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Some Owners, Eager To Cash Out, Will Accept The Price

A report from the Newport Daily News in Rhode Island. “The City Council is considering asking its legislative delegation to submit a bill that would allow the city to impose a 3% tax on real estate sales over $2 million. ‘Our average price in Newport is about $800,000 and that does not get you much,’ Newport County Board of Realtors President Sandi Warner said. ‘Two million is not a mansion. Two million is just a house.’ Warner said taxes like these will chill real estate in Newport, which has been in an odd spot recently following the hot sellers market of the past two years. ‘It’s an unusual market,’ Warner said. ‘If you have a nice home and you are well-priced, you will probably get two or three offers on it. If you are throwing a number up on the wall just to see if it will stick, the buyers have been in the marketplace for longer now and they are very educated. They are not willing to pay these wild numbers that we did see two or three years ago.'”

The Coeur d’Alene Press in Idaho. “Lindsay Allen with Locate Real Estate said that interestingly, the number of pending home sales and the number of closed home sales year-to-date is lower than in 2018-2020, and more in line with 2013 and 2014, which were quieter years in the local market history. ‘Sellers are currently accepting 96.2% of the list price, which is on par with what we saw in 2013-2015,’ she said. ‘This means buyers are getting some good deals right now, and sellers are accepting these requests for concessions. Nearly every offer I am writing right now, whether it is a cash offer or a financed offer, we are seeing concessions on the price, or the sellers agreeing to pay closing costs to the buyers.'”

The Dallas Morning News in Texas. “Nationwide, Zillow found home shoppers need to make more than $106,000 to afford a home, an 80% leap from 2020′s $59,000 sum. Monthly mortgage payments on a typical home have doubled since 2020. The four-year timeframe of Zillow’s analysis portrays a pre- and post-pandemic reality for the Dallas housing market, one defined by escalating home prices and exacerbated by hiked interest rates. Bank of America’s Allen Seelenbinder said he has started to see a plateau in the market compared to the frantic pace between 2020 and 2022.”

“‘We’re not at a time right now where we’re going to see 40 offers on the same property the day it goes on the market,’ he said. ‘If you have a homebuyer that is prepared, understands what’s important to them and where they have affordability in their personal finances, then they can make an educated decision and they’re not making an impulse buy.'”

The Herald Tribune in Florida. “According to the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee, average inventory is roughly four to five months, depending on the county and home type. This means the seller’s advantage – also known as being in a seller’s market – is gradually decreasing. The continued shift toward a more balanced residential real estate market favors buyers. It offers buyers more options to choose from, slightly more negotiating power over things like price and closing costs, and more time to decide if a home is the one for their families. The market frenzy of roughly 2020-22, where multiple offers were written the same week a property was listed – where buyers were forgoing contingencies like home inspections and even submitting offers over asking price – are, for the most part, not happening in the majority of real estate markets now.”

The Wall Street Journal on Florida. “The challenges swirling around a skyscraper known as One Brickell City Centre, which at around 1,000-feet high would be Miami’s tallest corporate tower, show how the city’s once-sizzling office market is starting to cool. New York developer Related Cos. and Swire Properties are struggling to find an anchor tenant roughly a year after the groundbreaking. Related is restructuring its agreement with Swire, which owns the land, according to people familiar with the matter. Swire even has considered selling the 1.55-acre site in Miami’s downtown, according to a document viewed by The Wall Street Journal.”

“Miami’s exceptionalism appears to be fading. Leasing activity in the Miami office market was down 25% last year from 2022, according to commercial real-estate services firm JLL. Sublease vacancy increased by 66% through the end of the year, a sign that existing tenants want to cut back on space. ‘There’s a slowdown of new-to-market activity,’ said Steven Hurwitz of JLL. ‘We’re sort of at a new inflection point.'”

Bisnow Washington DC. “More than a dozen D.C. commercial real estate industry leaders have said in recent weeks that crime in the District has become a top concern among companies considering taking office or retail space. ‘You have folks who are looking at breaking their leases because of crime or costs associated with crime,’ said Eric Jones, vice president of government affairs for D.C.’s Apartment and Office Building Association. ‘People aren’t coming into the office or everyone leaves at 3 p.m. because you don’t want to be in the city when it gets dark.'”

