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Category Archives: Consumer Sentiment

U.S. Housing And Residential Mortgage Finance 2013 Outlook: Homebuilders Benefit From Demand For New Homes

Buyers for newer homes returned to the single-family home market in 2012, resulting in better than expected operating results for most of the homebuilders we rate. Sales volumes and average selling price exceeded our initial expectations, and we currently expect that the homebuilders we rate will deliver on average 20% more homes in 2012 compared [...]

Also posted in Consumer Credit, Economic Data, Homebuilders, Housing Data | 1 Comment

The New York Times Article by Professor Robert Shiller: Housing Fever Can Work Both Ways

Professor Robert Shiller, co-founder of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, discusses the social epidemics that drive the economy and the role of expectations during the home buying process in a recent article for the New York Times.  Click here to access the full article.

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Prices Are Not the Issue

Looking at rent-buy comparisons and inflation adjusted home prices shows that prices are not the problem facing the housing market.  The rent-buy ratio is close to the average of the last 25 years.  Although  renting is gaining market share from home ownership, recent increases in apartment construction suggest that rents increases won’t be strong enough [...]

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Economic Update: U.S. Retail Sales

U.S. retail sales rose just 0.2% m/m in November, which was much weaker than the 0.6% expected by consensus though at least comes after October was upwardly revised to a 0.6% gain (previously up 0.5%). Auto sales were up 0.5% over October, and is up 7.5% over last year. Excluding auto sales, retail sales also [...]

Also posted in Economic Data, Retail Sales | Tagged | 1 Comment

Health and Houses: Foreclosures Can Make You Sick

It goes without saying that foreclosures aren’t good for home owners getting that notice from the bank.  While there are a large and ever-growing number of studies about the financial impacts of the housing bust on everyone from home owners to bankers to construction workers until recently there hasn’t been a lot of serious research [...]

Also posted in Housing Data, Housing Finance & Policy, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A call for leadership surfaces in the Blitzer panel – S&P Housing Summit

The U.S. Residential Housing Market:  What’s Next (panel discussion) David Blitzer, the Chairman of Standard & Poor’s Index Committee started with the question “Is owning your own home still a part of the American dream?” and the panel was off. Owning a home these days, many panelists concurred, is akin to “catching a falling knife,” [...]

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Don’t Blame All of Housing on Unemployment

This morning’s Employment Report for May was disappointing with the unemployment rate up 0.1 to 9.1% and weaker than expected growth in payrolls.  Many people point to the poor employment picture as the leading reason for falling home prices.  Without question, employment and people’s views of the labor market are important, but they are not [...]

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