thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

They Knew They Were Going To Have To Sell It For Less

A report from the Bellingham Herald in Washington. “A new Whatcom County housing development will welcome its first resident this month as the project continues construction over the next couple of years. The Church Hill Ranch neighborhood in Ferndale is expected to have 82 for-sale, single-family homes available in the development community when it is complete. ‘Right now we are starting two homes a month and will continue to do that until we see a change in the market. We don’t want to overbuild, and will try to match demand as we come into the spring,’ said Robert Weston of Windermere Real Estate. Two homes have already been reserved for purchase and many more are available for pre-sale, according to Weston. ‘There is definitely a need for single-family homes in Whatcom County and Ferndale,’ Weston said. ‘The Bellingham market seems to have quite a bit of attached or townhome-style new construction available.'”

WESH in Florida. “In the Orlando area, stats give insight into how the housing market faired last year. Sales dropped an average of 20% on everything from single-family homes to townhomes. Realtor Barrett Spray says for his colleagues, 2023 was survival of the fittest. ‘If you were a newer agent in the industry or one who frankly wasn’t very good at their job, you didn’t do well this year. There were a lot of agents who left the business and had difficulties,’ Spray said.”

Lamorinda Weekly in California. “It was an interesting year for buyers and sellers of residential real estate during 2023 in Lamorinda. The higher interest rates as well as a lack of supply kept the number of transactions down for the year. Sales volume was much lower in each community and the average sales price in each community moderated somewhat. Per Contra Costa Association of Realtors statistics reported for closings Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2023, the average Lafayette sales price was $2,230,387. This was a large decrease from the $2,456,834 in 2022. It was $2,124,266 in 2021. (It was $1,248,532 in 2013.) In Moraga, the average sales price was $2,029,624, down from $2,214,037 in 2022. In 2021 it was $1,926,353. The 2013 average was $1,147,207. “

“In Orinda the number of single-family closings was 182. A year ago it was 235. In 2021 there were 373 closings. The reported sales ranged in price from $700,000 to $4.295 million with an average price of $2,091,048. In 2022 it was $2,291,847 and in 2021 it was $2,187,385. In 2013 it was $1,240,158. In Lamorinda in 2022, 118 homes sold for over $3 million. This number dropped to 66 in 2023! In Lafayette alone, 63 sold for $3 million or more in 2022; it fell to 38 last year.”

KSWB in California. “Residents in Chula Vista say that more unhoused people are setting up camp along Industrial Boulevard. City Council met to discuss the issue along the street neighboring the popular Harborside Park and Harborside Elementary School. Last Friday, the city swiped 63 tents from Industrial Blvd. along with nearly 37,000 pounds of trash. Hours later, 17 encampments were back up. As of Tuesday, the number of encampments has grown to 45; a trend taking its toll on local business. Eight-year-old Jaden Rojas practices there and says his ride to the gym is a sight no kid should see. ‘I see people like with knives. I heard people shooting guns in the air, stabbing each other, just on the way there,’ Rojas said.”

7 News Boston in Massachusetts. “The ‘American Dream’ for Wildia Capre always centered around owning her own home. ‘I wanted a piece of my city,’ said Capre who immigrated to Boston as a child. In July 2022, her childhood dream came true when she closed on a multifamily building in Dorchester. However, her dream soon became her nightmare. ‘Most of the cabinets, they are either broken or keyed, they barely open, they are all keyed inside,’ Capre said as she walked in her empty upstairs unit. ‘The microwave is completely gone.’ ‘Screaming, yelling, slamming doors upstairs, dropping things on the floor, breaking things upstairs and at one point she threatened to come downstairs and cave my head in,’ Capre remembered. Records show police were called to the property multiple times for landlord and tenant disputes. Capre even filed for a restraining order against her renter. ‘I have felt anything but safe in this house since I bought it,’ Capre said.”

“‘If you are a corporation, it’s easier for you to deal with these types of things, you have your lawyers, you know, but when you are a first generation, you just bought your house, you basically dished out your life savings and to not have the help at all,’ Capre said. Capre said she is still owed around $7,000 in back rent and wants the court to make her former tenant pay. Their court case is still ongoing. ‘Things don’t just stop because people moved out of your house. The bills don’t just get paid. My mortgage still needs to get paid, the damage needs to be fixed,’ Capre said. Douglas Quattrochi, the executive director of MassLandlords, said he’s also heard from many landlords who are frustrated by the legal process in the state. ‘If you are looking at the courts for a quick redress you’ve done something wrong. The courts are your redress of last resort. It’s going to take a long time, you’re definitely going to lose money; you’ll never get it back,’ Quattrochi said.”

Biznow Dallas-Fort Worth. “After spending the last 18 months shrouded in uncertainty, many real estate professionals in North Texas were reluctant to predict how the market would perform in the new year. A deluge of new apartments coming online in Texas has already begun to dampen pricing power at DFW-area apartments, with January data from MRI Software showing rental rate growth declining by 1.2% over the last 12 months. More than 44,000 units are slated to deliver over the next two years. That trend is expected to continue, which should provide some relief for cost-burdened tenants. This is especially true in the Class-A market, which will comprise the bulk of new deliveries, said RR Living CEO Melanie French.”

“‘When you have a lot coming on board at one time, you’ll see that temporary drop in rates and heavy specials,’ she said. ‘Those that get built want to cross that 90% occupancy and get stabilized, so all of the sudden they are giving two months free.’ ‘ We are kind of oversaturated right now with apartment dwellings in the Dallas-Fort Worth market,’ said Will Pender, regional president at Adolfson & Peterson Construction. ‘I do see a slowdown; I don’t see a sudden stop to it, but we’ve got to fill some of these existing units.'”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “530 Downs Rd., Quinte West, Ont. Asking price: $829,900 (October, 2023). Previous asking price: $849,900 (September, 2023). Selling price: $820,000 (November, 2023). Previous selling price: $859,900 (July, 2023). City dwellers bought this three-bedroom house on a 2.6-acre property just north of Trenton, Ont., in July, 2023. But they soon changed their minds, finding it too far from family. In September, they put it back on the market, priced at $10,000 less than what they had paid two months prior. When buyer interest petered out and competition from other nearby homes increased, the sellers shaved another $20,000 off the asking price.”

“‘They didn’t automatically expect they would sell it for the same as what they got it for,’ said agent Paul Lang. ‘They knew they were going to have to sell it for less. Two homes came up on the same street within a week, so it was dicey. But my sellers were on top of things, and we stayed under the other guys’ price.’ The sellers landed a $820,000 deal, on condition that the buyers sold their property within 45 days, which they pulled off. ‘It was a long condition because they literally just listed their house the day before,’ Mr. Lang said. ‘We’re starting to see a lot more of this. Like the last four [properties] I’ve put offers on in the last week and a half, three of them had a condition of sale of property.'”