“Lobbying firm The Madison Group had its office at 15th and L streets northwest for more than a dozen years, but after the pandemic-induced remote work shift, Managing Partner Robb Watters said the streets around its workplace became noticeably less safe. ‘In the last couple of years, you could just see everything turn,’ he said. ‘Businesses are boarding up and crime is rampant. There’s less of a police presence.'”

Chek News in Canada. “Days after it was brought to light that homeowners of units in Victoria’s Vivid at the Yates building purchased the homes against rules set in the covenant, the total number of lawsuits filed by BC Housing against allegedly ineligible homeowners has risen to 22. When the project was first announced, it was given an interest-free loan of $53 million with the covenant that the units would only be sold to people with a household income of $150,000 or less and the units would be priced eight per cent below market value. However, on March 5, CBC revealed the B.C. government was suing some of those homeowners, arguing they were ineligible to purchase under these requirements.”

“The B.C. government first became aware of the potential fraud in 2021 when it learned some of the units were being rented, which is also contrary to the covenant, and BC Housing began investigating. ‘We are taking further action to ensure that these homes are available to the people that need them. We won’t stop taking on wealthy speculators and investors – making sure the housing market in B.C. works best for people, not speculators,’ Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s housing minister, said in an emailed statement.”

From Newshub. “New reports suggest New Zealand’s housing market is stalling with ‘flattish’ growth in the first half of the year expected. Reports from New Zealand Home Loans (NZHL) and BNZ suggest that the housing market is losing momentum and Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan agrees. ‘It’s definitely not a sellers’ market,’ Kiernan said. Buyer interest saw a ‘substantial decline’ and only a net 9 percent of agents reported seeing more people at open homes, a huge plunge from net 57 percent just the month before. ‘This tells us that for the moment a new wave of caution has swept through potential home buyers,’ said economist Tony Alexander. BNZ said, ‘the market is struggling to absorb a flood of new listings.'”

“The NZHL survey also observes that buyers’ ‘FOMO levels have fallen away.’ Only 11 percent of agents reported observing FOMO in buyers as opposed to 23 percent late in January, and way down from its high of 92 percent in late-2020. ‘The increase in supply has taken away feelings on the part of buyers that they need to hurry,’ Alexander said.”

Sinar Daily in Malaysia. “More than five years ago, they purchased residential units in a proposed housing development project in Selangor. Today, the 2,400 buyers concerned are still waiting for their homes to be completed so that they can move in. But they are in a dilemma as the project, Residensi Hektar Gombak was declared ‘sick’ in April last year by the National Housing Department, Ministry of Housing and Local Government. A project is deemed sick if construction work is delayed by over 30 per cent compared to its scheduled progress or if its sale and purchase agreement (SPA) has lapsed. The Residensi Hektar Gombak house buyers are now shouldering a substantial financial burden as they not only have to repay the loans they took to buy their ‘dream’ homes but also have to pay the rentals of the houses they are occupying now.”

“One of the homebuyers Mohd Sharrel Fahmi Baharum, 42, a government employee, said some buyers in the affected project have ceased making monthly loan instalments as they could no longer sustain the payments for two homes simultaneously. They have also received ‘reminders’ from the bank regarding their overdue payments. A firm advocate of the build-then-sell policy, Noor Rosly said the government must take a firmer stance by mandating developers to adopt this concept, pointing out that the argument that house prices will increase if the build-then-sell policy is implemented holds true only when there is a shortage of housing units in the market. ‘However, today, there is an oversupply of unsold housing units in the market,’ he added.”

South China Morning Post. “Shanghai’s housing market looks set to continue its downward slide due to a lack of buying interest, as would-be buyers wary of a gloomy economic outlook continue to feel uneasy about the current high property prices. Owners selling homes in mainland China’s most developed metropolis will have to offer discounts of 5 to 10 per cent to move their properties along, according to brokers. Miao Yufa, a sales manager at property agency Lianjia in Shanghai, said prices of lived-in homes have dropped by more than 20 per cent from the heights seen in July 2022, and the downward trend will continue as more homeowners are now willing to cut prices to seal deals.”

“‘For a flat worth 10 million yuan, buyers would require a reduction of at least half a million,’ he said. ‘Some owners, eager to cash out, will accept the price.'”

