Posts Tagged ‘len’Homebuilders Add New Wing to Housing CrisisThis post first appeared on Minyanville. It appears even the embattled homebuilding industry is getting rosy-eyed, finding enough “green shoots” of economic recovery to stick their shovels back into the ground. In May, US builders broke ground on 17.2% more projects than in April, far exceeding analysts’ expectations. Work on new apartment buildings leaped, while [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Subprime Lending Is Back With a VengeanceBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… Subprime lending has come roaring back. But this time, reckless financial innovation isn’t being hatched on Wall Street. Instead, state governments are angling to “monetize” first-time homebuyer tax credits so borrowers can purchase [...] Housing Perspective: March New Home SalesNew Home Sales in March came in higher than expected, even as prices fell from this month last year. According to Bloomberg, the Commerce Department reported that builders tallied sales last month at an annual pace of 356,000, down just slightly from February. Inventories dropped to the lowest level in 7 years, while prices dipped [...] The Foreclosure Epidemic: The Bulldozers ComethBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Simply put: There are too many homes in America. Travel to the outskirts of Phoenix, California’s inland empire — or even suburban Washington, DC — and you’ll find scores of vacant homes, for-sale signs, and soon-to-be ghost towns. Sprawling Lennar (LEN) cookie-cutter developments, Pulte Home (PHM) [...] Homebuilders Hoping Size Doesn’t MatterBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. After nearly 3 years of bleeding cash, US homebuilders are on shaky ground. The market for new homes is being decimated by rampant overbuilding during the boom, and by the flood of bank-owned properties now being sold on the cheap. Prices remain in free fall. Even [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Housing Recovery? What Housing Recovery?By ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. This week, 2 data points led optimistic market-watchers to declare the bottom in the housing is nigh: Indeed, one widely read trader-writer proclaimed, “The oversupply of housing that so plagues the market at present will be a figment of our memory a few months hence.” The [...] Foreclosures Sting Even Best BuildersBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Foreclosure: It’s not just for those “subprime” people anymore. Besieged by collapsing home prices and frightened banks scrounging for cash, even the real-estate industry’s brightest stars are finding there’s no place to hide. According to the New York Times, small and mid-size homebuilders who thrived during [...] Crisis in Prime Mortgages on HorizonBy ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. The private sector is actively engaging the mortgage crisis with the first broad-based, systemic attempt to prevent foreclosure. Both Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan (JPM) are attempting to help hundreds of thousands of troubled homeowners with massive loan modification efforts. Regulators and bank executives are operating [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Realtors Try Used-Car Salesman TacticsThis post first appeared on Minyanville. That glitzy McMansion you’ve always wanted may finally be within reach. Or not. If nearly 3 years of home price declines, historically low interest rates and a relentless media barrage of half-truths from the National Association of Realtors haven’t been able to stabilize home prices, it’s doubtful a gimmicky [...] |