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When You’re Handing Out Tents And Blankets, You’ve Reached Capacity

A report from the Citizen Times in North Carolina. “Mike Figura, owner of the Asheville-based Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty, told the Citizen Times that the 2023 home market felt like ‘a little bit of an enigma.’ ‘It looked like prices escalated and then flattened or even dropped in some price points as interest rates rose throughout the second half of the year,’ Figura said. Those looking to find a luxury home in Buncombe County or Asheville are in luck. There are years worth of luxury homes on the market. Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty third quarter market analysis found that there are over 18 months worth of luxury homes on the market priced above $1.5 million. For homes priced above $1 million, that number increases to nearly 30 months’ worth.”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “2023 was not an easy year for San Francisco’s elite real estate market. The most expensive homes sold this year didn’t endure bidding wars — none of the homes received over-asking bids at all. The banking crisis and the stock market’s decline in the spring all likely had some effect, but local real estate experts also suspect the media-fueled ‘doom loop’ image that plagued San Francisco this year also affected top-tier real estate. 2121 Webster St., PH 1-7: The sale of this Pacific Heights property was noteworthy in that the buyer purchased what is effectively two units, #1 and #7. Despite its glamor, the oversized penthouse struggled to find a buyer, hitting the market in January of 2022 at $24.5 million and finally selling in September 2023 for $17.5 million.”

“Just a block away from the Presidio, 3410 Jackson Street debuted with an asking price of $23.5 million in February 2023. But by April 2023, with no buyer, the listing was reduced to $20 million. In May, it sold for $18.5 million. 9 25th Ave.: Despite the obvious opulence and celebrity-designed interiors, this property — which listed for $32 million in September 2022 — had to wait until April of 2023 to change hands, when it finally sold for $20 million. 2750 Vallejo St.: $23.5 million: It was listed in May 2023 for $29.8 million and then pulled from the market in June. In August, it was reported sold for $23.5 million.”

“3450 Washington St.: This historic 9,865-square-foot mansion made news in October of 2022 when it debuted for a potentially record-breaking price of $45 million. Despite its luxury and iconic location, 3450 Washington lingered on the market and a few months later made news again with a $5.5 million price cut. However, 2022 passed without a buyer. Finally, the home sold in March 2023 for $34.5 million — the highest price this year for a residential sale in San Francisco but a dramatic discount from its initial $45 million asking price.”

CBS Colorado. “Residents at a Denver apartment complex say their home is overrun with people experiencing homelessness. People living at the Renaissance Uptown Apartments describe their hallways as a shelter. Mark Dalpes has lived there for years. ‘When I moved in, everything was secure. It was great,’ said Dalpes. ‘I don’t know if it’s the cold weather or what, but lately it has been terrible.’ Dalpes is employed nearby as a security guard, but this month he says it feels as though he’s working security at home. He sees homeless people sleeping in the hallways and common areas, drug use, urination on the property and more.”

“‘It’s frustrating because I’ve worked my butt off to get an apartment here. And these people are basically stealing our comfort zone,’ said Dalpes. ‘We’ve called police. They tell us to talk to management. We’ve been talking to management and nothing’s getting better.’ Now he’s thinking about moving, but he can’t afford it. ‘I’m concerned. I’m afraid something violent is going to happen soon,’ said Dalpes.”

The National Post. “Say that you carved out an uninhabited piece of Northern Saskatchewan and between July 1 and Oct. 1 you directed every single newcomer to move there and found a new city. By Oct. 2, that would be Canada’s 11th largest metro area ; larger than Victoria, Halifax, Windsor or Saskatoon. More than a few economists have noted that Canada is now essentially bringing in a large city’s worth of people every quarter. ‘That’s like presto, here’s a new city of London, Ont., created in one quarter. Or almost a new city of Hamilton,’ was the analysis of one Scotiabank economist , who also opined ‘immigration is excessive full stop.'”

