Salient to Investors: Regional lenders were the primary source of loans for landlords buying properties before the real estate collapse crash. Since then, at least 475 banks have failed and larger banks have tightened mortgage underwriting standards and are focusing on the biggest investors. Home prices are 29 percent below the 2006 peak. Millions of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Builders are rushing to satisfy growing demand for rental units. Work on multi-family homes, such as apartment buildings, jumped 31 percent to an annual rate of 417,000, the most since January 2006. Aneta Markowska at Societe Generale said demand from homebuyers or renters does not matter because it’s roofs over peoples’ heads.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Jeffrey D. Sachs say smart machines are substituting for young unskilled labor, and our children and grandchildren will be worse off as the wages of unskilled young adults decline. While a subset of young adults is tech savvy and the leading edge of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Mark Kiesel at Pimco said: US industries tied to housing will grow 4 times as fast as the economy, making them top picks for investors. Housing starts will increase 15 percent a year until at least 2015 Home prices will rise over 5 percent annually as demand recovers from the worst
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Paul Farrell writes: We are at a market top and an economic turning point. Bernanke’s non-stop cheap-and-easy-money printing presses are loved by Wall Street banks but are bad for the rest of America. His reappointment – certain to become Obama’s greatest domestic blunder – so shocked Nassim Taleb
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Anika Khan at Wells Fargo Securities is optimistic about the housing recovery and sees construction picking up. Morgan Stanley expects residential construction to rise 14 percent in 2013. Jason Schenker at Prestige Economics said housing has huge upside potential for GDP and job creation and the only thing that’s going to drive the substantial improvement to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: JPMorgan Chase now predicts US home prices will rise 7 percent in 2013 and over 14 percent through 2015, and Bank of America predicts prices will now rise 8 percent in 2013 as homebuyers and investors rush to acquire a dwindling supply of properties and the Fed lowers mortgage rates. Samantha McLemore at Legg Mason
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: John Silvia at Wells Fargo Securities said the economy has legs, many people are much more confident, the housing pick up is sustainable. Ken Goldstein at the Conference Board said the underlying economy remains relatively sound but sluggish – the biggest positive factor is housing. The median price of an existing
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Freddie Mac said the 30-yr fixed mortgage rate averaged 3.56 percent in the past week, the highest level since August 30, 2012, while the average 15-year rate held at 2.77 percent. Celia Chen at Moody’s Analytics said mortgage rates are still very, very low and will stay low
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Climbing home prices are lifting household wealth and boosting the purchasing power of consumers. Declining mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures are giving banks greater leeway to lend. Rising property-tax revenue is alleviating pressure on state and local governments to cut budgets. Mark Zandi at Moody’s Analytics said the housing
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