The Telegraph in the UK. “Expensive family homes are lingering unsold for the longest time since 2009 as sellers are forced to reduce asking prices at a record rate. Homes that cost between £500,000 and £1m are being advertised for nearly 11 weeks (75 days) before an offer is agreed, according to Hamptons estate agents. The market for these properties has had the biggest slowdown in the past year, with 2023 marking its worst year since 2009. The proportion of sellers reducing their asking prices before making a sale has reached its highest level since Hamptons’ records began in 2012.”

“Although 23pc of sellers in England and Wales sold above their asking price last year, 55pc agreed to a discount. The proportion of sellers achieving at least their asking price fell to its lowest level since 2020. Hamptons said there was a mismatch between what price sellers expected to achieve and what buyers were prepared to pay, resulting in more negotiation in 2023. More price reductions are expected this month on properties that failed to sell in 2023, continuing a trend seen in December as sellers started preparing for the new year.”

From AFP. “Real estate developers building the athletes’ village for this year’s Paris Olympics are struggling to find buyers for their apartments once the Games have finished due to a downturn in the French property market. The vast complex in the deprived Saint-Ouen suburb of northern Paris has been one of the biggest construction sites in Europe over the last four years and is now nearing completion ahead of the start of the Games on July 26. Of the 88 apartments put up for private sale by the Icade group in July ‘around ten’ have sold, according to an executive at the company, with prices now being reduced by around nine percent to 6,900 euros/m2.”

“In a falling market, part of the challenge for developers is drawing middle-class families to an area long associated in the public mind with run-down housing estates and high crime. ‘They haven’t put them on sale too early, they put them on sale with prices that were too high,’ Selim Mouhoubi, who runs the local Stephane Plaza real estate agency in Saint-Ouen, told AFP. ‘It’s always a question of price.'”

The Guardian Australia. “When Veronica and Cliff Baker poured their life savings into purchasing a $1.1m three-bedroom penthouse in Sydney, they hoped it would be where they grew old and hosted their children and grandchildren. They didn’t know that in 2019, they’d be evacuated from Mascot Towers in the city’s inner-south after cracks were discovered in the basement. Nor did they know for the next four-and-a-half years, they’d be in limbo, living in the basement of their daughter’s home while paying thousands of dollars in strata fees, repair bills and legal costs.”

“Over Christmas, the state government – which certified the apartment blocks as fit for habitation – handed down a potential settlement to clear the massive debts of more than 130 apartment owners. But the Bakers – who are now in their late 70s and early 80s – say it will give them ‘next to nothing’ and is being rushed through to avoid creating a precedent for other poorly structured housing. ‘We don’t really know what we’re being offered because it’s gone through so quickly,’ Veronica says. ‘How we’re going to live after this – we don’t really know. To leave us without a home at the age we are … we have no hope at all.'”

“While the Bakers don’t know what their individual lot will be worth, Chandler has indicated in meetings the total sale will be less than $42m – around a 70% loss on pre-evacuation values. If that were the case, the Bakers would be offered less than $400,000 – enough to rent another property, but not to buy. When they left their Mascot Towers property, it was valued at $2.4m. To the Bakers, the proposal comes as a bitter pill. They’ve paid off their mortgage, taken no rental assistance and never missed strata fees, which cost $8,000 a quarter. The Bakers’ son, Craig Croxford, says his elderly parents had been robbed of the ‘happy, secure retirement that they had worked towards their entire lives.’ ‘They believed there would be speedy justice for them and other residents who had done nothing wrong … they never envisaged they’d be in this state of purgatory for five years,’ he says. ‘In many ways, you have more consumer protections when you purchase a fridge or a television in Sydney and it fails on you.'”

South China Morning Post. “Home prices in major Chinese cities fell at the fastest pace in almost nine years in December despite easing measures meant to spur sales, underscoring the challenge of reviving a market when buyers have lost confidence. Prices of new homes fell last month in 62 of the tracked cities, versus 59 in November. Lived-in homes saw lower prices in all 70 cities in December for the first time since October 2014. ‘National new home prices in 2023 demonstrated a trend of ‘rise first then fall’ with a widening contraction, which implies a price-for-volume strategy has been taken in multiple cities,’ said Yan Yuejin, director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institute. ‘In the past, slides in home prices were tightly regulated by the authorities in case of further impacts on the economy. But we can see some cities acquiescing or encouraging developers to offer discounts to spur sales, as it to some extent would help developers with their cash flow.'”

“‘National data reflected an obvious divergence in different cities,’ said Zhang Bo, chief analyst at 58 Anjuke Real Estate Research Institute in Shanghai, adding that the markets in Beijing and Shanghai were relatively resilient while lower-tier cities were still under pressure. ‘Second-hand home pricing is expected to continue its falling trend in the first quarter of this year, dragged by soaring listings,’ he added.”

Related Posts
This Post Has 113 Comments

  1. ‘Eight-year-old Jaden Rojas practices there and says his ride to the gym is a sight no kid should see. ‘I see people like with knives. I heard people shooting guns in the air, stabbing each other, just on the way there’

    Yer ignoring the weather Jaden.

    1. I heard people shooting guns in the air

      Let he who has never engaged in celebratory gunfire on Cinco de Mayo cast the first stone.

  2. ‘offered less than $400,000 – enough to rent another property, but not to buy. When they left their Mascot Towers property, it was valued at $2.4m. To the Bakers, the proposal comes as a bitter pill. They’ve paid off their mortgage, taken no rental assistance and never missed strata fees, which cost $8,000 a quarter. The Bakers’ son, Craig Croxford, says his elderly parents had been robbed of the ‘happy, secure retirement that they had worked towards their entire lives.’ ‘They believed there would be speedy justice for them and other residents who had done nothing wrong … they never envisaged they’d be in this state of purgatory for five years,’ he says.’

    It was still cheaper than renting Veronica and Cliff.

    ‘In many ways, you have more consumer protections when you purchase a fridge or a television in Sydney and it fails on you’

    Good mornin’ Sydney:

    Sydney apartment complex ‘at threat of collapse’ after ‘serious defects’ found in concrete

    https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/markets/sydney-apartment-complex-at-threat-of-collapse-after-serious-defects-found-in-concrete/ar-AA1n6vLp

    1. Sydney apartment complex ‘at threat of collapse’ after ‘serious defects’ found in concrete

      This doesn’t end until captured or incompetent inspectors start being held criminally and financially liable for signing off on shoddy, defect-ridden construction.

  6. “Home prices in major Chinese cities fell at the fastest pace in almost nine years in December despite easing measures meant to spur sales, underscoring the challenge of reviving a market when buyers have lost confidence.

    When housing losses we must eat
    Let us stamp our little feet!

      1. I read that Chevy just pulled all of its unsold Blazer EV’s from the market. From the WSJ:

        Chevy Blazer Troubles Add to GM’s EV Growing Pains
        General Motors halted sales of the new SUV, citing software problems. Automaker also has had issues with its other new EVs.

        1. Hertz is taking it in the shorts too, with their fleet of Teslas. What genius thought that travelers in an unfamiliar city would want to spend their precious vacation time either feeling range anxiety or sitting at a charger twiddling their thumbs? And Hertz is really going to get hit when they need to de-fleet those Teslas after the standard 2-3 years of renting. Teslas have a lousy resale value.

