that-costs-u-s-the-world-cup/

  17. ”San Francisco’s Department of Homeless and Supportive Housing has entered negotiations on a lease to create homeless housing at an industrial site off Bayshore that would put 60 cabins and about 20 safe parking RV spots at the 2.25-acre site of a former drywall contractor.”

    This has a few major issues:

    1. Residential uses rarely if ever are put on former industrial sites due to latent environmental contamination in the soil and costs of cleanup,
    2. Potential dangers to residents from surrounding industrial uses, and
    3. The exchange of a property and income tax-generating and job-generating use with a tax-sucking social use.

    San Francisco death spiral continues.

    2. Looks like the blueprint for the 15 minute cities, coming soon to a UK community near you!

  19. Sec. of State Blinken Ruthlessly Mocked For Condemning Conviction of Putin’s Political Opponent

    Only Democrats are allowed to jail their political opposition.

    Sunday, August 06, 2023

    In a statement totally lacking self-awareness, Secretary of State Antony Blinken blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin for jailing his political opponent.

    Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Friday was sentenced to 19 additional years in a prison colony for extremism-related charges.

    “The United States strongly condemns Russia’s conviction of opposition leader Aleksey Navalny on politically motivated charges. The Kremlin cannot silence the truth. Navalny should be released,” Blinken wrote on X in response.

    Blinken’s tone-deaf remarks amid the Biden administration’s political persecution of his main political rival Donald Trump were brutally ridiculed on social media.

    https://www.newswars.com/sec-of-state-blinken-ruthlessly-mocked-for-condemning-conviction-of-putins-political-opponent/

    1. Trends & News
      The Federal Reserve has $910 billion in losses
      Simon Black
      July 31, 2023
      Share:

      The Federal Reserve– the most critically important central bank in the world– is completely, hopelessly insolvent.

      This isn’t some wild conspiracy theory or overly dramatic interpretation of the facts; we’re extremely data-focused in this organization and base our conclusions on indisputable, open-source figures.

      And the facts in this case are crystal clear: the Fed’s own financial statements show that their unrealized losses amount to over $910 billion. Given that the Fed only has $42 billion in capital, this means that America’s central bank has a net financial position of MINUS $868 billion on a mark-to-market basis.

      To understand why, we need a quick review of how bonds work.

      Most people understand pretty intuitively how investing in stocks works. Share prices fluctuate up and down every day.

      Bonds are the same way. They also have prices which fluctuate day-to-day, month-to-month, and year-to-year, just like stocks.

      And one of the biggest influences on bond prices is interest rates.

      In fact, the cardinal rule in the bond market is that when interest rates go up, bond prices fall.

      And this makes sense when you think about it. If you own a bond that pays 1%… but suddenly interest rates rise to 10%… then the market value of your 1% bond is going to fall.

      After all, why would anyone buy a bond paying 1% if they can buy a brand new bond paying 10%?
      …
      https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/the-federal-reserve-has-910-billion-in-losses-147959/

      1. In retrospect, I wonder if it was such a great idea for the Fed to use Quantitative Easing to lard up its balance sheet for over a decade, never unwinding its extraordinary accommodation, even after the economy was full recovered from the Great Recession?

  22. RE: Boise’s meteoric rise

    Excuse please. Meteors do not rise, they are space debris which fall to the Earth. Most of them burn up in the atmosphere due to air friction and the few that reach the ground turn into rocks called meteorites (“ite” being the geologic suffix for rock).

    2. When seen from the ground meteors appear to streak across the sky and not fall. They are brief and bright, so a meteoric rise is one that is quick and luminous, a flash in the pan.

    3. “ite” being the geologic suffix for rock

      Correct. The “ite” isn’t in “meteoric” however.

    4. Those in the know call it ‘meteoric’ because they know prices will eventually plummet back to earth and end in a massive fireball firesale.

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