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They’re Just Taking Huge Losses, Others Also Want To Sell But They Can’t Necessarily Afford It

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Economists now project 2023 will mark the slowest year for home sales since 2008, when the housing bubble burst. This is the seventh week in a row that rates have risen, marking the longest stretch of consecutive increases since spring 2022, Freddie Mac said. ‘Rates have risen two full percentage points in 2023 alone and, as we head into Halloween, the impacts may scare potential homebuyers,’ Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said in a statement. ‘Purchase activity has slowed to a virtual standstill, affordability remains a significant hurdle for many and the only way to address it is lower rates and greater inventory.'”

“Housing market trends could offer an open door to potential buyers in Oklahoma. According to Angelena Harris, President-Elect for MLSOK, housing trends are changing and buyers shouldn’t assumer what the market is experiencing now is the same at 2020. According to data from Redfin, Oklahoma prices are remaining stagnant. More homes are also being put up for sale but homes that are selling is down by about 17.7%. Harris said that forces sellers to cut deals with buyers. ‘You have sellers who are a little freaked out that it’s taking more than, you know, two weeks to a month to sell their home, so they are actually offering incentives,’ she said.”

“In the city that never sleeps, selling a home is proving to be really quite stressful, according to a recent StreetEasy survey conducted by The Harris Poll. New York City’s notoriously competitive real estate market is causing a wave of anxiety for sellers, with a staggering 35.7% of previously owned homes listed on StreetEasy in 2022 being removed from the market without finding a buyer. In 2022, 31.7% of co-op listings didn’t find a buyer, compared to 41.6% for condos citywide, and a staggering 50.1% for townhouses in Manhattan and ‘brownstone Brooklyn’ neighborhoods. Higher price points often translate to smaller pools of potential buyers. With fewer potential buyers in the market, more sellers are pulling their listings after struggling to secure a buyer.”

“The Mt. Crested Butte town council on October 17 approved an agreement with Bywater Development to initiate the process for demolition of the unfinished Homestead affordable housing development. The town council selected Bywater Development to complete the community housing development in the Homestead Subdivision, and the town has agreed to move forward with demolishing all existing structures and foundations based on engineering and geotechnical assessments and evaluations conducted earlier this year. Construction of the 22-unit Homestead affordable housing development began in 2020 by Lance Windel of Homestead Housing LLC. In the fall of 2021, Windel went into default of his contracts with the Homestead unit owners, leaving the construction incomplete. ‘The quality of the construction there was very poor. We didn’t feel that if we took anything that was existing there, that we couldn’t with a straight face hand that over to members of our community,’ said town manager Carlos Velado. ‘Let’s rip this horrible band aid off and start from scratch.'”

“The shores of Bear Lake are dotted with housing developments, condos and restaurants that cater to the roughly one million tourists who visit the turquoise-blue oasis each summer. But just behind that up-and-running front of Water’s Edge is a half-finished condo building with an exterior of exposed plywood and tattered house wrap. The unfinished building is a far cry from the expansive vacation units and glitzy amenities — including a hotel, indoor water park, valet boat service and an outdoor concert stage — promised in the resort’s renderings. And now, the Securities and Exchange Commission is accusing developer Utah Regional Investment Fund, led by Christofer Shurian, of fraud — pointing to the wide gap between what Water’s Edge is today and what investors and the U.S. government were promised it would be by now.”

“According to the filing, Shurian told 36 foreign investors, all Chinese nationals, that their $500,000 investments would directly fund the resort’s construction, and that the project would be completed by 2017. The investors expected to reap profits — and a fast track to permanent residency in the United States, the SEC said, under an investment incentive program that the federal government offers with businesses in rural areas. Guests have historically only visited in the warmer months, leading many shops to close up until spring. Eighty percent of all the residences in Garden City are seasonal homes, according to the same study. ‘When fall hits, [Garden City] just turns into a ghost town,’ Shurian said. ‘The first couple of times I came up here in the winter, you couldn’t get a meal.'”

“The indicted business partner of radio host DJ Envy made his first public comments since being accused by federal agents, accused of running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi-type scheme. Cesar Pina had been released on $1 million dollar bond with electronic monitoring after pleading not guilty to federal charges of bilking investors out of millions of dollars in the real estate venture. On Wednesday, he went on a several-minute YouTube ramble and talked about DJ Envy — a move that has just sparked more controversy. ‘They call me Cesar Madoff, it’s crazy,’ Pina said. Cesar’s response infuriated many investors — including Andre Ransome, who bought in for $200,000. He is suing Pina, just one of several lawsuits that have been filed against both Cesar and Envy. ‘Give people back their money and stop playing with people’s lives,’ said Ransome.”