“In just two years, Canada’s population of ‘non-permanent residents’ has doubled to 2.5 million . That’s a population larger than all of Atlantic Canada composed of people who cannot vote, are mostly ineligible for government services and can be deported at any time. In the critical words of one analyst, Canada is building a ‘feudal underclass of temporary workers.’ In 2014 — the last full year before the election of Justin Trudeau — Canada brought in 260,400 immigrants. And that was really high for the time. As Statistics Canada noted , it was ‘one of the highest levels in more than 100 years.’ The figure easily ranked then-prime minister Stephen Harper as the most pro-immigration conservative leader on the entire planet.”

“A mere nine years later, 260,000 is a drop in the bucket. At current rates, that would account for just 52 days’ worth of immigration. Polls are clear that one of the main reasons Canadians are turning against the Trudeau government is because housing keeps reaching meteoric new highs of unaffordability. One particularly telling statistic from last year was that Canada brought in roughly the same raw number of migrants as the United States — a country 10 times the size (and one with far more reasonable real estate prices). And that’s despite the fact that U.S. net migration is hitting ten-year highs.”

The Telegraph. “Germany’s decline as the economic engine of the eurozone has been nothing short of staggering. Berlin, largely under Angela Merkel’s administration, ran a supposedly tight ship while happily dishing out advice to the perceived profligate laggards of the southern European states. As the debts of nations such as Greece caused ructions for the currency area a decade ago, it was Merkel who held all the power. Yet the combination of the pandemic, China’s slowdown and the energy crisis have brutally exposed the flaws in Germany’s economic model. Its reliance on dictatorships has proven its undoing and the latest business indicators suggest recession looms.”

“Tight limits on public debt mean the government has little room for manoeuvre. With the private sector stalling and key sectors such as car manufacturing facing costly transitions to net zero, Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Hamburg-based Berenberg Bank says the outlook for Germany is bleak. ‘The direction is relatively clear: it is going to be negative for the German growth outlook once again.'”

From Counterpunch. “Just when it seemed that the EU was playing a leading role in abandoning fossil fuels and nuclear power, the far right has with considerable success stopped or watered down regulations in support of a green economy. Even the more moderate leaderships, such as in France, have had to alter their positions on the Green Deal in order to keep their ruling coalition intact. As one writer puts it: ‘Today, conservatives across the region believe there’s more to be won obstructing climate policies alongside the hard right than supporting them. In part, this shift in European conservatism is a response to a vibrant hard right that has managed to tie climate legislation to effete, urban liberals.'”

“We see the same caving in to the far right on immigration. A European writer observes that the far right and the center-right now seem to share ‘a civilizational vision of a white, Christian Europe that is menaced by outsiders, especially Muslims.’ The writer goes on to observe that, ‘In contrast to its progressive image, the European Union has, like Donald Trump, sought to build a wall — in this case, in the Mediterranean — to stop migrants from arriving on its shores.'”

The Irish Star. “In 2017, I wrote a column headlined: Political Correctness Will Hurt Us All In The End. Now, the stranglehold of political correctness – and its toxic tentacles like cancel culture – is at the root of all that’s rotten in Ireland today. Society itself is suffering. Those it purported to help are often the ones bearing the brunt of it. Those who strive for social justice know ramming views down throats never works. With its stifling of free speech, rigid ideology, performative outrage, thought policing and prissy judgment, it was all too 1984 for me. I recognized early on it was hypocritical and bullying – ultimately sowing disharmony and division – and it needed to be fought against.”

“No matter what names you were called for doing it. By the time it became widely understood, many were too afraid to do so. Now it’s like a plague on culture, constraining artists’ freedom of expression, censoring books and music, anaesthetising comedy and infecting film and TV with preachy posturing. In society, it’s forcing employees to use nonsense phrases like ‘pregnant person’ while not having a clue why. It can also be signing off work emails with preferred pronouns in some kind of emperor’s new clothes madness.”