          I have heard that people rented a Tesla to figure out if they wanted to buy one. Answer: a resounding NO. The only use for a Tesla is for the Karen-wifey to hog the empty spot in the garage and virtue-signal round town.

    2. I wonder what fraction of total cars in this country have a dedicated parking spot next to a wall; i.e. a parking spot suitable to plug in a daily driver EV?

      Even houses with a two-car garage usually only have one clear spot for a car, so that’s already only 50% among rich people. Add in condo garages, open apartment lots, street parking, and kiddo’s car in the driveway, and I would be stunned if more than 25% of the cars could be drivable EVs. The EV movement is *clearly* driving us to having no cars at all.

      1. The EV movement is *clearly* driving us to having no cars at all.

        We’ve known for a long time that they want to take our cars away from us, which is the purpose of EV mandates: once your ICE car is too old to run cost effectively, you either buy an unaffordable and functionally inoperable EV, or you take the bus.

      2. “what fraction of total cars in this country have a dedicated parking spot”

        Electrical: you have no idea the amount of labor and materials required to do this.

        And in multi-family, units are individually metered. If parking is all ground level or in a garage, you’ll be tapping into house power, so does the building eat the costs of all the virtue signals? Install a new sub-panel and meter stack just to meter EV parking?

        Any jurisdiction mandating this has no clue what this will actually cost, because virtue signals.

  8. ‘If you are a corporation, it’s easier for you to deal with these types of things, you have your lawyers, you know, but when you are a first generation, you just bought your house, you basically dished out your life savings and to not have the help at all,’

    Folks in our area who are not excited about landlording just hire a property manager to deal with headaches.

    1. None of these properties pencil out to begin with renting them out. Add another 10 to 15% off the top for property management PLUS whatever they have to hire to have fixed and it really doesn’t work.

      Almost like everything is overpriced…………………

      1. If you buy a home at a sufficiently high price, it won’t pencil out to own it at any point from the moment of purchase until when it is sold or returned to the lender.

        Renting the place out will not save the situation, especially if the rent the market will bear is inadequate to cover the mortgage payment plus ownership costs. This applies to anyone presently buying investment properties in San Diego with the intent to rent them out.

    1. Financial Times
      Opinion Markets Insight
      The risk of premature central bank celebrations on inflation
      Fed should look through any temporary weakness in price growth arising as supply chain distortions unwind
      Karen Ward
      Montage of Federal Reserve logo and photo of Jay Powell
      Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell’s argument is that without a need for economic weakness, interest rates don’t need to be as restrictive. They should instead be at what economists would term ‘neutral’
      Karen Ward yesterday

      The writer is chief market strategist for Europe, Middle East and Africa at JPMorgan Asset Management

      Markets are still parsing the implications of the early Christmas present delivered by Jay Powell during his December press conference with comments signalling a sharp shift in the US Federal Reserve’s stance on interest rates.

      As the initial wave of excitement over the shift fades in the new year, there is now a considerable amount of head scratching regarding the change of heart that came just a few weeks after the US Federal Reserve chair was still warning of the possibility of even higher rates. Given the scale of the move in both stock and bond prices since the comments, this does warrant further examination.
      …

    2. Financial Times
      Eurozone interest rates
      Stocks drop as ECB and UK inflation puncture rate cut hopes
      Christine Lagarde says eurozone borrowing costs likely to fall in summer, later than markets expected
      Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, speaking during a panel session
      European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said ‘we have to stay restrictive for as long as necessary’ to ensure inflation keeps falling
      Martin Arnold in Frankfurt and Stephanie Stacey and George Steer in London an hour ago

      Global stocks and bond markets retreated on Wednesday as investors scaled back expectations of swift interest rate cuts in the eurozone, the UK and the US.

      The worldwide sell-off came after European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde signalled that borrowing costs would come down in summer rather than spring. It also followed the first rise in UK inflation in 10 months.

      Lagarde said that market expectations for an ECB rate cut this spring were “not helping” the fight against inflation.

      The region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 was down 1.5 per cent by mid-afternoon, while London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.6 per cent.

      The losses spread to the US as strong retail sales data cast further doubt on the prospect of early cuts by the Federal Reserve.

      The S&P 500 fell 0.7 per cent at the open on Wall Street.

      Emerging market stocks, which are highly sensitive to interest rates in the developed world, also fell. An MSCI index of emerging market equities was down 1.6 per cent.

      “It now seems that hopes for early cuts in rates from global central banks were a tad optimistic,” said Charles Hepworth, investment director at GAM Investments.
      …

    3. Yahoo
      Live
      Updated 15 min ago
      Yahoo Finance
      Stock market today: US stocks fall as rate-cut bets get a reality check
      Karen Friar
      Wed, January 17, 2024 at 7:26 AM PST
      In this article:

      US stocks fell on Wednesday to signal no letup in a rough January, as investors’ optimism for interest rate cuts got a reality check and worries grew about China’s economy.

      The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.3%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) slid 0.7%, set to build on Tuesday’s losing start to the holiday-shortened week. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was down roughly 1.1%.

      Stocks have struggled as policymakers push back against persistent bets that central banks will cut rates early and often in 2024. ECB president Christine Lagarde on Wednesday joined the likes of Federal Reserve governor Chris Waller in warning that expectations of imminent loosening are too high.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-today-us-stocks-fall-as-rate-cut-bets-get-a-reality-check-115810273.html

    5. Markets
      CNBC TV
      Bonds
      10-year Treasury yield surges to five-week high above 4.11% after strong Dec. retail sales
      Published Wed, Jan 17 2024 4:22 AM EST
      Updated 2 Hours Ago
      Hakyung Kim
      Matt Clinch

      Treasury yields rose Wednesday, with the 10-year yield touching almost 4.12% as investors focused on stronger-than-expected December retail sales and the latest remarks from Federal Reserve members.

      The yield on the 10-year Treasury
      note was recently up 4 basis points at 4.108% after briefly getting to 4.117%, the highest since Dec. 13. The 2-year Treasury yield rose by around 11 basis points to trade at 4.335%.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/17/treasury-yields-edge-higher-as-investors-monitor-data-and-fed-comments.html

          1. Hasn’t at least one already uninverted?

            The 2y/30y has uninverted due to a bull steepener.

        2. Via Investopedia: A bear steepener is the widening of the yield curve caused by long-term rates increasing at a faster rate than short-term rates.

          Since 11bp > 4bp, no.

          1. Good catch.

            So what do you call it when the yield curve becomes more deeply inverted because short-term yields rise more than long-term yields rise?

          5. I’m seeing conflicting definitions of a bull steepener.

            Via Investopedia: A bull steepener is a change in the yield curve caused by short-term interest rates falling faster than long-term rates, resulting in a higher spread between the two rates.

            Via FS Investments: A bull steepener occurs when bond prices are rising, and rising faster in the short-term part of the yield curve, sending yields down faster in the short-end.