“An investment group that referred to itself as a ‘person you can trust’ has allegedly been perpetrating fraud targeting Dallas-Fort Worth’s Indian American community. Nanban Ventures LLC, a firm comprising three Frisco men, has raised nearly $130 million from hundreds of investors since April 2021, saying it was investing in technology and real estate. But ‘in classic Ponzi fashion,’ Nanban allegedly used investors’ money to make fake distribution payments to other investors and siphoned off millions of dollars for themselves, as revealed in a recent complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Dallas Morning News reported. ‘The defendants used the ‘Nanban’ branding, a word that means ‘friend,’ when raising nearly $130 million from investors of mostly Indian descent,’ Eric Werner, director of the SEC’s Fort Worth regional office, told the outlet. ‘However, the defendants have been the furthest thing from ‘friends’ to their investors, raising money and paying false returns on a foundation of lies.'”

“Recent data from Statistics Canada revealed that as of 2021, 43 per cent of condo apartments and between 14 and 21 per cent of houses in Ontario were owned by investors. In the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) alone, investors owned 33 per cent of condo apartments and between nine and 16 per cent of all houses. Mortgage expert Ron Butler from Butler Mortgage in Etobicoke said that 2021 represented the peak of investor ownership and pointed to persistently low interest rates up until early 2022 as the main culprit. ‘(Investor involvement) was constantly growing all the way up to 2021. That was the peak year when mortgage interest rates were at their very lowest point. They were ridiculously low. That really favoured investors,’ Butler said. ‘I suggest today that investors are buying zero (properties) in 2023. Because in 2023, interest rates don’t allow them to make any money on any purchase.'”

“A property business set up by Exeter City Council to create affordable housing is to be wound down after making huge losses. Exeter City Living (ECL) owes the local authority more than £10 million and is the latest in a succession of council-owned housing companies to hit trouble. All but a handful of its assets will now be sold, but that could still leave the city millions of pounds out of pocket. Elsewhere, Mid Devon’s 3Rivers Development is being wound up after racking up debts of £21 million and Torbay Council has cut back the activities of its TorVista Homes after that hit trouble too. Soaring costs and rising inflation are blamed for the demise of the companies.”

“Last week, the Inspector General of Government (IGG) Betty Kamya Turwomwe presided over a fiery meeting between condo owners and property developers. The IGG convened the meeting after several complaints reached her office from aggrieved home owners seeking justice for allegedly getting shortchanged by condominium developers. Isaac Mutenyo, the chairman of Engineers Registration Board, doubts whether regulators are doing their job, adding that when he was constructing a property in Kira, not a single regulator came to supervise the works. The other source of problems, according to his expertise, is the developers are using quack engineers. ‘Our responsibility as an engineering body is to punish any engineer that is employed and does not follow standards. If an engineer does things against standards, you are supposed to come to us and we rectify the issue. But I have not heard of anybody coming to complain to us over an engineer that has done shoddy work. I strongly believe some of these developers are employing untrained people,’ he stated.”

“A year on from the devastating floods that engulfed a Melbourne suburb just eight kilometres from the CBD, the chairwoman of a local residents’ group has accused the local council of ‘mongrel behaviour.’ The floods, which affected more than 500 properties on October 14, 2022, shocked Melbourne. Madeleine Serle, of the Maribyrnong Community Recovery Committee, whose own property was affected by the floods, described the recovery process as ‘an exhausting nightmare.’ The economic stress is causing some residents to ‘give up’ and sell their properties at a loss. Properties that may previously have fetched $1 million are selling for $750,000. ‘They’re just taking huge losses,’ she said, adding that others also want to sell, but ‘they can’t necessarily afford it.'”

“Tran Phuong, an investor in Hanoi, noted that there have been many offers to sell villas and condotels in famous tourism cities, including Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc and Quang Ninh. The villas priced at tens of billions dong are now offered with a discount of VND2-3 billion. Phuong is eyeing condotels with quoted prices of VND2-4 billion. The condotel owners say that they have to sell at a loss of hundreds of millions of dong. Nguyen Vu Cao, CEO of Van Khang Phat, a major realtor, said the signs of the resort real estate market recovery are still weak. ‘The market segment now is unattractive to investors. The market has very few transactions,’ he said.”

“Previously, the cash flow in the market was strong and it was easy to seek financial sources, so many investors injected money into resort real estate. However, after realizing that profits from condotel leasing were not as high as expected, the capital flow changed direction. ‘Investors will not make heavy investments in resort real estate,’ Cao said. The resort real estate prices in Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ha Long (Quang Ninh), Phu Quoc and Quy Nhon are all too high. The selling prices have been ‘inflated’ by 5-6 times. In some areas, the offered prices are 10 times higher than that of 10 years ago. A report by Savills Hotels showed that the average room occupancy rate in Vietnam hovered around 40 percent in the first eight months.”

“A rough year for Vietnam’s real estate sector has seen developers miss interest payments on debt, amid a credit crunch spurred by ill-timed government measures, although spillover risk has been limited. The sector was the worst performer last month on the falling Ho Chi Minh City stock exchange, with a drop of nearly 16% on the month, says key Vietnam investor Dragon Capital. That capped two years of turmoil in developers’ shares that spread last year to corporate bonds, hitting project development and leaving ghost blocks of high-end property.”