“More seriously, it’s an oppressive force that’s having a detrimental effect on the running of the country and the willingness of public figures to stand for common sense and fairness. Especially when it comes to the anointed two most controversial issues – the trans debate and immigration. Discussing either is like walking through a minefield. The modern day pharisees are waiting for whoever speaks up to tread on a landmine.”

“So most Irish party politicians won’t say what the vast majority are thinking. It was refreshing this week to read British Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch speaking out on it, saying gender identity is ‘a contested and confused ideology.’ She said: ‘The debate around it had become toxic, hijacked by special interest groups with a specific agenda. We have seen the worst of this played out in our schools. Teaching children that you can be born in the ‘wrong’ body is harmful. Biological sex is real and must be protected.'”

“Wow. What Government or Opposition politician in Ireland would have the courage to say any of that? It’s the same on immigration, where both sides are terrified to state the bleedin’ obvious: immigration is grand but too much immigration is a serious problem and will cause unrest, especially in a country with a decade-long housing crisis. When you’re so full you’re handing out tents and blankets, you’ve reached capacity.”

“I was heartened to see liberal intellectual Stephen Fry rip into the harms of political correctness in an international debate this week titled ‘What you call political correctness, I call progress.’ Fry said: ‘My problem with political correctness, apart from the fact it’s po-faced, sanctimonious and self-righteous, is that it’s not effective. The two sides of the cultural war are no longer left and right, they’re something deeper, weirder and odder. Each is standing on its own edge yelling at the other and neither is hearing. They’re just making frantic faces at each other.'”

“It’s not just not effective – it’s counter-productive. The more you point out differences, the more segregated society becomes. Since 2017, it has led us to backslide on progress, after years of forward momentum on key issues. It has caused new problems and inflamed tensions. It has hurt us all in the end.”

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This Post Has 74 Comments

  1. ‘2023 was not an easy year for San Francisco’s elite real estate market. The most expensive homes sold this year didn’t endure bidding wars — none of the homes received over-asking bids at all’

    Sacré bleu!

    1. Sounds like they effectively had some reverse bidding wars: Competition between sellers to slash prices by enough to lure desperately wanted buyers.

    2. The decline of SF is not going to slow down any time soon. As if the corona fiasco, open air drug markets, and legalized shoplifting, wasn’t enough, the brain surgeons who run the city decided to put bus lanes down the middle of the main streets. They decided to blow huge amounts of money on completely overhauling the public transportation system to make it easy for vagrants to get across town for ‘business’. The problem is they removed a significant amount of parking to do it and now businesses are closing left and right due to no traffic. Even Van Ness is experiencing rapid decline. Here is a nice tour of the issue:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=addC8_JgH9g

      He has many other tours of the area that are worth watching too. He does a great one of the new bus station to nowhere in SF. Billions of Yellen bucks for an empty station. Winning!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WLG7DXMx-Q

  2. ‘There are years worth of luxury homes on the market. Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty third quarter market analysis found that there are over 18 months worth of luxury homes on the market priced above $1.5 million. For homes priced above $1 million, that number increases to nearly 30 months’ worth’

    That’s quite a shortage you got there Mike.

  3. A letter to the editor in Virginia:

    The headlines say that President Biden is disappointed with his dismal ratings in the public polls and wonders what to do about this.

    Biden deceptively ran for president as a “centrist” but has governed as a left-wing liberal extremist. Little wonder that vast seas of voters have “buyer’s remorse.” They have been deceived, know it, and resent it. I frequently hear the term “we were duped.”

    Biden’s problem is not personal popularity. It comes from consistently dreadful, ineffectual, and failed policies and flawed personnel.

    The blunder in Afghanistan led directly to Ukraine and the GAZA disaster and is likely to lead China to jump on Taiwan.

    The worst inflation in 50 years resulted from wasteful and excessive spending on everything we didn’t need. Record crime rates result from “weakling, no punishment” Democratic policies.