          6. Regardless, I’ve seen plenty of economic data saying the recession started in October/November of last year.

      2. Dang. I was soooo hoping the Fed would pivot back to lower interest rates, thereby causing yet another round of extravagant hyperinflation in asset prices and ensuring ever more grotesque enrichment of the parasitic investor class at the expense of productive citizens.

    6. MAD MONEY
      Jim Cramer says the market is ready for a pullback
      PUBLISHED TUE, JAN 16 2024 6:51 PM EST
      UPDATED TUE, JAN 16 2024 7:44 PM EST
      Julie Coleman

      KEY POINTS

      – CNBC’s Jim Cramer said the market is primed for a pullback because some stocks have been seeing huge gains too quickly.

      – “While I’m not a bear, we have way too many stocks that have gone parabolic, meaning they’re straight up, and they’re going straight up on nothing,” Cramer said.

      – “I say let this market come in,” he said. “It deserves a chance to correct even as some parts of it already have.”
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/01/16/jim-cramer-says-the-market-is-ready-for-a-pullback-.html

    7. Financial Times
      Global inflation
      IMF official warns central banks against fuelling market hopes for rapid interest rate cuts
      Investor expectations of looser monetary policy could fuel another flare-up of inflation, says Gita Gopinath
      Gita Gopinath speaks in an interview while at Davos
      Gita Gopinath said: ‘Based on the data we have seen, we would expect rate cuts to be in the second half, not in the first half’
      Sam Fleming in Davos and Martin Arnold in Frankfurt an hour ago

      A top IMF official has warned central banks need to move cautiously on cutting interest rates this year, as market expectations of looser monetary policy could fuel another flare-up of inflation.

      Gita Gopinath, the first deputy managing director of the IMF, said inflation is set to decline less sharply than it did last year because of tight labour markets and high services inflation in the US, euro area and elsewhere.

      This points to a “bumpy” path towards lower inflation, she said, suggesting official rates should not be lowered until the second half of the year.

      “The job is not done,” Gopinath told the Financial Times during an interview in Davos, Switzerland. “[Central banks] must move cautiously. Once you cut rates, it solidifies expectations of further rate cuts and you could end up with much larger loosening — which can be counter-productive.”

      “Based on the data we have seen, we would expect rate cuts to be in the second half, not in the first half,” she said.
      …

  11. Denver7:

    “Mayor Mike Johnston is making another trip to the nation’s capital this week to press federal leaders to do more to help the city manage the migrant crisis.

    The mayor’s office said Johnston “will continue urging federal lawmakers to pass legislation to manage the migrant crisis and support American cities, like Denver, in addition to attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors.”

    Johnston is pushing for more work authorization, a coordinated entry program, and more federal funding.

    https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/denver-mayor-visits-nations-capital-to-push-for-more-help-on-migrant-crisis

    1. “Denver7 spoke with one of the families staying at the shelter, a family of four adults and four children.

      Like others fleeing the economic crisis in Venezuela, they said they came to the U.S. seeking a better life.

      “We wanted to come here to the United States because we want to work, we want to get a house. We didn’t have that house in Venezuela. We couldn’t work in Venezuela,” one of the mothers said.”

      We want to get a house?

      1. We want to get a house?

        And a two cars. Even though we are unskilled and are functionally illiterate.

        1. It’s beginning to dawn on the other members of the Free Sh*t Army that the invasion of new benefits spongers is going to mean a shrinking share of the welfare pie.

          1. It wouldn’t be a stretch for the invaders to eventually outnumber blacks on the dole. And there are only so many Section 8 vouchers to hand out. I recall that Denver has a lottery to get onto the waiting list, which is years long.

            As the saying goes: Open borders and the welfare state are incompatible.

            The invaders really thought that they would be handed the “American dream” on a silver platter upon arrival, which is what the NGO workers told them. Now that they are sleeping in tents and church basements they are starting to wonder what went wrong.

        2. She *WILL* get a house, and two cars, and taxpayers will pay for all of it, because Great Replacement.

          1. The problem with letting 10-20 million people conga line across the border is that it takes a lot of money to enroll them in the Free Sh!t Army. These people are still going to be camping in the Quakers (Friends) church basement come next summer.

            After arriving in Colorado, they were able to get an apartment in Aurora.

            But their stay was short.

            They were unable to pay the rent, which was over $2,000, and were evicted.

            Welcome to America.

      2. “economic crisis”

        Which is not a basis for seeking asylum.

        Abbot should start dropping off these migrants at the HQ offices of the NGOs that are bringing them here. Or at the Mexican embassy.

    2. Mayor Mike Johnston is making another trip to the nation’s capital this week to press federal leaders to do more to help the city manage the migrant crisis.

      He must be getting desperate. I’m sure the city’s unions have told him there will be hell to pay should there be a single layoff to fund an invader.

    3. New corner sighting: mother and child about 7yo selling flowers at the intersection of University and Evans, right across the street from DU.

  12. [Here is some Wednesday morning humor. This article wasn’t meant to be humorous but … hey.]

    The Texas power grid is on the verge of another fatal collapse. Green energy is absent

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-power-grid-verge-another-153815592.html

    The situation on the Texas power grid this week is going to be a crucial test not just for the grid’s managers at ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), but also for natural gas suppliers and generators. As weather conditions continued to evolve and deteriorate across the state, ERCOT has issued a conservation request to business and private customers to be in effect from 6am to 10am CST, a time of peak power demand and low renewable production.

    ERCOT’s request blamed the latest failure of the state’s huge wind industry on “unseasonably low wind” conditions, …

    [ “unseasonably low win conditions”. Yeah, right.]

    … but the reality that the wind tends to die down as temperatures drop is one of the most open secrets in the history of weather. ERCOT officials cannot control weather conditions, obviously, but they can anticipate they will get a lot less wind contribution than their models predict whenever the weather is not ideal. That’s just a given.

    Equally obvious is the fact that they will get zero generation from the state’s ballyhooed solar farms when the sun isn’t shining, and ERCOT’s managers should have learned last summer that the battery storage facilities will also fail to deliver much whenever the weather is too hot or, as it is this week, too cold.

    The state’s generation mix taken from ERCOT’s app at 7:19am. Monday tells that story pretty clearly. What we see is 0 per cent contribution from solar, 0.8 per cent from power storage, and just 6.8 per cent from wind. Meanwhile, the “fossil fuels” so detested by the state’s legacy media sites were kicking in 84.9 per cent of total generation, with a whopping 67.2 per cent coming from the state’s natural gas industry.

    So, as is always the case on the Texas grid despite all the renewables-boosting propaganda from the state and national media, the situation for consumers will come down to whether natural gas producers can keep their wells pumping, natural gas pipeline companies can keep the gas flowing through their pipelines, and natural gas power generators can prevent their plants from freezing up. A lot of that failed to happen during Winter Storm Uri in February, 2021, and massive blackouts lasting for days at a time resulted in the deaths of 300 or more of my fellow Texans.

    The problem was made a lot worse back then because ERCOT turned off the electricity to wells, compressors, and pipelines …

    [“ERCOT turned off the electricity to wells, compressors, and pipelines.” What a bunch of dummies.]