“Buildings stand empty with interiors unfinished in developer Sun Group’s ‘Mediterranean town’ on the southern island of Phu Quoc, while the skeletons of incomplete high-rises flank shiny towers in Hanoi built by another developer, Sunshine. And the pressure is mounting, with real-estate bonds of about $6 billion set to mature each this year and the next, nearly three times more than in 2022. Analysts blame the worst troubles on a long-running graft campaign that authorities stepped up at the end of last year. They see the Oct. 2022 arrest over financial fraud of Truong My Lan, chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, as a turning-point after which confidence dropped. The arrest followed tougher rules on transparency and private placement of corporate bonds adopted that September, and coinciding with an economic slowdown, so that authorities were forced to suspend them a few months later, as the market froze.”

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This Post Has 79 Comments

  1. ‘Isaac Mutenyo, the chairman of Engineers Registration Board, doubts whether regulators are doing their job, adding that when he was constructing a property in Kira, not a single regulator came to supervise the works. The other source of problems, according to his expertise, is the developers are using quack engineers’

    This is in Uganda.

  3. “affordability remains a significant hurdle for many and the only way to address it is lower rates and greater inventory”

    No mention of LOWER PRICES.

    A 50% haircut would be a good start.

    1. It’s hilarious how they will say everything but lower prices. Greater inventory = lower prices. And lower prices are the only answer. Lower rates destroy the economy.

  4. “The quality of the construction there was very poor”

    Crested Butte / Mt Crested Butte was once known as “the last great ski town in America” up until about a decade ago.

    There was a ban on all chain stores and restaurants, independent only. Affordable rentals for local service and ski resort workers.

    AirBnb parasite capitalism was the beginning of the end, then CCP Flu and pretend to work from home equity locusts were the final nails in the coffin.

    Have fun waiting 45 minutes for a latte now, @ssholes. And good luck finding any skilled trades to work for you there.

    1. If you’re a skilled tradesman, well good for you, you’re in high demand and can raise your rates. If you’re a white collar worker, that’s also good, you can work remotely and save on commuting. So what’s the problem again? You’re just worried about wait times for lattes?

      1. It’s the destruction of the character, the soul, of these towns.

        I’ve been in this state almost 14 years and the way it’s changed, almost none of has been positive.

        1. I’m gonna suggest that gratuitously insulting people you don’t know isn’t the best way to restore the character and soul of your towns.

      2. “…Raise your rates”

        Sure sure, I mean who wouldn’t want a laundry room sink and some cabinets for $13,000?

  5. Mortgage rates are at 8%+ for the highest FICO borrowers.

    So 9-10% for most others.

    Housing sales are at decade lows.

    Right on the cliff…

    1. Stuck on the cliff for now, as everyone who could refinance when rates were below 3% did so. These same owners now can’t afford to move, as that would throw them into the twin maws of unaffordable rents and unaffordable mortgages & purchase prices.

      So the housing market is nearly at a standstill, and price discovery won’t happen until a purgative development breaks the inventory logjam.

      1. “…These same owners now can’t afford to move…”

        As precisely predicted here on the HBB over a year ago.

        So what will break the logjam?

        Probably the traditional ones: Death, Divorce

        And untraditional ones: Ever increasing holding costs, ever increasing local crime.

        These loan owners have no way out.

        As Judge Judy says: “suck it up”

          1. Need to relocate for employment opportunity (including after job loss)

            Definitely if living in some podunky place. I recall when Cabelas had a huge layoff at its HQ in Sidney, Nebraska after merging with another retailer. Relocating was the only option for those who got the ax.

    2. Fox Business
      MORTGAGE
      Published October 26, 2023 1:44pm EDT
      With mortgage rates soaring, taking over existing mortgages is gaining steam
      Assumable loans looking more attractive as mortgage rates march toward 8%
      By Breck Dumas FOXBusiness

      Increasing mortgage rates putting pressure on homebuyers
      Freddie Mac says 30-year fixed mortgage rates rose to their highest level in more than 20 years. This has made things tougher on homebuyers because of a lack of supply and demand.

      As mortgage rates continue their upward climb after reaching highs not seen in more than 20 years, another trend not seen in decades has reemerged: More buyers are looking to assume a seller’s loan in order to avoid today’s interest rates.

      An assumable mortgage allows homebuyers to take over a seller’s existing mortgage rather than applying for a new one, thereby allowing them to take over the terms, including the interest rate. These transactions were popular in the 1970s and 80s, and now with current mortgage rates hovering around 8% and millions of homeowners locked in at rates much lower, assuming a seller’s loan is becoming more attractive again.
      …
      https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/mortgage-rates-soaring-loan-assumption-gaining-steam

  6. UMich Inflation Expectations Exploded Higher In October: “Consumer Frustration Appeared Everywhere”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/umich-inflation-expectations-exploded-higher-october-consumer-frustration-appeared

    In its preliminary October data, UMich inflation expectations for the next year surged to 3.8%.. by the end of the month, the final data showed it had spiked to 4.2% – the highest reading since May 2023 (with the medium-term expectation at 3.0%)…

    (A chart appears here …)

    Consumer sentiment confirmed its early-month reading, falling back about 6% this October following two consecutive months of very little change.

    (Another chart appears here …)

    This decline was driven in large part by higher-income consumers and those with sizable stock holdings, consistent with recent weakness in equity markets.

