Housing Market

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These Charts Show Exactly How the Fed Killed the Housing Market

By , Liquidity Specialist, Money Morning -

Economic Data

Don't believe any headlines that claim there's a housing "recovery" in the United States. The truth is, there is no single family housing industry to speak of today.

What for generations was a main driver of U.S. economic growth has been brought down by the past seven years of the Federal Reserve's zero-interest-rate policy (ZIRP). ZIRP has been a disaster for the U.S. economy, the middle class - just about every facet of American economic life has suffered from this fiscal disaster masquerading as coherent monetary policy.

Today I'm going to show you five charts that tell the story of exactly how much damage the Fed has done to U.S. housing. Most are derived from this week's release of new home sales data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

You'll see how the rise in home sales since 2011 has really been a four-year dead cat bounce that hasn't helped most Americans, hasn't meaningfully contributed to U.S. economic recovery - and now appears to be stalling...

It's a Great Time to Buy Tech Stocks... and These Numbers Prove It

By , Defense + Tech Specialist, Money Morning • @Robinson_STI -

On Thursday, an important bit of news came out that you may have missed: The U.S. Commerce Department sharply revised upward its second-quarter GDP estimate.

That revised number proves that, despite recent market turbulence, the U.S. economy remains on solid ground.

And that means now is a great time to take advantage of the buying opportunities the chaos has created - especially in tech stocks. Let's take a look...

The Home Sales Market Is Dead - This Chart Proves It

By , Liquidity Specialist, Money Morning -

housing recovery

The seasonally adjusted headline number for the monthly-error-times-12-annualized version of new home sales in June was 482,000.

Wall Street analysts had guessed that the number would be 550,000. The Wall Street Journal went into apoplectic excuse-making mode, almost foaming at the mouth to try to find pundits to explain away the bad number.

The whole spectacle was silly and pointless since we have actual data and can readily see whether sales remain on trend or not. We don't need Wall Street pundits to tell us what to think.

We can see for ourselves...

The Housing "Recovery" Is Fabricated Optimism

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Morning • @ShahGilani_TW -

DJIA futures

When I moved to Sarasota in 1999 I was invited by a prominent local to an "un-wedding wedding" to make new friends in town. I accepted the invitation and, not wanting to display my ignorance, avoided asking the burning question, "What's an un-wedding wedding?"

Inevitably I found out what an un-wedding wedding is. It's a full-blown wedding, only the host isn't actually getting married. They want to get married but aren't, and go through the motions anyway.

The truth about the manipulation of celebratory events to fabricate optimism about a desired future reminds me of the state of housing in America today. Here's why...

How "The Most Powerful Man in the World" Got His Mortgage Denied...

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Morning • @ShahGilani_TW -

U.S. housing market

Ben Bernanke began his tenure as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board just as the housing bubble was peaking in February 2006.

He exited the post in February of this year after supposedly shepherding the country out of the Great Recession the mortgage crisis spawned.

He recently admitted the housing recovery is hitting a wall.

But this time, it's personal... Full Story

What Today's Case-Shiller Home Price Index Doesn't Show You About the Housing Market

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning • @JimBach22 -

Case Shiller

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, a widely followed benchmark for home prices, showed a slow growth in home prices amid an unimpressive housing recovery.

But given the factors underlying this recovery, and the activity in the housing market, this should come as no surprise.

Here's why this housing recovery just can’t seem to take off…

The New Way the Government Is Poisoning the American Dream

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Morning • @ShahGilani_TW -

FHA

Private equity shops and institutional players are buying and packaging nonperforming mortgages from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and selling those mortgages to mutual funds and themselves.

On the surface, the HUD wants to minimize the cost to taxpayers. That's really nice of HUD and the FHA, thinking about us taxpayers.

But something else is behind this recent action, and it's poisoning the American Dream...

Don't Believe the New Housing Market Index Numbers

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning • @JimBach22 -

This month's Housing Market Index (HMI) numbers would have you believe that this so-called housing recovery is picking up steam.

Figures released yesterday (Monday) show that home builders are both more confident in the current housing market, and are more optimistic for the six months ahead.

But even as some will try to spin this narrative that these numbers point toward a substantial recovery, there are more sinister forces at work...

Profit Massively from This "Margin Call" on American Homeowners

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Morning • @ShahGilani_TW -

Get ready. There's more trouble ahead for home buyers, home builders, and especially homeowners who took out home-equity lines of credit before the housing crisis. Those heydays have turned into haymakers.

What's already started to happen might not only knock out the formerly aspiring but now petering-out housing recovery, but also might knock the already weak economy to the ground.

Back in the good old days, when banks and mortgage shops were selling mortgage money and home-equity credit lines like carnival barkers wowing crowds into the big top, millions of homeowners stepped right in.

That circus tent was nothing but a trap, however. And now I'm going to tell you what that trap means for those borrowers - and the rest of the economy... Full Story

Why We're Making These Housing Market Trades Now

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Morning • @ShahGilani_TW -

Get ready. There's more trouble ahead for home buyers, home builders, and especially homeowners who took out home-equity lines of credit (HELOCs) before the housing crisis.

What's already started to happen might not only knock out the formerly aspiring but now petering-out market recovery, but also might knock the already weak economy to the ground.

That’s why we’re making these housing market trades now...