    … ERCOT, Texas regulators, and the industry itself have worked to get grid-critical sites properly identified since 2021 to prevent that mistake from happening again. If that claim is accurate, then the grid should be able to maintain service to all Texas customers during this severe weather event. If that claim is not accurate, then there could be trouble.

    But the bottom line here in either event is clear: The success or failure of the Texas power grid when the chips are down is entirely related to the performance not of renewables, but natural gas. This is a time for the industry to shine. All Texans should be grateful to the thousands of men and women working in the gas industry to make that happen.

    1. I got a message from Xcel last weekend requesting that I turn the thermostat down a couple of degrees. There were no natgas outages and the electricity (not from Xcel) was uninterrupted.

      Of course, since so many people are broke they already turned down their thermostats.

    2. It could be that close to a million people have moved to Texas in the last few years. I know in my area, the Carolina’s I can’t figure out how the grid is handling the influx of people….just in Charlotte we’ve been adding over 100 people per day for many years. I had it too….I want it to stop…..traffic is horrible. I travel for work around both states and it’s nothing but new neighborhoods and large warehouses…..everywhere! It sucks!

      1. That is just domestic inbounds, I reckon a million invaders showed up just since summer. They want heat too and they want it for free. Luckily Texas is one of the most southern states so it stays nice and warm there all the time, right? I’m sure it will be fine.

        1. They want heat too and they want it for free.

          I just paid my nat gas bill: $150. In the summer when it’s just the stove and water heater it’s about $25.

          How do other states deal with the invaders? Are they shoving them into derelict and unused motels like they are in Denver? Well at least some of them, from what I hear every room is taken and the waiting lists are long. And the city is out of money so it can’t rent more rooms.

  13. Billionaire backers of new California city reveal map and details of proposed development

    https://apnews.com/article/new-california-city-tech-silicon-valley-4097f0872c4e18ca9d75776e2d8974d9

    A company backed by Silicon Valley billionaires that stealthily snapped up more than $800 million dollars worth of rural land for what it has said will be a new utopian green city between San Francisco and Sacramento is now taking the pitch to voters.

    Jan Sramek, the former Goldman Sachs trader spearheading the effort, will speak Wednesday about his plans to create a walkable California city flush with affordable housing and jobs on what’s now mostly farmland. His California Forever company needs approval from Solano County voters to bypass protections put in place in 1984 to keep agricultural land from being turned into urban space.

    He’ll reveal ballot language that will provide the most detailed look yet of the community envisioned by he and his billionaire backers, like philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. If the group can secure 13,000 signatures from Solano County voters, the measure will go before voters this November.

    They picture 20,000 homes for 50,000 residents between Travis Air Force Base and the tiny city of Rio Vista, with rowhouses and apartment buildings within walking distance to jobs, schools, bars, restaurants and grocery stores. Eventually the city could grow to 400,000 people, the group says, but only if it can create at least 15,000 jobs that pay above average wages.

    Created in 2017, California Forever has purchased more than 78 square miles (202 square kilometers) of farmland in Solano County. The plan calls for $400 million to help Solano County residents buy homes in the proposed community.

    Sramek made his pitch in a series of December town halls around the county, but the new wave of transparency has not quieted critics who have been skeptical of the project since the mysterious land-buying spree began years ago.

    “This is a pipe dream,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, who was furious with backers for their secrecy about property close to a U.S. Air Force base.

  14. Video: EU President Calls For Globalist Control Over All Information

    Tells Davos elite that their top priority should be “industrial-scale disinformation”

    https://modernity.news/2024/01/17/video-eu-president-calls-for-globalist-control-over-all-information/

    President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen addressed elites at the World Economic Forum in Davos Tuesday, calling for overarching globalist control over the flow of all information in the digital age.

    “The top concern for the next two years is not conflict, or climate, it is disinformation and misinformation,” von der Leyen proclaimed, adding “The boundary between online and offline is getting thinner and thinner, and this is even more important in the era of generative AI.”

    Addressing the elite as “Excellencies,” and personally naming “dear” Klaus Schwabb in her introduction, von der Leyen further called for the development of “a new global framework for AI risks,” and a vow to “drive global collaboration” to prevent the spread of ‘misinformation’ (information they don’t want you to know about).

    She continued, “Many of the solutions lie not only in countries working together but, crucially, on businesses and governments, businesses and democracies working together,” adding that “While governments hold many of the levers to deal with the great challenges of our time, business have [sic] the innovation, the technology, the talents to deliver the solutions we need to fight threats like climate change or industrial-scale disinformation.”

    Furthermore, von der Leyen said 2024 is “the biggest electoral year in history”, and expressed concern that “freedom comes with risks.”

    “There will always be those who try to exploit our openness, both from inside and out. There will always be attempts to put us off track. For example, with disinformation and misinformation,” she added.

    She also touted the EU Digital Services Act, which under the guise of preventing ‘hate speech’, establishes controls over all information on social media platforms.

    “With our Digital Services Act, we defined the responsibility of large internet platforms on the content they promote and propagate,” von der Leyen bragged.

    She concluded “there is no doubt that we face the greatest risk to the global order in the post-war era. But in my mind, there is also no doubt that we can move forward with optimism and resolve.”

    There can be no doubt that the number one target of these unelected technocrats is Elon Musk and X, given that they already have every other major platform in their pockets.

    At last year’s WEF confab, Věra Jourová, who holds the incredibly Orwellian title of The European Commission’s Vice-President for Values and Transparency, commented that Musk’s “freedom of speech absolutism,” doesn’t jive with new EU online regulations.

    “Our message was clear: we have rules which have to be complied with, otherwise there will be sanctions,” Jourová declared, adding “The time of the Wild West is over,” and further having the gall to declare “we are the protectors of freedom of speech as well.”

    This year at Davos, Jourová has been meeting with the heads of Meta and YouTube among others to make sure they “play by the rules”:

    1. Europe is a joke.

      It’s illegal to discuss the TRUTH that they have a serious muslim immigrant rape problem, because reasons.

    2. I saw that clip of von der Leyen. She seriously sounded like a Bond villain plotting world domination, only with the Internet instead of fancy missiles. Is there any legal way to stop this?

      1. only with the Internet instead of fancy missiles

        Space based lasers!

        Kidding aside, this truly feels apocalyptic. This makes the Third Reich or Imperial Japan look like child’s play. I fully expect the Return of the Mandatory Needle this year. Many will obediently roll up their sleeves.

  15. – Illegal immigration: Close the border. Duh! Impeach anyone in public office supporting the unelected globalist WEF open border ‘policy’ for violating their oath of office and U.S. Constitution. This is a global problem. This is treason. This is war on Western Civilization.

    – Eliminate the incentives. No citizenship, voting rights, welfare, healthcare, housing, or other free sh*it (paid for by taxpayers; there is of course no free sh*t) for illegals. I’m fine with a path to citizenship for legal immigrants. Think Ellis Island. Bring skills. Screen for disease, terrorism, criminals. Means test.

    – November ‘24 election critical to change current crash landing trajectory. Not sure of events post election if no change in current Leftist administration. USA can’t survive Obama 4.0.