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This Post Has 61 Comments

  2. ‘It’s an unusual market,’ Warner said. ‘If you have a nice home and you are well-priced, you will probably get two or three offers on it. If you are throwing a number up on the wall just to see if it will stick, the buyers have been in the marketplace for longer now and they are very educated. They are not willing to pay these wild numbers that we did see two or three years ago’

    So Sandi, yer saying those poor bashtards that did pay those wild prices are fooked?

  3. ‘People aren’t coming into the office or everyone leaves at 3 p.m. because you don’t want to be in the city when it gets dark’

    That’s the thing about vampires Eric, they have an advantage at night. Better to stay home and wear some garlic.

      1. When you say “back yard,” it’s almost literal. 15th and L is 4 short blocks from the back side of the White House. That’s a high-end area of restaurants and 4-start hotels. K street and L street are where all the lobbyists are. 15 years ago I would walk from DuPont Circle to the Kennedy Center for evening concerts and not feel unsafe.

  4. ‘The B.C. government first became aware of the potential fraud in 2021 when it learned some of the units were being rented, which is also contrary to the covenant, and BC Housing began investigating. ‘We are taking further action to ensure that these homes are available to the people that need them. We won’t stop taking on wealthy speculators and investors’

    A classic K-dn tale. Even an ‘affordable’ igloo program gets overrun with crooks.

  5. ‘Miami’s exceptionalism appears to be fading. Leasing activity in the Miami office market was down 25% last year from 2022, according to commercial real-estate services firm JLL. Sublease vacancy increased by 66% through the end of the year’

    Oh yes, Miami’s ‘exceptionalism.’ Which was a figment of globalist scum media imagination. Miami lost 40,000 people during minor respiratory illness even as it was widely reported everybody was moving there. These people do nothing but lie.

      1. Brickell is safer than DC by a lot. If you go out at night nobody will bother you because you’ll be all alone.

  6. ‘It’s definitely not a sellers’ market,’ Kiernan said. Buyer interest saw a ‘substantial decline’ and only a net 9 percent of agents reported seeing more people at open homes, a huge plunge from net 57 percent just the month before. ‘This tells us that for the moment a new wave of caution has swept through potential home buyers,’ said economist Tony Alexander. BNZ said, ‘the market is struggling to absorb a flood of new listings’

    ‘The NZHL survey also observes that buyers’ ‘FOMO levels have fallen away.’ Only 11 percent of agents reported observing FOMO in buyers as opposed to 23 percent late in January, and way down from its high of 92 percent in late-2020. ‘The increase in supply has taken away feelings on the part of buyers that they need to hurry’

    The NZ REIC tried mightily to create some FOMO, but it has failed. One thing I’ve come to believe about this little sh$thole of an island is it’s tiny, like the population of Canada. So stats swing wildly and if the swing is up, here comes the UHS BS. These countries with a queen on their money don’t have a real economy so buying and selling shacks is all they have. That’s why they won’t quit it even when it bankrupts them.

    1. hese countries with a queen on their money don’t have a real economy

      FWIW, the Canucks assemble cars and make small airliners (Bombardier, which was acquired by Airbus). Oz and Kiwiland have nothing of the sort. Oz used to assemble cars, but all the automakers have packed up and left.

      1. Oz’s economy is selling raw materials like iron ore to China. That’s not going to last much longer.

  7. ‘Nearly every offer I am writing right now, whether it is a cash offer or a financed offer, we are seeing concessions on the price, or the sellers agreeing to pay closing costs to the buyers’

    That’s the spirit Lindsey, keep up the lowballs!

    2. I’m not much of a concert-goer. But ITSM that if Madonna can look out over her audience and pick out individual fans who are sitting and standing, then she must not be performing in large venues. Compare and contrast to the stadium concerts of the 1980s.

      Maybe this poor guy was in the front row?

    2. You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
      Know when to fold ’em
      Know when to walk away
      And know when to run

    3. I turned just over $1,000 into ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS.

      Tom Vu lifestyle ain’t easy, mo money mo problems.

  10. The Herald Tribune in Florida. “According to the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee, average inventory is roughly four to five months, depending on the county and home type. This means the seller’s advantage – also known as being in a seller’s market – is gradually decreasing.”

    – Still a seller’s market in FL? Really?
    – In my view, it’s a buyer’s market, but without many buyers.
    – Homeowner’s insurance for SFHs is “to the moon.” Condos in a whole different league. Unknown COA/HOA limits. Insurance now actually reflecting risks and high replacement costs.
    – Prices already high. Rates high.
    – I would NOT be a buyer in FL for the next few years. Prices and carrying costs must adjust significantly lower.
    – Best of luck to current knife-catchers!