    (Yet another chart …)

    Across all consumers, one-year expected business conditions plunged 16% and expectations over consumers’ own personal finances in the year ahead fell 8%, reflecting ongoing concerns about inflation and, to a lesser degree, uncertainty over the implications of negative news both domestically and abroad.”

    UMich Survey Director Director Joanne Hsu noted that:

    “…signs of consumers’ frustration over inflation appeared throughout the interviews.

    Year-ahead gas price expectations reached their highest reading since June 2022. Over 80% of consumers specified that inflation would cause greater hardship for consumers in the year ahead than unemployment, the highest share in 11 months.

    About 47% of consumers blamed high prices for eroding their living standards, up from 39% last month and the highest share in 15 months.

    While consumers recognize that inflation has slowed down from its peak last summer, they cannot ignore that their budgets remain stretched and their purchasing power reduced. Even so, strength in incomes continues to support aggregate spending.

    Finally, we note that the overall index of economic news heard by consumers worsened about 15% between last month and this month, reaching its lowest reading since June 2023.

    Oh, and one more thing. The historical relationship between buying-sentiment and unemployment has broken after almost 40 years…

    (Chart …)

    1. “they cannot ignore that their budgets remain stretched and their purchasing power reduced”

      How much new money has been printed in the last three and a half years?

  7. Hey all realtors; the sooner you you quit stamping your feet about lowering interest rates and start promoting lower prices as the answer, the sooner you’ll start receiving paychecks again. And to all you sellers; find a realtor who will aggressively price your home and not blow hot air up your a$$ and you might actually make it out of the coming meltdown with the shirt on your back. But the time do that is soon running out.

    1. They can’t say that, lest the marks realize they’ve been had and the torches and pitchforks come out. They’re already looking at a decades-overdue antitrust case with Burnett.

  8. Tell me if my suspicions are wrong. Because what I’m thinking is all the bogus data we’ve been getting on the economy to paint a rosier picture than what actually exists is hosing all those wringing their hands for lower rates. What they need is horrible news, higher unemployment and a crashing stock market. But we aren’t getting that. Exactly the opposite. What the “lower raters” need is truth. No way that’s gonna happen. So welcome to higher for a lot longer when it comes to rates. A classic case of shooting yourself in the foot. Am I wrong?

    1. Lower rates will mean a collapsing economy, at which point would-be homebuyers will no longer want or be able to buy a home.

    1. MarketWatch
      Nasdaq rallies and Dow sinks after another turbulent week of stock-market losses
      Provided by Dow Jones
      Oct 27, 2023 9:57 AM PDT
      By Joseph Adinolfi and Steve Goldstein

      Investors are focusing on the latest batch of data on inflation and spending

      U.S. stocks saw mixed trading on Friday, with the Nasdaq rallying at the close of a turbulent week for the tech-heavy index, while the Dow sank, as investors digested the latest batch of economic data and earnings reports.

      Despite its gains, the Nasdaq remained on track to decline for a third week on Friday, while the S&P 500 was on track for what would be its second straight weekly loss, as well as its sixth in the past eight weeks.

      What’s happening

      The S&P 500 SPX was marginally higher at 4,140.The Nasdaq Composite COMP gained 114 points, or 0.9%, to 12,709. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA fell by 190 points, or 0.6%, to 32,588.

      On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 252 points, or 0.76%, to 32,784, while the S&P 500 declined 50 points, or 1.18%, to 4,137, putting it on the cusp of correction territory, which requires a drop of 10% from the most recent high.
      …
      https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20231027364/nasdaq-rallies-and-dow-sinks-after-another-turbulent-week-of-stock-market-losses

      1. LIVE UPDATES
        Updated Fri, Oct 27 2023 3:19 PM EDT
        Dow tumbles 400 points, S&P 500 enters correction territory: Live updates
        Brian Evans
        Lisa Kailai Han
        A trade inside Nasdaq Marketsite in New York City.
        Getty Images

        Stocks turned lower Friday as renewed selling on fears of a recession pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 400 points and the S&P 500 into correction territory.

        The 30 stock Dow fell 424 points, or 1.3%. The S&P 500 slipped 0.6% to its lowest level in five months and down down 10.4% from this year’s peak on July 31. The Dow was pressured by declines in JPMorgan Chase after CEO Jamie Dimon said he planned to sell 1 million shares next year.
        …
        https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/26/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

      2. Yahoo Finance
        Strategist: There’s ‘no chance’ we avoid a recession
        Nicholas Jacobino and Julie Hyman
        October 26, 2023, 1:35 pm

        U.S. GDP grew by 4.9% at an annual rate in the third quarter of the fiscal year, defying a multitude of expectations of a slowdown. Some believe that a recession is on the way, as economic headwinds continue to spook investors and Treasury bond yields spike. Canaccord Genuity Chief Market Strategist Tony Dwyer is one such person, claiming investors need to brace for that eventuality. He joins Yahoo Finance to give insight into what he believes to be an inevitability.

