The National Association of Realtors has nothing better to do than dream up press releases based on paid analyses. In hundreds of thousands of real estate offices across the country, long lunches have turned into all-day affairs. But according to the National Association of Realtors, a better day is just around the corner.
“The broad trend over the coming year will be a gradual rise in existing-home sales, but because sales are exceptionally low in the final months of 2007, total sales for 2008 will be only modestly higher than 2007,” said the NAR chief economist.
Read for yourself.
Over the weekend, I heard that the market for ultra-high end property in Miami is holding up. Those buyers are impervious to economic hiccups. But in the middle of the market, and even the higher Pinecrest $1.5 million 2/3, I'm guessing that discounts of 20 percent or more are scarcely attracting interest.
Today, Bank of America announced it is closing one of its cash funds. This morning, UBS wrote down $10 billion based on the fact that secondary markets for derivative debt has turned into concrete. In Florida, billions of dollars vanished from a state investment fund managed by a key Jeb Bush loyalist. And as of 1:41 PM, the Dow Jones is up 100 points on word that the Fed is coming to the rescue.
That would be a big surprise. Go figure.
Type the rest of the post here
8 comments:
Late breaking news... but the National Association of Realtors must be right. Next year will be a better year! (Except WAMU expects industry-wide mortgage lending to shrink 40 percent next year? Well, you be the judge.
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Washington Mutual Inc., the largest U.S. savings and loan, will write down the value of its home lending unit by $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter and cut 3,150 jobs as losses in the mortgage market increase.
Washington Mutual also will cut its quarterly dividend to 15 cents a share from 56 cents and close 190 of 336 home loan centers, the Seattle-based bank said in a statement today. The company said provisions for loan losses in the quarter will be $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion, about twice as much as it previously expected.
Fitch Ratings downgraded the firm's rating to ``A-'' from ``A,'' citing ``worsening asset quality,'' and ``extremely challenging conditions in the U.S. residential mortgage market.'' Washington Mutual said it plans to raise $2.5 billion to shore up its capital by selling convertible stock.
Industry-wide mortgage originations will probably shrink 40 percent in 2008 to $1.5 trillion, down from about $2.4 trillion this year, Washington Mutual said in the statement. The firm plans to cease lending through its subprime mortgage channel.
The company said it would cut 2,600 jobs in its home loans unit, or about 22 percent of that division. The remaining job cuts will come from corporate and support staff, the statement said.
This is off topic but I'd like to see a response to the commenter who pointed out that sprawl existed before mortgage derivatives were invented. Perhaps CDOs and the like accelerated the process, but sprawl is more likely the result of the automobile and the ability to fill it with cheap fuel.
gimleteye
Billions did not "vanish" from the state controled investment fund.
You are full of BS. You spin it that way just because the current directors are appointed by Republicans.
Over the last 8 years, investments in that fund returned a higher rate than 75% of the funds in america.
A small portion was invested in markets supported by realestate and as the market slumped everyone got nervous and local governments started withdrawing their investments.
You use words like "vanished" and "Jeb Bush loyalist" to make it sound devious, like someone is running off with the money.
You are full of crap.
So where did the money go, Mr. Know-it-all?
« Crist, Sink want more SBA answers | Main |
Sink asks for audit of SBA investments
posted by Aaron Deslatte on Dec 10, 2007 4:23:00 PM
CFO Alex Sink is asking the SBA’s audit committee to review the investment practices of the agency’s top managers in the wake of last month’s multibillion-dollar wave of withdrawals by local governments.
The State Board of Administration’s trustees last week hired BlackRock, a New York investment firm, to try and save the local government investment pool by splitting it in two and "walling off" the shaky investments it made in mortgage-backed securities.
"While this new plan provides the best opportunity to reach the goal of returning investors’ principal, many questions remain," Sink wrote to the audit committee Monday afternoon. "When investors display such an extreme lack of confidence and a ‘run on the bank’ scenario follows, it is essential the state does all it can in attempt to restore confidence if the LGIP is to continue."
Among the questions Sink wants answered:
Was the SBA following its investment guidelines?
Who sold the SBA the $2 billion in defaulted or downgraded assets it manages?
Was the SBA investing in riskier assets than it communicated to investors?
The audit committee is made up of the inspectors general from the offices of the Gov. Charlie Crist, Sink and Attorney General Bill McCollum.
More on the SBA story here.
Read Sink's letter here. Download sbacommittee_2.pdf
UPDATE: Rep. Carl Domino, the Jupiter Republican who chairs the Joint Commitee on Legislative Auditing, asked House Speaker Marco Rubio on Nov. 29 to review the SBA's investments. The House Government Efficiency & Accountability Council could hold a hearing on the issue next month.
What do you mean "where did it go"?
The people who invested the money in the fund (the cities and counties) withdrew their share of the money.
It didn't "vanish", they just withdrew their money.
If you withdrew your money from your bank account, you wouldn't say "it vanished".
Of course Alex Sink would ask for an audit, that's standard operating procedure for any politician to cover there butt.
She is the state's Cheif Financial Officer, she oversees these types of investments.
If the "buck stops with her", why didn't she speak up last month before the cities started getting nervous.
The investers got nervous on her watch (and she's a democrat).
Has anybody heard of diversification, why would the red-hot real estate dependent state of FL be investing in sub prime mortgages? Sure its diversification for Germans but Floridians. Who is giving them investment advice Lennar, most likely? Sink/Rubio/Bush is all the same power-elite just different tables at the Country Club.
I did not do that comment above....
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