Salient to Investors: Texas bonds this year have outperformed other top-rated states. John Bonnell at USAA Investments said the nation’s second-biggest economy shields Texas from cutbacks and lures bond investors, with demand for almost everything in Texas. Robert Dye at Comerica said: The population of Texas, the second-most-populous state, is younger than the U.S. average
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Yelena Shulyatyeva at BNP Paribas expects housing to be a bright spot despite foreclosures, delinquencies, people cutting mortgage debt. Investors can buy very cheap houses and, with rents rising, can get good yields. Primary residence rents rose 2.6 percent in the year ended August versus a 1.7 percent gain in average hourly wages. Read the full article
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Acadametrics report the average London house price rose 10.5 percent in July from a year earlier, led by a 32 percent rise in Kensington and Chelsea, a 19 percent rise in Hammersmith and Fulham, and a 18 percent rise in Westminster. House sales are 63 percent of the average in the period 1995-2011. Read the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Students prepared to pay a premium to live with their peers in city-center locations are a bonanza for providers of student accommodation, fueling acquisitions in an industry where yields are higher than other parts of the British property market. Philip Hillman at Jones Lang LaSalle reports big financial institutions
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: More Germans have bought equities the most in five years due to inflation rising and less security and stability in bonds because of concerns surrounding Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain – Germans traditionally loved government bonds. Share ownership declined almost every year in the decade through 2011. Economist forecasts compiled by Bloomberg predict
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: EC Harris estimates luxury home builders will complete more than 15,000 houses and apartments in London over the next decade on overseas demand; says the pipeline is unprecedented. Knight Frank say home prices in London’s most expensive areas are up 49 percent since the March 2009 low, up 14 percent from the previous peak in
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Berkshire Hathaway has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits, including Johnson & Johnson and Intel. John Paulson in Q2 2012 dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase, his fund’s entire position in Family Dollar and Sara Lee. George Soros recently sold
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The USDA reported the average value of all land and buildings on farms and ranches in the 48 continental states was $2,650 an acre in June versus $2,390 a year ago. thinkrogers.com/old/ Brent Gloy at Purdue University said the worst drought since the 1950s in the Corn Belt and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Over the last two decades, US recoveries have been slow and jobless, In every recession from 1948-1990, jobs came back to pre-recession levels an average six months after the economy returned to its pre-recession level. In the 1990s, jobs came back 15 months later, and since 2001, 39 months later. McKinsey
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Home prices are beginning to rise in cities that appeal to younger and affluent buyers. Professor Robert Shiller at Yale said speculative fervor comes back, sees signs of strength, though surveys of home buyers show a continued lowering of expectations on prices. Chris Rupkey at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ said glamour
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