        Dwyer postulates that a recession will be necessary to finally get the Fed to make major changes: “Earlier this week, we made [a] new cycle high for bond yields. So, that to me is the real differentiator, is what gets the Fed to change their tone enough that you get those other instruments to have a significant rally that kickstarts and now improved outlook for money.”
        …
        https://finance.yahoo.com/video/strategist-theres-no-chance-avoid-203546348.html

        1. MarketWatch
          Treasury yields finish with weekly declines for second time in past three weeks
          Provided by Dow Jones
          Oct 27, 2023 12:49 PM PDT
          By Vivien Lou Chen

          Treasury yields ended little changed to slightly lower on Friday as investors assessed September PCE inflation data that offered a bit of both good and bad news. Two-, 10- and 30-year yields finished with weekly declines for the second time in the past three weeks.

          What happened

          The yield on the 2-year Treasury declined 2.9 basis points to a two-week low of 5.010% from 5.039% on Thursday. The rate fell 7.2 basis points this week, the largest weekly decline in about a month.The yield on the 10-year Treasury was marginally higher at 4.846% versus 4.843% Thursday afternoon. It declined 7.8 basis points this week.The yield on the 30-year Treasury rose 3.7 basis points to 5.023% from 4.986% late Thursday. The 30-year rate dropped 6.4 basis points this week.

          What drove markets
          …
          https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20231027428/treasury-yields-finish-with-weekly-declines-for-second-time-in-past-three-weeks

        2. Financial Times
          T Rowe Price Group Inc
          Asset manager T Rowe Price warns outflows will persist in 2024
          Shares fall for large US active fund group despite sharp rise in quarterly profit
          A woman passes the window of T Rowe Price technology development centre
          T Rowe Price CEO Rob Sharps: ‘My hope is that we will return to organic growth at some point in 2025’
          Will Schmitt and Brooke Masters in New York 5 hours ago

          US asset manager T Rowe Price beat earnings expectations but its shares fell on Friday after chief executive Rob Sharps warned that organic growth would not resume until 2025.

          The Baltimore-based group said its adjusted diluted earnings per share were $2.17 in the third quarter, about 23 per cent higher than Wall Street estimates of $1.77 and 17 per cent more than the same quarter a year ago. Net profit was $499.5mn, well above the $430.6mn it reported in the third quarter of 2022.

          T Rowe has been struggling with large outflows since 2021, particularly in its equity strategies, and had previously reported quarterly net outflows of $17.4bn.

          “My base case is that while we will continue to face outflows in 2024, they will be at a meaningfully lower level,” Sharps told the Financial Times. “My hope is that we will return to organic growth at some point in 2025.”
          …

      4. Financial Times
        US equities
        S&P 500 falls into correction after losing 10% from summer peak
        US blue-chip index has been tugged lower by worries over rates, geopolitics and mediocre earnings
        outside the New York Stock Exchange
        The S&P 500 closed 0.5% lower on Friday
        Nicholas Megaw in New York 8 hours ago

        The S&P 500 stock index has fallen more than 10 per cent from the high point it touched earlier this year, meeting the popular definition of a market “correction” as investors fret about interest rates, geopolitical risks and mediocre third-quarter company results.

        Wall Street’s blue-chip equities benchmark dipped 0.5 per cent on Friday, pushing it just over the correction threshold compared with its 2023 peak on the final day of July.

        The US stock market surged in the first seven months of the year, driven by enthusiasm about artificial intelligence and optimism that the Federal Reserve was approaching the end of its campaign to raise interest rates.

        However, it is now on track for its third consecutive month of declines, the longest monthly losing streak since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. The Nasdaq Composite index also fell into a correction earlier this week, though it recovered slightly on Friday.

        “It’s been a bit of a slow-motion sell-off,” said Stuart Kaiser, head of US equity trading strategy at Citigroup. “Sentiment is generally negative . . . [but] stress metrics haven’t moved that much, it’s been relatively orderly.”

        The S&P 500 dropped at least 2 per cent in a day on more than 20 occasions last year, while this year it has happened only once, in February. The Vix volatility index, which tracks expectations of stock market swings over the next month, is only marginally above its long-term average.

        However, a combination of factors have been driving the market gradually lower, the biggest being the realisation that the Fed is likely to keep interest rates high for an extended period to bring inflation under control.

        That has driven up yields on US government bonds, with the benchmark 10-year yield touching a 16-year high at the start of this week. Higher rates reduce the relative value that investors are willing to place on stocks, particularly those that are valued primarily on the promise of profits far in the future.

        “A bird in the hand is worth something now,” Schroders chief investment officer Johanna Kyrklund told reporters earlier this week. “The [fear of missing out] market is done, it’s the ‘do your homework’ market now.”
        …

  10. 66.6K Venezuelans Crossed Southern US Border Last Month, Surpassing Mexicans

    FRIDAY, OCT 27, 2023 – 05:45 AM

    In a historic shift in migration trends, nearly 67,000 Venezuelans crossed the southern US border last month – 82% of them illegally – surpassing Mexicans as the largest single nationality attempting to enter the Untied States, Axios reports.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/666k-venezuelans-crossed-southern-us-border-last-month-surpassing-mexicans?ref=biztoc.com

    1. Replacement theory is not a theory.

      But for some reason Jonathan Greenblatt thinks it should be illegal for you to even discuss it.

