Home prices rise for the fifth straight month

[Chris]

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in October for a fifth consecutive month, putting the housing market and economy farther along the path to recovery.

Tax credits for first-time buyers and mortgage rates that are less than a percentage point from record lows may prevent the market from retreating after sales jumped 35 percent over the first 11 months of 2009.

Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Rose for Fifth Month (Update2) - BusinessWeek

 

[uscitizen]

In 20 us cities, overall prices dropped.

 

[rightwinger]

Once again good economic news..

Means there is more competition for homes, more buyers. Five straight months shows a solid economic trend

 

[Navy1960]

The indexes showed prices in 10 major metropolitan areas fell 6.4% in October from a year earlier, while in 20 major metropolitan areas, home prices dropped 7.3% on the year. However, both indexes were flat in October compared with the previous month.

David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee, said the data, best described as flat overall, will likely "spark worries that home prices are about to take a second dip" as the come after a series of solid improvements.

"The turn-around in home prices seen in the spring and summer has faded with only seven of the 20 cities seeing month-to-month gains, although all 20 continue to show improvements on a year-over-year basis," he said.

U.S. Home-Price Declines Slowed in October - WSJ.com

Sorry if I'm a little skeptical on the news that prices fell slower than they used too and then call that some sort of recovery. In fact, I would LOVE nothing better than our economy to turn around and I personally don't care who is charge as long it does. However, I also don't think lowering one's expectations and then calling that an indication that things are great serves any useful purpose.

Of the 20 cities in the index, five showed improvements in prices since September, with New York unchanged. The biggest gain was in Phoenix, with a 1.3 percent increase, followed by San Francisco with a 1.2 percent rise in prices.

Decline in home prices slows - Denver Business Journal:

1.3% as compared to an overall loss of 35-45% in Phoenix.

TEMPE, Ariz. — An Arizona State University professor is predicting another wave of home foreclosures early next year in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Associate Professor of Real Estate Jay Butler is the author of the latest Realty Studies report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU.

He believes the foreclosure rate will pick up after the first of the year because of the continued weak job market and frustration on the part of homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages.

Last month, 61 percent of the activity in the Phoenix-area housing market consisted of foreclosures and the re-sales of previously foreclosed-on properties. About 3,000 homes were foreclosed in November
The Associated Press: Another wave of Phoenix-area foreclosures forseen

Personally I don't call the forclosure market an indication that the economy is picking up.

 

[Neotrotsky]

The indexes showed prices in 10 major metropolitan areas fell 6.4% in October from a year earlier, while in 20 major metropolitan areas, home prices dropped 7.3% on the year. However, both indexes were flat in October compared with the previous month.

David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee, said the data, best described as flat overall, will likely "spark worries that home prices are about to take a second dip" as the come after a series of solid improvements.

"The turn-around in home prices seen in the spring and summer has faded with only seven of the 20 cities seeing month-to-month gains, although all 20 continue to show improvements on a year-over-year basis," he said.

U.S. Home-Price Declines Slowed in October - WSJ.com

Sorry if I'm a little skeptical on the news that prices fell slower than they used too and then call that some sort of recovery. In fact, I would LOVE nothing better than our economy to turn around and I personally don't care who is charge as long it does. However, I also don't think lowering one's expectations and then calling that an indication that things are great serves any useful purpose.

Of the 20 cities in the index, five showed improvements in prices since September, with New York unchanged. The biggest gain was in Phoenix, with a 1.3 percent increase, followed by San Francisco with a 1.2 percent rise in prices.

Decline in home prices slows - Denver Business Journal:

1.3% as compared to an overall loss of 35-45% in Phoenix.

TEMPE, Ariz. — An Arizona State University professor is predicting another wave of home foreclosures early next year in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Associate Professor of Real Estate Jay Butler is the author of the latest Realty Studies report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU.

He believes the foreclosure rate will pick up after the first of the year because of the continued weak job market and frustration on the part of homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages.

Last month, 61 percent of the activity in the Phoenix-area housing market consisted of foreclosures and the re-sales of previously foreclosed-on properties. About 3,000 homes were foreclosed in November
The Associated Press: Another wave of Phoenix-area foreclosures forseen

Personally I don't call the forclosure market an indication that the economy is picking up.

Shhh....

They still think the Pork Bill worked as it was claimed to

 

[Toro]

The Case-Shiller index bottomed in April. The home price index is up 5.3% since.

 

[Chris]

The Case-Shiller index bottomed in April. The home price index is up 5.3% since.

Shhh....

The Republicans don't want to hear any good news.

 

[Mike458877]

Chris, I hope you are a young man and in college with the opportunity to actually educate yourself on economics and the misrepresented indicators often shared. .................. & not past the point of no return like Rightwinger!