    1. Homeowner’s insurance for SFHs is “to the moon.” Condos in a whole different league.

      And at a point in time where everything is going up, up and away, except for paychecks. Lots of bologna and pb sandwiches on dinner tables.

      1. . Lots of bologna and pb sandwiches on dinner tables.
        I am still thinking lots of homeless boomers and boomers in basements and on couches.

  11. The Dallas Morning News in Texas. “Nationwide, Zillow found home shoppers need to make more than $106,000 to afford a home, an 80% leap from 2020′s $59,000 sum. Monthly mortgage payments on a typical home have doubled since 2020.”

    – This is completely normal and not a bubble. 🙃

    “Bank of America’s Allen Seelenbinder said he has started to see a plateau in the market compared to the frantic pace between 2020 and 2022.”

    \\

    – Housing has been 100% financialized. It now trades like any other risk asset. Booms and busts are the norm.

    \\

    10 Rules – Bob Farrell

    1. Markets tend to return to the mean over time.

    Translation: Trends that get overextended in one direction or another return to their long-term average. Even during a strong uptrend or strong downtrend, prices often move back (revert) to a long-term moving average.

    2. Excesses in one direction will lead to an opposite excess in the other direction.

    Translation: Markets that overshoot on the upside will also overshoot on the downside, kind of like a pendulum. The further it swings to one side, the further it rebounds to the other side.

    3. There are no new eras – excesses are never permanent.

    4. Exponential rapidly rising or falling markets usually go further than you think, but they do not correct by going sideways.

    – There are no permanently high “plateaus.” Bubbles always burst. Housing is slower than stonks, since an illiquid asset, but the same behavior, since now a speculative asset vs. shelter.

    Translation: Even though a hot group will ultimately revert back to the mean, a strong trend can extend for a long time. Once this trend ends, however, the correction tends to be sharp.

    – Guberment interventions including Fed machinations have destroyed the housing market. Now boom and bust cycles vs. productive investment. Central planning + command and control economy. Think CCP or former USSR.

    – “ Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.”

  12. A reader sent these in:

    Phoenix home supply is nearing a 7 year high and trending higher earlier than last years.

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1766840523040403496

    IBM is asking employees to volunteer for layoffs, targets 80% cuts in key departments, including HR

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1767001182558433664

    Housing inventory in Florida is nearing pre-lockdown levels as inventory explodes on the West Coast

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1766974342955508037

    The Prudential Plaza in Chicago has been added to the CRE delinquency list

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1766952941196341456

    The Bank Term Funding Program cedes tomorrow
    What will the next 4 letter acronym be?

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1766918069388222957

    More layoffs for the no-growth $IBM, trading at almost 30x true earnings. Incredible. (AI is as much a risk to $IBM’s consultant-heavy business model, as it is an opportunity)

    https://twitter.com/WallStCynic/status/1767031403693154454

    People on this platform conflate stock market & asset prices at all-time highs to most in a nation enjoying the ‘highest quality of life ever!’.

    Why are suicides and antidepressant use rising dramatically while the LFPR and male attainment are plummeting if this is the case? Why is our lifespan decreasing? Why is drug use/deaths at all time highs?

    Venezuela’s stock market looks good on paper, too. Those assets that you have a tiny, tiny, chunk of, are making very few – very wealthy.

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1767005415336808476

    Most of what I see when I am traveling is a whole lot of people trying to escape their reality through a combination of drugs, alcohol, phone, social media, etc.

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1767005995966833040

    Economy isn’t the stock market. 4 million people are delinquent on rent or mortgage, and CC debt is at ATH. 50% inflation in 3 years and unemployment on the rise. This is why people are so stressed out!

    https://twitter.com/Runzwildnfree/status/1767014379810361799

    It’s always because of the money printer– and the criminals who wield it

    https://twitter.com/GhostofPacione/status/1767058832176316509

    When in doubt, watch some 70’s but mostly 80’s music videos. If you’re old enough, you will remember a much better time. No tech, no phones, just Nike, BMX, Nintendo and you played outdoors

    https://twitter.com/Jim_Ford2/status/1767006585321062598

    A 🧵on, eviction, foreclosure and default. According to the Census HH Pulse Survey, 4.1M people are behind on rent/mortgage where eviction is likely to occur within 2 months. FL & TN are among the highest states w/ 37-62% of renters/owners behind on payments (not a typo) 1/6

    https://twitter.com/MrAwsumb/status/1766844996580184216

    It’s cool how this former Liberal MP’s company landed a $237 million contract to make ventilators.