    – Need to muck out the stables in Congress. Now doing more harm than good. Certainly not doing the job we elected them to do. Taxation without representation all over again.

    – Does anyone else in America give a rip, or is it Bread and Circuses all over again?

    1. They give a rip, but they are either being silenced by the media or their ballots are being swamped. Why do you think they’re going after Elon Musk? He broke their carefully cultivated monopoly on cancel culture. But the real threat is still the mail-in voting.

      2. “But the real threat is still the mail-in voting.”

        Is that because mail-in voters lean left?

        1. No, it’s because the people who deliver the mail-in “ballots” lean left. Don’t pretend to be stupid.

          1. “I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how.” – Joseph Stalin

          2. The problem with mail-in ballots is the blatant disregard or changing of laws regarding signature verification as well as receipt and postmark dates. Marc Elias was a very busy man in the run-up to the 2020 election.

        1. I’m sure there are many who would like the orange man to meet his final demise.

          But not necessarily that. There are many scenarios where the civil order could completely break down, and I suspect that the invaders conga lining across the border will play a role in that.

    4. I’m fine with a path to citizenship for legal immigrants. Think Ellis Island. Bring skills. Screen for disease, terrorism, criminals. Means test.

      Yesterday I finally got my 10 unlimited stay visa and in order to get it I had to provide an FBI background check, numerous blood tests and x-rays, document a livable level of cash flow and open a fixed term bank deposit. It took years. I hear from people here that the US is so hard to get into. But of course, they are talking about doing it legally.
      We should be following the same protocol for the people at the southern border

    1. Hybrid work — some days in office, some days work at home.
      Remote work — no days in office at all.

      The distinction is pretty important. With hybrid work, you still need to live in the area where the office building is. Hybrid work requires about 60% of the office space that full-time in office does.

      With remote work, you can live in Peoria, or in Ada County Idaho… or in Mumbai (oops). No office space needed at all.

  17. The Inverted Yield Curve: What It Means and How to Navigate It
    August 22, 2023
    The 3-Month Treasury Bill’s rate of 5.56% is currently the highest among US treasuries as of August 16, 2023. It was near 0% at the beginning of last year.

    The 3-month rate is currently higher than the 3-year by 88 basis points. At the end of May, the 1-Month Treasury Bill eclipsed 6% for the first time ever, and was the first treasury instrument to do so since 2002.

    Chart of US Treasury Yield Curve as of August 16th 2023
    Download Visual | Modify in YCharts

    This is a situation known as an inverted yield curve. An inverted yield curve is when shorter-term notes pay higher effective yields than longer-term bonds. The yield curve is considered “normal” when longer-term bonds yield more than shorter-term ones.

    Much like your favorite (or most hated) theme park roller coaster, an inverted yield curve signals that the broader economy might be headed for some twists and turns. Yield curve inversions are regarded by many as warning signs of a recession, as they have consistently preceded US recessions. They also indicate uncertainty in equity markets.

    How much should you worry about this yield curve inversion? Is a recession coming? And if so, how soon? Who tends to be the winners and losers of an inverted yield curve?

    What Inverted Yield Curves Mean for Recessions

    Generally, investors receive higher returns when they agree to commit their cash for longer time periods. So the fact that an investor today could lock in a 5.52% effective annual yield with principal paid back in one month, but just 4.28% for one decade doesn’t sound quite right, does it?
    …
    https://get.ycharts.com/resources/blog/inverted-yield-curve-what-it-means-and-how-to-navigate-it/

  19. ‘Right now we are starting two homes a month and will continue to do that until we see a change in the market. We don’t want to overbuild…The Bellingham market seems to have quite a bit of attached or townhome-style new construction available’

    Wa happened to my shortage Bob?

  20. ‘The reported sales ranged in price from $700,000 to $4.295 million with an average price of $2,091,048. In 2022 it was $2,291,847 and in 2021 it was $2,187,385’

    It’s a good thing everybody put 20% down!

    Lamorinda is an area within Contra Costa County, California in the United States. The name is a portmanteau from the names of the three cities that make up the region: Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda.

    Lamorinda sits east of the Berkeley Hills between the Caldecott Tunnel and Walnut Creek. It is also referred to as the “Highway 24” corridor, referring to the state highway that is the primary thoroughfare in the region. Many residents commute west through the tunnel to San Francisco and Oakland or east to Walnut Creek and Concord.

    As of 2010 the three cities had a combined population of 57,552, with Lafayette having the largest population and Moraga the smallest.

  21. ‘Things don’t just stop because people moved out of your house. The bills don’t just get paid. My mortgage still needs to get paid, the damage needs to be fixed,’ Capre said…‘If you are looking at the courts for a quick redress you’ve done something wrong. The courts are your redress of last resort. It’s going to take a long time, you’re definitely going to lose money; you’ll never get it back’

    Wildia, Doug is saying yer fooked, but you should probably stop eating for a few months and get a lawyer.

  22. ‘A deluge of new apartments coming online in Texas has already begun to dampen pricing power at DFW-area apartments…rental rate growth declining by 1.2% over the last 12 months…‘When you have a lot coming on board at one time, you’ll see that temporary drop in rates and heavy specials,’ she said. ‘Those that get built want to cross that 90% occupancy and get stabilized, so all of the sudden they are giving two months free’

    The effective rent is the only number that matters and I can’t remember the last time I read that term regarding apartment rents.

  23. ‘‘They knew they were going to have to sell it for less. Two homes came up on the same street within a week, so it was dicey. But my sellers were on top of things, and we stayed under the other guys’ price’

    That’s the spirit Paul, outstanding!

  24. ‘Of the 88 apartments put up for private sale by the Icade group in July ‘around ten’ have sold, according to an executive at the company, with prices now being reduced by around nine percent to 6,900 euros/m2…They haven’t put them on sale too early, they put them on sale with prices that were too high’

    Now that is a good point Selim.

  25. ‘In the past, slides in home prices were tightly regulated by the authorities in case of further impacts on the economy. But we can see some cities acquiescing or encouraging developers to offer discounts to spur sales, as it to some extent would help developers with their cash flow’

    You go Xitler, fook those previous buyers!

  26. GTA Condo Real Estate Update – Overcrowding In GTA Condos (Jan 10, 2024)
    Team Sessa Real Estate
    26 minutes ago

    In this episode we take a look at the current GTA Condo Markets – Toronto, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Brampton, Mississauga, Ajax, Whitby, Pickering. We also look at market trends for week ending January 10, 2023. Lastly we discuss a growing trend of overcrowding in GTA condos and why this can affect buyers and sellers.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Anhv0dq9E

    16:48.

  28. Feds Asked Banks to Comb Customer Data For ‘MAGA,’ ‘Trump’ Terms

    By Michael Katz | Wednesday, 17 January 2024 07:16 PM EST

    The federal government asked financial institutions to rummage through customer data if terms such as “MAGA” or “TRUMP” were used in transactions, the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government revealed Wednesday, citing documents it obtained.