    Our once proud energy independence has been gutted by foolish policies with toy electric cars and the like. Our factories are decreasing in efficiency because of Biden’s “sucker play” with the notoriously criminal trade unions.

    Our educational institutions are being destroyed by horrendously ineffective leadership.

    Biden has nominated cabinet members and other federal officials so extreme that even Democratic senators could not stomach them.

    And capping it all off we have Biden’s emphasis on DEI and similar “preferential for the unqualified” programs, cancerous policies that reward incompetence, stifle intellectual achievement, promote failure, and undermine the economy.

    He has sent forward a witches coven of demonstrably unable administrators, such as the notorious Julie Su as secretary of labor. His hand-picked Vice President is a totally useless jabberwocky dolt, held in low esteem everywhere on the globe.

    His administration is lost in “pronouns” rather than accomplishment. FDR would be ashamed of such blatant bungling!

    I cannot think of one field that Biden has succeeded in, except for enriching the corrupt Biden criminal family, and ridiculing himself by over-defending the nations “addict in chief” Hunter.

    Biden’s universal failures stem from flawed policies, not news sound bites. He is the worst president the U.S. has ever suffered under and should be consigned to the dung heap of history as soon as possible.

    https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/open-forum-reasons-behind-bidens-low-poll-numbers/article_2774dbfd-8ed4-5342-97b5-d99393012bfb.html

    2. They have been deceived, know it, and resent it. I frequently hear the term “we were duped.

      No, those who voted for him were not duped. They WANTED to believe him. And it was painfully obvious during the 2020 campaign that Joetato was already in mental decline, they chose not to see it. And he laid out in black and white what his policies would be: spend like there was no tomorrow. And make energy expensive and push EV’s.

      It was all there, plain to see for anyone who bothered to look.

      But as we like to remind them: no more mean tweets, so we’re all good, right? And now they are going to learn that removing the Dems from office isn’t going to be accomplished at the ballot box.

  5. Canada is pretty well down the tubes….A good number of all those newly arrived will end up in the USA,when they realize how sorry the weather is there, Oh wait , drunkiness is considered a disability in Canada , with all the benifits, it’s no wonder they’re so miserable….

  6. “Now he’s thinking about moving, but he can’t afford it. ‘I’m concerned. I’m afraid something violent is going to happen soon,’ said Dalpes.”

    Denver is a sh*thole.

  8. From the Ireland article:

    “Teaching children that you can be born in the ‘wrong’ body is harmful. Biological sex is real and must be protected.”

    The term for this from the Bible is abomination.

    And the people promoting this are groomers, a term which the Language Police™ has deemed “hate speech” because reasons.

    It’s Marxism, and the further they push this, the more that right wing death squads will become not an option, but a necessity.

    Christmas is over, it’s commie killing time ☠️

  9. A Christmas message from DJT, the HuffPaint website posted this for their pearl clutching

    “But none of which are as evil and ‘sick’ as the THUGS we have inside our Country who, with their Open Borders, INFLATION, Afghanistan Surrender, Green New Scam, High Taxes, No Energy Independence, Woke Military, Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Iran, All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA. MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

    Sounds about right.

    When you have a problem with vermin, time to call in an exterminator.

    1. Why are U.S. troops still in Iraq & Syria? ”

      I heard they were a A trip wire for the virtue signalers in DC

      And we wonder why enlistment is down these days .

      1. And we wonder why enlistment is down these days .

        60,000+ short, last I read.

        Maybe they can recruit some of those border crossers who swear that they “just want a job”. Try that and there will ne a conga line heading south.

        1. And speaking of the north bound conga line.

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

          “Exodus from poverty” – “Exodo de la pobreza” their banners proclaim. They have no skills whatsoever, many if not most are functionally illiterate. They are coming to join the Free Sh!t Army. Be prepared for them to show up in your neighborhood soon.

          And they are ENTITLED. A relative who teaches ESL told me that one of her “refugee” students told her she wanted a tablet for Christmas. Not a Barbie doll, a $400 tablet. They expect us to provide everything because we are “rich”.

