Salient to Investors: The South Carolina Association of Realtors say 2013 values in the Hilton Head area are up 11.1 percent from the first 5 months of 2012, sales are up 9.3 percent, while prices are down by a third from 2007. Increasing buyer confidence is spilling into seasonal communities from
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Daniel Friedman at UC at Santa Cruz and author Daniel McNeill write: Bailouts suggests to most laypeople gifts to a giant, inefficient, highly connected octopus, but they are typically investments – loans or purchases. The US bailout of Chrysler made a $660 million profit and the nation
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria writes: The great American housing market is back. The American economy has again shown its core character of flexibility and resilience. The US is the only rich country in the world whose population is growing – by 3 million a year, mostly legal immigration. Americans
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Freddie Mac said the average 30-yr fixed-rate mortgage is at 3.91% versus 3.3% in early May. Doug Duncan at Fannie Mae said it is unlikely that rates will ever be that low again because when QE ends, private investors will demand higher rates for borrowers. The Fed will stop
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Nouriel Roubini at NYU says gold may fall toward $1,000 by 2015 as the economic recovery curbs demand for bullion, there is a lack of inflation, and other assets such as equities offer better returns. Roubini said investors should have a very modest share of gold and other real
READ MORE... →Fareed Zakaria said: The great American housing market is back as the Case-Shiller housing index showed its largest annual increase in prices in seven years, showing its core character: flexibility and resilience. The US is the only rich country whose population is growing, increasing by 3 million people every year,
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Marc Faber at the Gloom Boom & Doom Report says: High-end assets from stocks to art to real estate are in a bubble caused by central bank money-printing. This money doesn’t increase economic activity and asset prices in concert, instead creates dangerous excesses in countries and asset
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Halsey Minor sold CNET Networks for $1.8 billion in 2008 and 5 years later has filed for personal bankruptcy thanks to bad bets on real estate, horse farms, start-up investing, and other ventures that took him out of his technology comfort zone. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-30/cnet-founder-minor-files-for-bankruptcy-after-selling-art.html
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: RealtyTrac said foreclosure sales fell 22 percent in Q1 from a year earlier as rising prices reduced the incentive to sell for owners underwater Daren Blomquist at RealtyTrac said rising prices take away the urgency from banks and homeowners from having to do a short sale. Blomquist said for metropolitan
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Kevin Cummins at UBS Securities said we are moving in the right direction, and the data is consistent with an improvement in the labor market and income. The median selling price increased 14.9 percent in April from a year ago to a record $271,600, reflecting increases in sales of homes
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