    Transactions might also have been flagged by individuals who shopped at stores such as Cabela’s or Dick’s Sporting Goods, or purchased religious texts like a bible, the committee said in a news release.

    “This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious concerns about the FBI’s respect for fundamental civil liberties,” the committee said.

    https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/jim-jordan-fbi-christopher-wray/2024/01/17/id/1149988/

    2. Transactions might also have been flagged by individuals who shopped at stores such as Cabela’s or Dick’s Sporting Goods,

      So now buying a pair of running shoes in considered a terrorist activity?

  29. So far all the experts are still predicting unlimited US housing price appreciation without end.

    Is anyone with an MSM bully pulpit suggesting US home prices, which generally increased by 50% or so in the previous four years, might follow home prices in other leading economies, such as China and Germany, into the CR8R?

    And if this happened, would the experts currently predicting US real estate will keep going up forever eat buckets of crow, or simply lie and deny they were wrong?

    1. Local News
      San Diego home sales dropped 21 percent in December 2023
      The number of home sales in San Diego County during December 2023 was 21 percent lower than the previous year with prices only slightly down.
      Author: CBS 8 Staff
      Published: 12:15 PM PST January 17, 2024
      Updated: 12:15 PM PST January 17, 2024

      SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Home sales saw a steep drop in December 2023 compared to the previous year, according to new data from the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors.

      The association found that the sale of single-family homes dropped by more than 21 percent last month and fell nearly nine percent when compared to just one month prior.
      …
      https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/san-diego-home-sales-dropped/509-48ec6ace-ed2b-4791-bf1d-b8b99099cdb4

    2. Home Prices
      San Diego home prices dip again to close out 2023
      December’s sales pace was essentially unchanged from the revised 223,940 homes sold in November
      By City News Service • Published January 17, 2024 • Updated on January 17, 2024 at 11:45 am

      Home prices declined across San Diego County in December 2023, mirroring a statewide trend, while statewide home sales in 2023 experienced their steepest decline since 2007, the California Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

      The median price of an existing single-family home in San Diego County in December was $911,500, down from $952,000 in November but higher than the $850,000 in December 2022.

      Statewide, the median price of an existing single-family home was $819,740 in December, down slightly from $822,200 in November, but above the $770,490 in December of 2022.
      …
      https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/san-diego-home-prices-dip-again-to-close-out-2023/3407403/

      1. “…statewide home sales in 2023 experienced their steepest decline since 2007, the California Association of Realtors said Wednesday.”

        Can anyone besides me recall what happened next after that steep sales decline in 2007?

        – The whole subprime mortgage lending industry collapsed.

        – Lehman Brothers and a few other major lending institutions collapsed.

        – Housing prices went into a tailspin until the Fed came to the rescue, starting with Ben Bernanke’s January 2012 white paper on housing.

        https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/other-reports/files/housing-white-paper-20120104.pdf&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjR4IaTxeaDAxUthu4BHehtCvwQFnoECAgQAg&usg=AOvVaw3KugUR8bumVXiZeSJgRCB5

          1. “The U.S. Housing Market: Current Conditions and Policy Considerations
            The ongoing problems in the U.S. housing market continue to impede the economic recovery.
            House prices have fallen an average of about 33 percent from their 2006 peak, resulting in about
            $7 trillion in household wealth losses and an associated ratcheting down of aggregate consumption.”

            That was a lot of CR8R in housing prices from 2006-2012 before the Fed road in to rescue current homeowners and throw the younger generation under the bus.

          2. Success Real estate
            Boomers’ dominance of the housing market is so complete that empty nesters own twice as many large homes as millennials with kids, Redfin analysis reveals
            “The landscape has transformed over the last decade: 10 years ago, young families were just as likely as empty nesters to own large homes.”
            BY Alena Botros
            January 16, 2024 3:21 PM EST
            Group of boomers playing frisbee outside of their mansion.

            Boomers are sitting on lots of large houses. Getty Images

            We all know that baby boomers are dominating the housing market, as they either own their homes outright or have locked-in low mortgage rates, while their properties appreciate in value. But Redfin reveals it’s perhaps even worse than you thought, with an analysis suggesting empty nesters are sitting on all the biggest homes that millennials could be using to raise their children instead.
            …
            https://fortune.com/2024/01/16/redfin-baby-boomers-empty-nesters-millennials-housing-market

          3. Fox News
            Population rate decline in the US triggers economic alarms from experts: ‘Calamitous effect’
            CDC data shows birth rates fell by 22% since 2007
            By Lindsay Kornick Fox News
            Published October 24, 2023 4:30am EDT
            Declining birth rates happen in prosperous nations: Ashley St. Clair

            The Babylon Bees Ashley St. Clair discusses the declining birth rate in America and the growing trend of being unmarried without kids on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’

            Falling fertility rates in the United States will trigger a “calamitous effect” on the economy if it hasn’t already, experts told Fox News Digital.

            According to CDC data, between 2007 and 2022, the U.S. birth rate fell by 22%. Not a single state reported an increase in birth rates, although some experienced a slower decline than others.

            “The U.S. birth rate is steeply declining, mimicking the patterns of other developed nations worldwide, causing the global population to stop growing sometime this century. The U.S. and other developed nations dropped below the replacement rate in recent years, meaning we are not producing enough children to maintain the population, much less grow it,” demographic strategist Bradley Schurman explained to Fox News Digital. “Today, three-quarters of U.S. counties and half of the states have deaths outpacing births.”
            …
            https://www.foxnews.com/media/population-rate-decline-us-triggers-economic-alarms-experts-calamitous-effect

        2. Falling sales lead falling prices. The recent dip in mortgage rates will be enough to bring out sellers now that peak prices are in the rear view mirror, but that recent dip in mortgage rates isn’t enough to bring out buyers with high prices, still relatively higher rates, inflation and now mounting job losses.

    3. Home
      The sun sets behind the coal-fired power plant Scholven of the Uniper energy company in Gelsenkirchen, Germany
      AP Photo/Martin Meissner

      German housing prices at record low
      Residential property prices fell by 9.9% year-on-year, the steepest decline since the start of data collection in 2000, the federal statistics office said on Friday.
      By Reuters
      Published on 22/09/2023 – 15:23•Updated 10/10/2023 – 10:01
      Residential property prices in Germany have fallen by their steepest decline since data collection began in 2000, with larger cities seeing harsher drops.

      German housing prices fell by the most since records began in the second quarter as high interest rates and rising materials costs took their toll on the property market in Europe’s largest economy, according to government data.

      Residential property prices fell by 9.9% year-on-year, the steepest decline since the start of data collection in 2000, the federal statistics office said on Friday.
      Prices fell by 1.5% on the quarter, with steeper declines in larger cities than in more sparsely populated areas.
      …
      https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/09/22/german-housing-prices-at-record-low

    4. Yahoo
      Brick-And-Mortar Meltdown: Germany’s Unprecedented Housing Crisis
      Aditi Ganguly
      December 4, 2023·4 min read
      In this article:

      Skyrocketing interest rates around the globe have culminated in a worldwide housing crisis as economies deal with the problem of burgeoning unaffordable housing.

      Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has been dealing with slower construction amid stagnant demand, causing the property market to shrink rapidly.

      “The homebuilding or construction sector is the first victim of higher interest rates,” Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro research and chief economist for Germany at ING Group, told CNBC. Brzeski pointed to increased costs of material and energy as well as overall financing costs as the key reasons for the collapse.

      Plummeting Housing Demand

      Like the U.S., Germany is grappling with declining homebuilding sentiment as construction costs rapidly rise because of sky-high interest rates and inflationary pressures.

      Despite the headwinds, housing demand has remained strong in the U.S. That is not the case in Germany, which is struggling with declining home prices because of stagnant demand.

      German residential property prices fell by 9.9% year over year in the second quarter, marking the steepest decline since 2000. Analysts predict a greater-than-anticipated decline in German home prices this year and next, attributing it to diminished demand resulting from elevated interest rates, according to a recent Reuters poll.

      “Higher interest rates forced about half of all potential buyers out of the housing market … and therefore will lead to price reductions in the German housing market in this and the next few years,” BayernLB senior real estate analyst Sebastian Schnejdar said.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brick-mortar-meltdown-germanys-unprecedented-192516723.html

    5. China’s property market slide worsens despite government support
      By Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo
      January 16, 2024 8:11 PM PST
      Updated a day ago
      Residential buildings are pictured near a construction site in Beijing, China April 14, 2022. Picture taken April 14, 2022.
      REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

      – Home prices down in monthly and annual terms in December

      – More cities saw home prices fall from a month earlier

      – Property sales fell at fastest pace in four months

      BEIJING, Jan 17 (Reuters) –

      China’s troubled property market ended last year with the worst declines in new home prices in nearly nine years, despite government efforts to prop up the sector that was once a key driver of the world’s second largest economy.

      New home prices in December logged their steepest drop since February 2015, while property sales measured by floor area fell 23% in December from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Wednesday.

      At the same time, property investment by developers in December fell year-on-year at the fastest clip since at least 2000, according to Reuters calculations based on NBS data.
      Overall for 2023, property investment dropped 9.6%, roughly the same as the slide in 2022.

      The sustained downturn in the sector that accounts for around a quarter of China’s economy could drag on the country’s broader recovery and heap pressure on policymakers to roll out fresh support.

      “The success of 2024 will largely be driven by how effective officials are in turning the property market around,” Moody’s Analytics said in a note on Wednesday.
      …
      https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-dec-new-home-prices-fall-fastest-pace-since-feb-2015-2024-01-17/

      1. The hair-of-the-dog hangover cure works great, up until when the alcoholic eventually dies from excessive drinking.

  30. JPM’s Jamie Dimon believes Satoshi Nakamoto will either increase or “erase” Bitcoin supply
    The JPMorgan CEO’s unfounded theories on Bitcoin have attracted massive backlash.
    Mike Dalton
    Jan. 17, 2024 at 10:28 pm UTC
    JPM’s Jamie Dimon believes Satoshi Nakamoto will either increase or “erase” Bitcoin supply
    Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.

    Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, took aim at Bitcoin once again during an interview with CNBC at Davos 2024 on Jan. 17.

    Dimon expressed an unusual theory in which he suggested that Bitcoin (BTC) could be eliminated once its maximum supply is issued. He said:

    “I think there’s a good chance that … when we get to that 21 million Bitcoins, [Satoshi Nakamato] is going to come on there, laugh hysterically, go quiet, and all Bitcoin is going to be erased.”
    …
    https://cryptoslate.com/jpms-jamie-dimon-believes-satoshi-nakamoto-will-either-increase-or-erase-bitcoin-supply/

    1. “…and all Bitcoin is going to be erased.”

      The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.

      Job 1:21

  31. The New York Times literally informs the ungrateful poors that the chocolate ration has been increased from 20g to 15g.

    Why Are Voters So Upset? Consider the Snickers Bar (1/18/2024):

    “Why aren’t voters recognizing the decline in the inflation rate? Because voters are humans, and humans don’t think about inflation rationally. To understand why, let’s look at a Snickers bar.

    Most of us will spend far more of our budget on something like a television. With $1,500 a consumer could buy a high-end 55-inch television, or almost four Snickers bars a day for a year. Because items in the consumer price basket are weighted, roughly, by how much money consumers spend on that item in a year, television prices are more important than Snickers bars in the calculation of inflation.

    However, we probably buy a Snickers bar much more frequently, perhaps even daily. So we’re much more likely to remember the price of the Snickers bar and forget the price of the television we bought last year. Consumers tend to think only about the prices of high-frequency purchases — food for the family and fuel for the S.U.V.”

    https://archive.is/mZi9y

    Note that this, and any similar article from globalist scum media, refuse to admit this country has a cost of living CRISIS.

  32. An article so bad, words can barely describe, the author is Canadian if that tells you anything.

    The unwelcome unvaxxed (1/15/2024):

    “The unvaccinated citizen is a pesky creature, found in public landscapes, especially discount grocery outlets and anti-government rallies. If you hear the noxious spreaders’ distinctive lower respiratory rasping in the frozen foods section, head straight to the safety of the produce section or quit the store for the closest Liberal Party fundraiser.

    If you asked me in March 2020 if I’d still be COVID-vigilant in January 2024, I’d have scoffed. By 2024, I imagined optimistically, the scientists would have an effective vaccine and we would have beat this thing — together — as a community of caring, concerned citizens.

    Yet, in my age group, 59 to 69, only 27 per cent of Canadians have their booster shots up to date.

    After almost four years on the pandemic front lines, medical staff are burnt out. Yet many yahoos can’t be bothered to get a vaccine booster. Unboosted is unvaccinated.

    But it’s not just about you. The complete lack of concern for others is repugnant. We don’t just vaccinate for self-protection but to protect the vulnerable. The refusal to vax is selfish. It’s reckless. And it’s burdening our overtaxed health-care system.

    I’m here to call out the unvaccinated. It’s been four years. I’m tired of nodding my head patiently while they spout misinformation and ignorant rationales. The unvaxxed are about as welcome at my house as COVID or Pierre Poilievre. I now equate the two. Unvaccinated = COVID carrier.

    Vaccine aversion carries a shameful legacy. Let’s summarize the talking points of an antivaxxer’s forthcoming obituary:

    — Recklessly infected others then minimized the impact of the illness. Went out in public while infectious and refused to mask. “It’s just COVID!”

    — Ignored travel advisories then bragged about exotic trips via Facebook to the obedient housebound.

    — Obnoxiously spread rumours and misinformation about vaccine safety.

    — Gathered in Ottawa to intimidate public officials and demand freedom. Bank account frozen. Mandatory court appearance.

    https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2024/01/15/the-unwelcome-unvaxxed

    ^That last quoted sentence, the author is in full support of medical tyranny.

    Patricia, you not only have an incurable case of Mass Formation Psychosis, but from the multiple injections of mRNA poison, your body now has A.I.D.S.

    You don’t have a functioning immune system, and you are going to die.

Comments are closed.