          I think these people will be the summer of 2024 rioters because they won’t be getting what they came for, and will be fed up with sleeping in tents and eating in soup kitchens.

          1. What do you mean by “soon,” and where do you expect them to go? I ask this as a serious question.

            I well remember those BLM march-riots in 2020 or so, you know, when they said “Next, we are going to the suburbs.” If there’s going to be a repeat, I need to prepare.

          2. Look at it this way: on top of the millions already sleeping on gym floors and tents, millions more are going to arrive next year. They are being spread everywhere/. I’ve seen the first ones on my little burg. It’s only a matter of time before they wander into my neighborhood and start knocking on doors.

            And I think that the left is going to weaponize them. They are going to be 2024’s BLM/Antifa

          3. By next year, you mean after the Dems rig the next election and spread all these migrants throughout the Red States? Are they going to fill the Blue States first and then go on to Red States? And I wonder what the illegal immigrants who are already here are going to think? But at least it sounds like I have a little time.

            And I’m hoping that the Red States have some plan too.

          4. By next year, you mean after the Dems rig the next election

            No, before, just like last time. And their numbers will dwarf the Antifa/BLM insurrection. Though it’s possible that this time people will fight back. Of course this will give the PTB an excuse to say that there is a civil war, declare martial and suspend indefinitely the elections. That is a risky path for them to take as citizens may very well decide to overthrow the tyrants.

            And I’m hoping that the Red States have some plan too.

            The red states have been busy busing them to blue states, but I’m sure plenty remain in the red states.

  13. New York Times (via Archive) — How Trump Plans to Wield Power in 2025: What We Know (12/26/2023):

    “Mr. Trump is planning to revive and ramp up his first-term attempt to tighten the border with an assault on immigration at a scale unseen in modern American history. Millions of undocumented immigrants would be barred from the country or uprooted from it years or even decades after settling here.”

    Settling?

    They’re criminal invaders, you globalist scum media.

    “Bolstered by agents reassigned from other law enforcement agencies, officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement would carry out sweeping raids aimed at deporting millions of people each year — an order of magnitude more than previous administrations, including his own.

    Under the plan, military funds would be used to erect sprawling camps to hold undocumented detainees. A public-health emergency law would be invoked to shut down asylum requests by people arriving at the border. And the government would try to end birthright citizenship for babies born on U.S. soil to undocumented parents.”

    https://archive.is/K7XEb

    1. The NYT is trying to scare us, unaware that this is exactly what most citizens want to see happen, though at best we will get a sealed border and only those convicted of violent crimes will be deported.

      1. It’s the New York Times.

        I post these articles (always via Archive) so they can be mercilessly mocked for how out of touch they are with the rest of the country.

  14. Related article.

    New York Times (via Archive) — Chaos, Fury, Mistakes: 600 Days Inside New York’s Migrant Crisis (12/26/2023):

    “This fall, an official in the administration of Mayor Eric Adams referred to the city’s obligation to house and feed the 500 new migrants still arriving each day as “our new normal.”

    The migrant crisis in New York is the product of some factors beyond the city’s control, including global upheaval, a federal government letting migrants enter in record numbers without giving most of them a way to work legally, and a unique local rule requiring the city to offer a bed to every homeless person.

    But the dimensions of the problem — the $2.4 billion cost so far, the harsh conditions, the number of migrants stuck in shelters — can also be traced to actions taken, and not taken, by the Adams administration, The New York Times found in dozens of interviews with officials, advocates and migrants.

    As the city raced to improvise a system that has processed more than 150,000 people since last year, it stumbled in myriad ways, many never reported before.”

    https://archive.is/JU1CW

    $2.4 billion is that a lot?

    1. $2.4 billion is that a lot?