    IPolitics says it was incorporated 7 days before it signed the contract, and then it subcontracted to a company that makes ventilators.

    https://twitter.com/StephenPunwasi/status/1430741657251688448

    🇨🇦’s state execution of small biz was wild:

    – force small businesses to close

    – lend them cash to delay defaults until public isn’t watching

    – hit small biz w/additional audit scrutiny knowing they can’t afford a fight; no filing forgiveness

    – stomp them out of existence

    https://twitter.com/StephenPunwasi/status/1766868675477307395

    1. “Why are suicides and antidepressant use rising dramatically while the LFPR and male attainment are plummeting if this is the case? Why is our lifespan decreasing? Why is drug use/deaths at all time highs?”

      Must be one of those Build Back Better kind of things, right?

      The logical extension of the Fundamental Transformation that King Obama decreed upon you.

    2. IBM is asking employees to volunteer for layoffs

      AKA as “taking early retirement”. Volunteers are often given a better severance package and health insurance for a period of time.

    3. More layoffs for the no-growth $IBM, trading at almost 30x true earnings.

      I’m old enough to remember when 8X is what no growth stocks ere valued, and 30X was a hot stock.

      2. targets 80% cuts in key departments, including HR
        Since when did HR become a Key Department. Things must have changed in the last decade.

  13. In Colorado has already posted on this but what the heck.

    Denver Asks Residents to House Illegal Alien ‘Newcomers’ As City Shuts Down Shelters

    by Jamie White
    March 11th 2024, 2:33 pm

    The Colorado sanctuary city of Denver is asking its residents to house illegal aliens as shelters have become overcrowded with the influx of foreign invaders.

    Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) announced Friday that the city has started to scale back its migrant services, including the shuttering of shelters, to reduce the current budget deficit in the face of 40,000 illegals who’ve come to Denver over the last year which cost the city $180 million.

    Shelters are being cleared out and 38,000 illegals will eventually be evicted from Denver’s 10 overcrowded government-run shelters due to the budget cuts.

    In response, the city has begun asking residents to take in the “newcomers.”

    “We put out a feeler to all the landlords we have connections with,” Denver Human Services Jon Ewing told Fox 31. “Basically said, listen, we’re going to have some newcomers who are going to need housing.”

    “The hope and goal is that we are able to connect the vast majority with housing, or at least as many of them as we possibly can,” Ewing said.

    Ewing also said landlords couldn’t charge aliens more than $2,000 per month.

    “We’ve got kind of a rent cap – $2,000,” he said.

    Johnston last month claimed his administration was considering closing Denver to more illegal aliens as resources became overwhelmed, but it appears he found a new “solution”: foist the burden directly onto Denver residents instead.

    Democrats in other cities have made similar pleas and initiatives to cope with the massive influx of illegals in recent months brought about by Joe Biden’s open border policy.

    A Chicago Councilman in January urged wealthy residents to shelter illegals, and Maine has spent $3.5 million of taxpayer funds building “palace” apartments for migrants to live rent-free for 2 years.

    https://www.infowars.com/breaking-news/

    1. I suspect Denver’s real plan is to quietly put these people on buses and make them “someone else’s problem”

    2. “Denver Asks Residents to House Illegal Alien ‘Newcomers’ As City Shuts Down Shelters”

      Ahh, the Newcomers. They’re all so new, and they just keep coming. Happy Monday with another Act Of Love:

      “According to Sgt. Scott Schnurbusch from the Hazelwood Police Department, six people were rushed to the hospital following the crash, including Travis, his parents, and an unnamed woman with her two children.

      Travis Wolfe was put on life support in December. He never woke up. Travis Wolfe passed away on March 6th.

      Bracho is facing involuntary manslaughter in the first degree, two counts of assault in the second degree, two counts of endangering a child in the first degree, and one count of operating a vehicle without a valid license.

      Court documents also said “the defendant is here illegally from Venezuela.”