      #Noticing

      1. Jonathan Greenblatt

        Given that the tribe is quickly losing control of their Golem, one would think that perhaps they would change their tune.

        1. Yet they try to blame the rise in antisemitism on whitey?

          You can hear the Call to Prayer from the little house my Mom lived in as a kid in Dearborn MI.

          Thanks for the open borders and Marxism in the schools.

          #Noticed

    2. nearly 67,000 Venezuelans crossed the southern US border last month

      Almost 800,000 per year. And that’s just one country. The Free Sh!t Army is getting crowded.

  11. a 99% chance they are luxurrie housing rented at a loss…….why cant anyone just build average anymore? I know we can live in less than 1/2 the space of just 10-15 years ago. There is no need for massive amounts of records cds videotapes books, knicky nakkies, china cabinets unless you really want to.
    ————-
    A property business set up by Exeter City Council to create affordable housing

  12. New construction Death Blow To Dallas Housing Market
    Home in Dallas Texas

    Oct 22, 2023
    New construction is delivering a DEATH BLOW to the Dallas housing market. Home sellers are left in the dust and lenders are closing shop at an ALARMING rate.

    In this video, we’ll explore the RIGGED mortgage system, the safeguards it is intended to have, how new construction is exploiting it, and how the government is completely on board (anyone surprised by THAT?) Discover the shocking impact new construction is having on the housing market – and the surprising way you can benefit as a result.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy-HrWElTnA

    15 minutes.

    2. “New construction Death Blow To Dallas Housing Market”

      That was a very informative video. There was a story on the local news last night about builders with multi generational floorplans. They were catering to 35 year-old children moving back home and people taking in their aging parents. They had footage from the project and it looked like they were still cranking out the units which made me think who could be buying between the prices and the interest rates. Now I know how they’re doing it.

    4. @13:22 “[variable rates buydowns] offer a good opportunity if you absolutely know your income will increase.” Who knows that with certainty?

  13. In news that fell between the cracks, hurricane Otis utterly wrecked Acapulco. There is widespread looting and the pictures I’ve seen look very bad: lots of destroyed infrastructure, wrecked and uninhabitable high rises, impassable streets, widespread power outages. By some estimates over 1 million people have been affected by the hurricane.

    Hurricanes are a rarity in Acapulco, unlike say in Cancun, and the city is not built to withstand them.

    1. Looks bad but direst hits from a Cat 5 are bad. Problem is where it’s really bad never seems to get found until a few days after the storm.

      Acapulco plunges into chaos as Hurricane Otis’ toll remains uncertain

      Looters wrestled packs of hot dogs to flat-screen TVs out of one muddy store. Meanwhile, residents in the resort city have no electricity a day after the Category 5 storm toppled trees and power lines.

      Oct. 26, 2023, 8:13 AM EDT / Source: The Associated Press
      By The Associated Press

      https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/acapulco-plunges-chaos-hurricane-otis-toll-remains-uncertain-rcna122282

  14. ‘Eighty percent of all the residences in Garden City are seasonal homes, according to the same study. ‘When fall hits, [Garden City] just turns into a ghost town,’ Shurian said. ‘The first couple of times I came up here in the winter, you couldn’t get a meal’

    Second homes, can’t get a meal. I can see why you jumped in with both feet Chris.

  15. ‘The defendants used the ‘Nanban’ branding, a word that means ‘friend,’ when raising nearly $130 million from investors of mostly Indian descent..However, the defendants have been the furthest thing from ‘friends’ to their investors, raising money and paying false returns on a foundation of lies’

    It’s my opinion Eric that the SEC should start regulating ponzi schemes. It’s just the wild west without some order.

  16. ‘Investors will not make heavy investments in resort real estate,’ Cao said. The resort real estate prices in Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ha Long (Quang Ninh), Phu Quoc and Quy Nhon are all too high. The selling prices have been ‘inflated’ by 5-6 times. In some areas, the offered prices are 10 times higher than that of 10 years ago. A report by Savills Hotels showed that the average room occupancy rate in Vietnam hovered around 40 percent in the first eight months’

    I’d bet Vietnam will be bigger news ahead. They have a super lux airbox oversupply that may be singular in its imbalance to demand.

  17. ‘The arrest followed tougher rules on transparency and private placement of corporate bonds adopted that September, and coinciding with an economic slowdown, so that authorities were forced to suspend them a few months later, as the market froze’

    Liquidity runs both ways.

  18. 2013 My baby just cares for me
    ANDREA MOTIS -JOAN CHAMORRO QUINTET & SCOTT HAMILTON
    Joan Chamorro

    Apr 15, 2014
    2013 NUEVO CD DE ANDREA MOTIS Y JOAN CHAMORRO
    LIVE AT JAMBOREE — Barcelona

    Andrea Motis & Joan Chamorro Quintet
    Featuring Scott Hamilton

    Andrea Motis, voz ,trompeta & saxo
    Joan Chamorro, contrabass
    Scott Hamilton, tenor sax
    Ignasi Terraza, piano & Hammond
    Josep Traver, guitarra
    Esteve Pi, drums

    GRABADO en directo al Jamboree, Barcelona,
    los dias 13 i 14 d’abril de 2013

    http://jazztojazz.com

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eutJd3g77lM

    5 minutes.