      That’s a lot of pancake breakfasts the invaders refuse to eat. They demand eggs and bacon. And yes, they are that entitled, which is amazing considering where they came from. One would think they would be grateful for a free pancake breakfast, but one would be dead wrong. Contrary to their claims, these people do not want to work, they want to join the Free Sh!t Army.

      1. Even if they wanted to work, are there even any jobs for them? Low-skill jobs were saturated in, what 2014? And we haven’t even had the much-heralded recession yet. At best maybe they can make a few bucks under the table in when they aren’t in line collecting gov cheese.

        1. When on camera they say “Quiero trabajar” (I want to work). But they are mostly unskilled and unemployable. And very entitled. They want to join the Free Sh!t Army.

          1. These people have a strong communist mindset. They supported Chavez and Maduro, until everything fell apart in Venezuelan.

      1. gave a green light to every would-be benefits sponger on the planet to enter via our open southern border

        I have to wonder just how many people they planning to let in. For the them The Camp of the Saints wasn’t a warning, it was a how to guide.

        1. “how many people they planning to let in”

          Ask the Anti Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center, and their answer is ALL of them.

          These two organizations have never seen a white population they don’t want replaced, or better yet, exterminated.

          Always be #Naming
          #Naming and #Noticing

  15. Russia Today — Ukrainian opposition politician jailed for five years (12/26/2023):

    “A court in Ukraine has sentenced a member of a banned opposition party to five years behind bars for expressing pro-Russian views in private conversations. The man, whose name has not been revealed, had served on the Cherkasy City Council before becoming an aide to an MP in the country’s parliament.

    According to the prosecutors, the former municipal council member aired his pro-Russian views “in conversations with his close relatives and acquaintances.” The man is said to have extolled Russia’s actions in Ukraine as well as President Vladimir Putin personally.”

    https://www.rt.com/news/589683-ukraine-opposition-politician-jailed-conversations/

    Russia is winning.

    Nobody outside the Beltway (except war pig skank Nikki Haley) supports Ukraine. Nobody.

  16. local real estate experts also suspect the media-fueled ‘doom loop’ image that plagued San Francisco

    “Media fueled?” Tranlation: Oh if only the evil media didn’t paint us in such a bad light, we would have so many buyers, buyers who wouldn’t notice the high property taxes or sidewalks painted with bum-poo..

        1. Worth understanding:

          “‘Monetary changes have their effect only after a considerable lag and over a long period’ and ‘this lag is “rather variable.’”

          — Milton Friedman

          In plain English, this means that after the Fed stops hiking interest rates, as it did recently, the effects of past rate hikes continue to act on the economy for a long future period of uncertain duration. So for example, those housing price declines that already started showing up in the September Case-Shiller index numbers can predictably be expected to continue occurring into the foreseeable future. If history is a reasonable guide, that future may extend out to 2028 or so, comparable to the 1990-1996 or 2006-2012 housing bust episodes.

    2. Washington News
      US homelessness up 12% to highest reported level as rents soar and coronavirus pandemic aid lapses
      FILE – In this photo illuminated by an off-camera flash, a tarp covers a portion of a homeless person’s tent on a bridge overlooking the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. The United States experienced a dramatic 12% increase in homelessness as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans, federal officials said Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
      By KEVIN FREKING
      Updated 3:04 PM PST, December 15, 2023

      WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States experienced a dramatic 12% increase in homelessness to its highest reported level as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans, federal officials said Friday.

      About 653,000 people were homeless, the most since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007. The total in the January count represents an increase of about 70,650 from a year earlier.

      The latest estimate indicates that people becoming homeless for the first time were behind much of the increase.
      …
      https://apnews.com/article/homelessness-increase-rent-hud-covid-60bd88687e1aef1b02d25425798bd3b1

      1. There’s no distinction being made between down and outs and preferred lifestyle bums. Do hard drugs, steal, get in fights. I find it hard to believe these huge increases in bums is because of true down and outs.

        1. It’s basically legal to publically use fentanyl and meth in Denver now, because muh progressive, compassionate drug laws.