      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/illegal-alien-venezuela-kills-12-year-old-missouri/

      Who knew that all these future doctors and astronauts would cause such death and mayhem? Who? Stop noticing, cattle tax slaves.

      1. At least they are charging him. I told a story last month of a Honduran illegal who was driving without a license or insurance, her children were not buckled up and were ejected when she rolled her car, killing one of them. She was not charged with anything. A charity even gave her another car, and she is behind the wheel again. I wonder who she might kill the next time she crashes.

  14. “I think we have a system, right now, that just left to market forces, uh…we would have massive deflation, right. I mean asset prices would take a tremendous correction, and we’d have bunch of bad debt that would default, and that’s just the system we’ve created over time with all this massive buildup in debt and all this continuous intervention that’s needed to keep it from collapsing. From my point of view the problem is that, you know, nobody wants that system to clear because the pain of the clearance is more than any politician or bank president wants to be presiding over.” —Adam Taggart, CEO Thoughtful Money

    1. “I think we have a system, right now, that just left to market forces, uh…we would have massive deflation, right. I mean asset prices would take a tremendous correction, and we’d have bunch of bad debt that would default, and that’s just the system we’ve created over time with all this massive buildup in debt and all this continuous intervention that’s needed to keep it from collapsing.”

      \\

      “Who is John Galt?”

      \\

      https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/atlas-shrugged/summary-and-analysis/part-1-chapter-1

      “Analysis”

      “The American economy is gradually collapsing. Industrial production is in steady decline, stores are closing, and workers are unemployed. A general gloominess pervades the culture, giving rise to the rhetorical question, “Who is John Galt?” The question expresses the widespread belief that no one can answer the difficult questions facing the American society.”

      “Glossary”

      “Who is John Galt? This phrase is uttered as a sign of despair and hopelessness. The question lacks specific meaning and cannot be answered. Its use in everyday language is a sign that people believe answers don’t exist to the problems that plague American society.”

      1. “Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’” – Francisco’s “Money” Speech – from “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand

        “Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper.” – Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged”

        “Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to support deficit spending. No private embezzlers or bank robbers in history have ever plundered people’s savings on a scale comparable to the plunder perpetrated by the fiscal policies of statist governments.” – Ayn Rand

  15. ‘For a flat worth 10 million yuan, buyers would require a reduction of at least half a million,’ he said. ‘Some owners, eager to cash out, will accept the price’

    This is why the market needs knife catchers. It spreads the pain around.

  16. ‘the market is struggling to absorb a flood of new listings’…The NZHL survey also observes that buyers’ ‘FOMO levels have fallen away.’ Only 11 percent of agents reported observing FOMO in buyers as opposed to 23 percent late in January, and way down from its high of 92 percent in late-2020. ‘The increase in supply has taken away feelings on the part of buyers that they need to hurry’

    I think NZ is the only REIC that actually has a FOMO aspect in their stats.

  17. ‘A firm advocate of the build-then-sell policy, Noor Rosly said the government must take a firmer stance by mandating developers to adopt this concept, pointing out that the argument that house prices will increase if the build-then-sell policy is implemented holds true only when there is a shortage of housing units in the market. ‘However, today, there is an oversupply of unsold housing units in the market’

    This article was about how so many people are fooked with pre-sales, maybe we should build then sell.

    ‘government must take a firmer stance by mandating developers to adopt this concept’

    It’s hard to know where to begin Noor. If these things fell apart and weren’t even built, how could developers build them with their own money then sell? They are broke a$$ losers.

    1. HOMEPAGE
      Economy
      The economy averting a hard landing is ‘laughable,’ and companies are about to see a profit recession, economist says
      Jennifer Sor
      Mar 11, 2024, 12:07 PM ET
      Recession outlook
      Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images

      – The US economy won’t dodge a hard landing recession, according to Stephanie Pomboy.

      – The economist said US consumers are already in a recession.

      – That could be followed by a “double-dip” profit recession as corporate earnings take a hit.

      The US economy can’t avoid a hard-landing recession, according to one top economist.

      Stephanie Pomboy, who worked at ISI for a decade before starting research firm MacroMavens, is among economists who warned of structural problems in housing and credit markets ahead of the 2008 crisis. She warned in a recent interview of a coming “double-dip” profit recession for US companies, which could cause earnings to nosedive and spark big problems for the economy.