    1. “This is camping on private land that is owned, no mortgage.”

      The way it should be, my Dad would have liked you.

      Nice stone work on the fire pit by the way.

  20. EV Skeptic Toyota Chairman Says People Are ‘Finally’ Waking Up to Reality of Electric Vehicles

    The chairman of Toyota said that falling demand for electric vehicles is a sign people are waking up to the reality that EVs are overhyped and have drawbacks

    By Tom Ozimek
    10/26/2023

    Toyota’s chairman and former CEO, Akio Toyoda, told reporters at an auto show in Japan this week that waning demand for electric vehicles (EV) is a sign that people are waking up to the reality that EVs aren’t the silver bullet against the supposed ills of carbon emissions they’re often made out to be.

    “People are finally seeing reality” about EV technology, Mr. Toyoda told reporters ahead of the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo this week, speaking in his capacity as the head of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, the organizer of the event.
    Mr. Toyoda, a long-time skeptic of a full-steam-ahead adoption of EVs, stepped down from his role as CEO of Toyota this year amid criticism that he wasn’t serious enough about pushing the company into a quick adoption of battery-powered cars.

    Asked by reporters at the auto show on his thoughts about falling EV demand, Mr. Toyoda’s response implied that he feels vindicated in his reluctance.

    “There are many ways to climb the mountain that is achieving carbon neutrality,” he said while suggesting that consumers are finally waking up from a dreamscape pushed by climate change alarmists that puts EVs on a pedestal and overhypes their benefits while downplaying their drawbacks.

    His remarks came as demand growth for EVs in various markets has slowed, leading some companies to dial back their electrification plans.

  23. (A fun rant …)

    Watch: Zennials Are Terrified Of Military Draft As War Looms

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-zennials-are-terrified-military-draft-war-looms

    The irony and hypocrisy is dripping across social media as zennials slowly begin to realize that the consequences of their support for establishment elitism might come back to bite them in the ass. Keep in mind that this is the generation most inclined to vote for Joe Biden and his ilk, and the generation most inclined to rabidly support war against Russia in Ukraine. These were the same people clamoring for hundreds of billions of dollars in American weapons and funding to be sent to Ukraine to prolong a losing war leading to the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian draftees.

    These were the exact same people that applauded the argument that sacrificing drafted Ukrainian troops in an ideological proxy conflict with Russia was “cheaper” and more efficient than sending American troops to fight. Now, when they are faced with the possibility of being drafted into a different foreign quagmire, their blood thirst has suddenly abated.

    As we have seen in the past year in the Donbass, wars are won with soldiers, not technology and money. Without a steady supply of troops any defensive or offensive posture will steadily degrade.

    This month, Google searches for “Will I get drafted into war…” hit the highest number since the 2007 Iraq war surge; people are getting worried. If the US is dragged into a multi-front conflict in the Middle East, then a new draft is almost assured. Military recruitment numbers for the past several years have been dismal, with up to 77% of Gen Z not even meeting preliminary physical and mental qualifications as well as not being able to pass criminal background checks. In some cases, the DoD has been forced to build pre-boot facilities called “fat camps” just to get recruits physically ready enough to survive normal boot camp.

    This is setting aside the fact that the majority of modern youth are completely devoid of the mental toughness and discipline required for basic training. As of 2022 it is estimated that over 42% of Gen Z has been diagnosed with at least one mental illness, but prospects are even dimmer that that. It is also estimated that another 20% have not sought help for their mental health problems, with 62% of Gen Z taking medications to help with conditions such as “anxiety.”

    Zennials have taken to TikTok and other media sites to proclaim that they are not capable of fighting in a war and will avoid a draft at all costs. Remember when zennials demanded more gay and trans representation in the military? Well, now they’ve changed their minds – They are far too gay and weak to go into combat and want 2nd Amendment conservatives to fight instead…

    (A video appears here …)

    Fantasies of running off to the hills aside (these people would not last one week in the woods or one month in prison), there is an extreme disconnect between the demands Zennials made a couple years ago and the price they are willing to pay for those demands now.

    Remember when these same people threatened conservatives with severe punishment if they refused to comply with covid mandates? Remember when they said the military could be used to crush conservatives should they fight back and that “AR-15s are useless against F16s?” Apparently, the military is now incapable of functioning without conservatives and can’t engage in a war unless conservatives lead the way. It has been said for years that woke people can’t fight, they get others to fight for them. Now they admit it.

    Interestingly, this is one area of political discourse where leftists and conservatives, Gen Z and “Boomers,” might actually agree: Almost no one supports a new draft. However, there are plenty of people that wouldn’t mind seeing zennials thrown into boot camp for a while just so they can learn a much needed lesson in humility, and perhaps rethink their political positions more clearly.