        2. While addiction clearly plays a role, there are many other reasons people go homeless, including rents climbing out of reach for low-income workers and medical problems that drain savings and make it impossible to work.

          In San Diego, rents are up by 33%-50% from 2019, with larger percentage increases in low income areas. This gives renters the choice of paying the increase to renew their leases, downsizing to more affordable digs, or leaving town. Those who cannot find suitable rental housing to match their budgets either move in with friends or family members, to the street, or away from San Diego.

        3. Naw – at least here in LA there are enough resources for anyone TRULY down on their luck willing to utilize them and behave themselves and follow the rules. The rest are drug addicted lifestyle bums.

  18. “Residents at a Denver apartment complex say their home is overrun with people experiencing homelessness.

    “People experiencing homelessness.”
    “Unhoused neighbors.”

    Let’s call these people what they are: vagrants and substance abusers.

  19. One particularly telling statistic from last year was that Canada brought in roughly the same raw number of migrants as the United States — a country 10 times the size (and one with far more reasonable real estate prices).

    Globalists gonna globe.

  20. Would an additional 30 million used homes for sale in the US potentially be helpful to young families looking for a starter home or to used home sellers trying to earn a livelihood?

    1. Fortune
      Tides have changed: Housing market experts split on whether the ‘silver tsunami’ of baby boomer downsizing will begin in 2024
      Sydney Lake
      Tue, December 26, 2023 at 3:30 AM PST·4 min read

      This year was a particularly tough one for buyers looking to break into the housing market—and many blame the baby boomers for this year’s low inventory levels, saying that the boomers are holding on to their homes for too long, blocking already-struggling millennials and Gen Zers from homeownership.

      But some experts project that downsizing boomers will bring extra inventory to the market starting next year. If true, that would be a major shift, unlocking the greatest portion of housing wealth held by any generation ($18 trillion, according to a Redfin report released in August.)

      In early November, Meredith Whitney, deemed the “Oracle of Wall Street” by Bloomberg for accurately predicting the 2008 financial crisis, made the call that a “silver tsunami” of baby boomers would start downsizing in 2024 and 2025. Whitney said 51% of people over the age of 50 are set to downsize to smaller homes, citing an AARP report at a Yahoo Finance Invest Conference. This move would bring more than 30 million housing units to the market.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tides-changed-housing-market-experts-113000181.html

      1. would bring more than 30 million housing units to the market.

        Pardon me for noticing, but swapping their larger houses for smaller ones doesn’t add any houses.

        1. True, but lots of boomers will move on from single family homes to retirement care communities, as my parents did a decade ago, freeing up single family homes for younger families. Many Boomers will also spend the final days of their lives in their SFRs, after which their kids will either move in, rent or sell.

          Whether 30 million is a meaningful number without even mentioning the time period is definitely something to question.

      2. But some experts project that downsizing boomers will bring extra inventory to the market starting next year”

        I read that 20 years ago plus a stock market crash

      3. deemed the “Oracle of Wall Street” by Bloomberg for accurately predicting the 2008 financial crisis,

        I seem to recall that this very blog was started precisely to predict the 2008 financial crises — or at least the housing crisis that precipitated the financial crisis.

    2. Or will the government use eminent domain to seize foreclosed homes and move invaders into them, and pay a pittance for them?

      1. They will use taking over the house as a way to settle people’s medicare debt after they are kept alive as zombies feeding the sickcare industry for a few years.

  21. Real Estate
    Trending
    ‘A lot of cold feet’: Homebuyers are backing out of deals at the highest rate on record. Here’s what’s driving this trend
    About 45,000 home purchase agreements were canceled in November.
    Boots covered in snow.
    nikolast 1 / Envato
    By Serah Louis
    Dec. 20, 2023

    Pending home sales are on the rise in the U.S., but while high prices and mortgage rates keep some Americans from buying, many others are picking new digs — and then changing their minds.