      Her view stems from the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest-rate hikes, with central bankers raising rates 525 basis points over the course of 17 months to tackle inflation.

      And higher rates are likely here to stay for the time being, she said, despite investors pricing in hefty rate cuts to come later this year.

      “We are not going to avert a hard landing,” Pomboy said in a recent interview with Rosenberg Research. “I think that this notion that the Fed could raise rates in record speed and magnitude on an economy, toting record leverage without economic or financial incident, is laughable.”
      …
      https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-outlook-economy-hard-landing-fed-rate-cuts-stock-drop-2024-3

      1. Personal note:

        While we aren’t piling up credit card debt, the post-pandemic inflation wave has inspired a great deal of discretionary belt tightening in our household. Instead of eating out on a weekly basis as we did before inflation dented our expendable income, we are now eating in almost every might, out at most monthly. We have also been cleaning out our fridges, freezers and pantries to avoid new spending at the grocery store. And it has been many months since my last haircut.

        Given that we are not budget constrained and don’t have to pay a pirate’s ransom on credit card debt, I have to imagine our spending reduction is far less than those who have no choice in the matter, due to living credit-card-payment to credit-card-payment.

  21. Is it time for the Fed to move the goal line on its 2 percent inflation target and declare victory?

    1. Yahoo Finance
      The Fed’s 2% inflation target is a source of growing liberal discontent
      Jay Powell is staying hyper-focused on a numeric goal that originated 36 years ago in New Zealand — despite pushback from Democrats.
      Ben Werschkul·Washington Correspondent
      Tue, Mar 12, 2024, 1:13 AM PDT
      6 min read

      The Federal Reserve’s goal is to get the inflation rate at least near 2% before it begins cutting interest rates.

      That’s a formal target backed by written policy, but it’s also the source of growing liberal discontent serving as another form of political pressure on Fed Chair Jerome Powell as he tries to navigate a white-hot election year.

      Some on the left want that number to be higher. Some would prefer the Fed add a second target focused on the labor market. And several Democrats used public hearings this past week with Powell to question the target’s origins and why it has so much importance inside the central bank.

      “It seems to come from Auckland and from the 1980s” a somewhat disbelieving Rep. Brad Sherman said on Wednesday when it was his turn to question Powell.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-feds-2-inflation-target-is-a-source-of-growing-liberal-discontent-123104995.html

    2. Economy
      CPI Inflation Preview: Here’s The Big Risk For Fed Rate Cuts And The S&P 500
      JED GRAHAM 11:13 AM ET 03/11/2024

      The stakes are high for Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index data and Thursday’s producer price index. After January’s scorching inflation data, even moderately hot data for February could lead the Federal Reserve to revise its 2024 inflation target higher in next week’s quarterly projections.

      If that happens, December’s forecast of three quarter-point Fed rate cuts also would be in jeopardy, which could take some steam out of the S&P 500 rally.

      Keep in mind that both CPI and PPI data feed into the Fed’s primary inflation rate, the core PCE price index. While the Fed’s favorite measure won’t get updated until the week after the March 20 Fed meeting, this week’s data will give economists a good idea how hot PCE inflation will run.
      …
      https://www.investors.com/news/economy/cpi-inflation-risk-for-fed-rate-cuts-sp-500/

    3. Fox Business
      Economy
      Published March 12, 2024 2:00am EDT
      February inflation report expected to show another ‘strong’ monthly increase
      Inflation likely rose again in February as high prices persist
      By Megan Henney FOXBusiness
      Jerome Powell is fearful of reigniting inflation: Former Kansas City Fed president

      Former Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig reacts to Jerome Powell saying the Fed is not ready to start cutting rates on ‘Cavuto: Coast to Coast.’

      A closely watched inflation report due Tuesday is expected to show that progress in fighting price pressures within the economy slowed again in February.

      Economists expect the consumer price index, which measures a range of goods that includes gasoline, health care, groceries and rent, to show that prices rose 3.1% in February – unchanged from the previous month.

      On a monthly basis, inflation is seen rising 0.4%, which is higher than the 0.3% figure recorded in January, thanks to an uptick in energy prices.

      “We expect [the report] to show another strong monthly increase,” said Brian Rose, senior U.S. economist at UBS Global Wealth Management.
      …
      https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/february-inflation-report-expected-show-another-strong-monthly-increase

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