    Zennials say that the economy is “worse now than it has ever been” and paint themselves as the most suffering generation of all time (whatever happened to the miracle of Bidenomics?). US education standards have dropped off the map, which is probably why they’ve never heard of the Great Depression or the stagflation crisis of the 1970s. Conditions during these events were far worse than what we are experiencing today, though, things are likely to decline rapidly in the wake of WWIII. Maybe one day soon their delusions of martyrdom will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    (Another video appears here …)

    And of course, as the manure hits the fan they will continue to blame “capitalism” instead of the socialist/globalist ideals they have been supporting for years. The reason America as a country is no longer worth fighting for is exactly because of the anti-American policies many zennials argue in favor of. Perhaps with the advent of a renewed draft the younger generations will come to realize the wisdom in treating the government with suspicion and vigilance instead of always blindly defending state authority in the assumption that it will only ever hurt their ideological enemies.

    1. I had heard that one of the primary reasons the draft was ended was due to fragging.

      Wealthy kid get drafted as officers after college. Poor kids who don’t like being in the war frag said officers. Draft ends.

      I don’t know if it was that simple but sounds plausible.

      There is no way in hell my kids fight for the pedo Globalist empire. Forget it.

      Unintended Consequences.

      2. They could try drafting from the huge pool of “refugees”, though I suspect should that happen there would be an unprecedented exodus back to whatever sh!thole they came from.

      3. “I had heard that one of the primary reasons the draft was ended was due to fragging.“

        It is much easier to deploy a “volunteer” military force than one consisting of conscripts especially to religious adventures in places like the middle-east.

    2. Avoiding a draft in 2023 is easy — just say you don’t like the alphabet crowd. Voila cannot serve.

    1. Financial Times
      US Treasury bonds
      Big asset managers snap up Treasuries after bond rout
      Pimco, BlackRock and Vanguard are among the firms wading back into long-term US government debt
      Entrance to BlackRock headquarters in New York, US
      BlackRock says it has adjusted its positioning in long-dated bonds, although it remains cautious on the debt longer-term
      Kate Duguid in New York and Mary McDougall in London yesterday

      Heavy-hitting investors are snapping up US government bonds with longer maturities, betting the pain in the Treasury market is nearly over and an elusive slowdown in the US economy may be on the horizon.

      Money managers including Pimco, Janus Henderson, Vanguard and BlackRock are taking the plunge — a bold bet after a multi-month rout in bond prices that has repeatedly wrongfooted asset managers and sent the 10-year Treasury yield above 5 per cent this week for the first time since 2007.

      The US economy is in strikingly rude health for now. Data this week showed an annualised growth rate of 4.9 per cent in the third quarter. But investors are starting to plot out what happens a little further down the line, especially as the jump in bond yields jacks up borrowing costs for companies, households and the government. If the long-awaited slowdown does bite, that should push bond prices back up.

      “These higher yields will eventually slow growth,” said Mike Cudzil, a portfolio manager at bond giant Pimco. “We are set up to play offence in the event the economy begins to slow.”
      …

    1. The shaky stock market is making Americans feel uneasy
      By Bryan Mena, CNN
      2 minute read
      Updated 11:55 AM EDT, Fri October 27, 2023
      If Americans don’t expect inflation to eventually come down, then that could usher in an era of permanently higher prices.
      Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images

      Washington, DC CNN —

      Americans’ moods soured this month, largely due to a wobbly stock market.

      The University of Michigan’s latest consumer survey showed that sentiment declined 6% this month, according to a final reading released Friday, though sentiment is 6.5% better than it was a year ago. The survey also showed that Americans became more pessimistic about the economy’s outlook for the year ahead.

      “This decline was driven in large part by higher-income consumers and those with sizable stock holdings, consistent with recent weakness in equity markets,” Joanne Hsu, the university’s Surveys of Consumers director, said in a release.

      The benchmark S&P 500 index is still down from its most recent peak in July. Investors have been spooked by the economy’s surprising resilience and fears that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer, which has sent Treasury yields surging. The yield on the ten-year US Treasury has been tiptoeing around 5%. August and September are typically rough months for equities.

      With third-quarter earnings season underway, companies’ results, especially those from big technology companies with an outsized influence, could make or break the stock market.

      So far, tech titans such as Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet have all reported robust results, with a few areas of concern. The tech-heavy Nasdaq tilted into correction territory Thursday as shares of some Big Tech companies slipped.

      Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, Microsoft and Alphabet make up about a quarter of the S&P 500’s value, so Americans with investments are highly attentive to the health of those companies.

      Meanwhile, Americans’ inflation expectations for the year ahead worsened in October, jumping to 4.2% from 3.2% in September, the highest reading since May. The Federal Reserve pays close attention to inflation expectations, particularly longer-term expectations.

      Also, expectations for inflation rates in the next five to 10 years edged up to 3% this month, up slightly from 2.8% in September.

      If Americans don’t expect inflation to eventually come down, then that could usher in an era of permanently higher prices, making it extremely difficult for the Fed to bring inflation back down to its 2% target.
      …
      https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/27/economy/consumer-sentiment-october-final/index.html

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