    Around 45,000 home purchase agreements fell through in November, or 16.9% of homes that went under contract that month, according to Redfin — the highest percentage in the real estate company’s records. (Redfin previously stated a record 17.2% of agreements fell through in October, but that figure appears to have been adjusted down to 16.8%.)

    “I’m seeing a lot of cold feet,” Redfin sales manager Eric Auciello said in a news release.

    “Home prices are high, mortgage rates are high and insurance costs are high, and when buyers see the final number, a lot of them are backing out.”
    …
    https://moneywise.com/real-estate/homebuyers-backing-out-of-deals-at-record-rate

  22. Visual Capitalist
    Visualizing America’s $1 Trillion Credit Card Debt
    Published 1 month ago
    on November 13, 2023
    By Bruno Venditti

    Americans’ collective credit card debt surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in Q2 2023.

    Between April 1 and June 30, total credit card balances rose by $45 billion compared to Q1 2023, to $1.03 trillion.

    This chart uses data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and WalletHub to illustrate the growing credit card debt in the United States.

    Over $10,000 Balance per Household

    After a sharp contraction in the first year of the pandemic, credit card balances have experienced seven consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth.

    In Q2 2023, credit card balances saw the most significant increase among all debt types, including auto loans, student loans, and mortgages.

    The average household credit card balance was $10,173.87 in June, $2,242.77 below the record set in Q4 2007.

    As the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates at a record pace, banks have followed suit.

    The average credit card charges around 21% interest rate on overdue payments, nearly five percentage points higher than in 2022.
    …
    https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-americas-1-trillion-credit-card-debt/#google_vignette

    1. “The average household credit card balance was $10,173.87 in June, $2,242.77 below the record set in Q4 2007.”

      The timing may be purely coincidental, but Q4 2007 was during the so-called Credit Crunch, when the so-called Great Recession started.

  23. Anecdotal: ran into homeboy at the electrical supply house this morning who is going through a divorce.

    He’s moving into a new apartment in 6 weeks, wifey is probably going back to her parents, and he says he hopes the house will sell soon, as it will be a stretch covering both rent and the mortgage.

    Good luck!

    2. My sister tried to help a friend in Denver with her divorce settlement. Couple hates each other and can’t stand to live together, she wants to get the house and stay in it but can’t afford to keep it on her own income, and if they sell in the current market, it may prove shocking how little they net after paying off their loan.

      There are lots of hard luck tales like this one out there!

      1. Wait – I was told not too long ago that everyone would hold on to their 2% rate forever and never sell. You’re telling me there’s such thing as forced selling? What?!?! That’s unpossible!

  25. ‘The two sides of the cultural war are no longer left and right, they’re something deeper, weirder and odder. Each is standing on its own edge yelling at the other and neither is hearing. They’re just making frantic faces at each other’

    IMO don’t waste time on culture wars.

  26. Saw a trailer for a new movie ” civil war ”

    I wish someone would make a movie of ” flashback ” a dystopian book which parts of will probably come true. But liberal hollyweird hates the author .

    1. “Flashback” by Dan Simmons which is somewhat buried by other Flashback stuff which the internet censors deem much better stories.

      Amazon reviews most people hated it but weirdly its one of my favorite fiction books.

  27. Typical review of the book because none of this could ever happen … too far fetched..
    ” it is so far fetched at times that I just about laughed out loud. Simmons dystopian world begins with Obama in 2008, and is quickly destroyed by absurd overuse of entitlement programs, attempts to appease Muslims globally and locally, the global crash of the dollar due to inflation, and much more that you can probably guess. The US fractures into some satellite states and is invaded by enemies elsewhere. The southwest is taken over by Mexican drug cartels and becomes Nuevo Mexico; some of Mountain Colorado becomes The People’s Republic of Boulder (seriously); and Texas – you guessed it – secedes and becomes the last bastion of 1776 style, tea party havin’, gun totin’, freedom lovin’, good ol ‘merican values. For real.

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