Mike

 

[California Girl]

The Case-Shiller index bottomed in April. The home price index is up 5.3% since.

Shhh....

The Republicans don't want to hear any good news.

*CG leans over and whispers quietly to Chris*

Some of us just prefer fact to fiction. If we know bad stuff is coming, we can prepare for it. Rather than the liberal mantra of deny, deny, deny and if deny don't work, blame Bush. Idiot.

 

[rightwinger]

Shhh....

The Republicans don't want to hear any good news.

Some of us just prefer fact to fiction. If we know bad stuff is coming, we can prepare for it. Rather than the liberal mantra of deny, deny, deny and if deny don't work, blame Bush. Idiot.

Listen up America! Pay no attention to all those promising economic indicators. They are all fabricated by Liberals to make Obama look good.
Dow Jones up from 6500 to 10500? liberal nonsense.
Home sales and prices up for the first time in 18 months? Bullshit
GDP up two quarters in a row? Democratic spin
Production up, consumer confidence up, inflation low........more liberal nonsense
Jobs lost Nov 08 700,000....Jobs lost Nov 09 11,000......doesn't count because jobs were still lost

Yes America....Only Conservatives truly understand what a failing economy is. It only took them 18 months to acknowledge that theirs is failing

 

[Navy1960]

The unemployment rate edged down to 10.0 percent in November, and nonfarm payroll employment
was essentially unchanged (-11,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. In the prior 3
months, payroll job losses had averaged 135,000 a month. In November, employment fell in construction,
manufacturing, and information, while temporary help services and health care added jobs.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

So let me see if I understand this, now rather than the total the difference is now the number of people unemployed in non-farm to the exclusion of everything else in order to make it appear that the economy is great? I wonder how the other 400 plus thoussand that were unemployed would feel about about that?
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

The U.S. stock market is poised to end 2009 with a comeback of historic proportions, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 61% from its March nadir and 20% for the year.

But the history of such rebounds suggests the biggest gains may already be over, making it hard to expect a blockbuster 2010.

With one trading day remaining in 2009, the Dow is on track for its biggest annual gain since 2003, when it rose 25%. It finished Wednesday up 3.1 points, at 10548.51, a fresh peak for the year and the highest since October 2008.

2009: Banner Year for Stocks - WSJ.com

So if Wall Street is doing so well and it's all because of the Stimulus, why then would the President want to reform it, or for that matter, wish to pass another Stimulus bill?

WASHINGTON " In his weekly address, President Obama applauded the House for passing financial reform legislation and called on the Senate to continue working toward meaningful reform that stands up for consumers, sets clear rules of the road for businesses and investors and restores a sense of responsibility and accountability to both Wall Street and Washington.
Obama: We Must Reform Wall Street

Perhaps it's because the first Stimulus bill was a Wall Street Free for all and what you are seeing on the stock Market is the end result? Tell me when 15.4 Million people are unemployed, and many have lost thier 401ks as a result of last March lows, are these people happy now?

The recovery in housing has been boosted by just about every artificial means you can imagine:


Interest rates have been kept at a historically low level of 0%-0.25% for a very long time.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), the bankrupt behemoths of housing finance, have been bailed out with what amounts to a blank check from taxpayers.

The Federal Housing Agency (FHA) went on making mortgages with 3% down payments when nobody else was, thus very likely landing taxpayers with another bill for some large fraction of $1 trillion.

And the government has been handing out cash subsidies for refinancing houses that were about to be repossessed and $8,000 subsidies for first time buyers - now $6,500 for all homebuyers.
Of course it looks like the housing market has recovered! The question is what happens when some of these subsidies are taken away?

Even if we wanted to provide gigantic subsidies to housing finance in every form for evermore, we couldn't afford to. The U.S. government is running trillion dollar deficits, and something has to change. So at some point the feather cushions that have surrounded every aspect of the housing market will be taken away.

Don't Be Fooled by the Housing Market's False Bottom

Housing, I have show more than enough information on housing, for all of you who think the housing market is such great shape now, in fact I invite you all to Phoenix to come and invest in the real estate market here , you have more than a few choices in forclosed homes.


Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property
located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the third quarter of
2009, (that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to the "third" estimate
released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP decreased 0.7 percent.
News Release: Gross Domestic Product

Now right, you know me and I will give you that consumer confidence is up and the number of unemployed people is lower than it was than last year as well as it seems to slowing, however on the housing market I am going to disagree on that, but can we not agree that the economy is still in bad shape, regardless of who got us here? I do think its also worthwhile to see what happens to the unemployment situation after the seasonal workers are no longer in the system as it will give a better indication of where we are.

 

[Screaming Eagle]

Let's shoot for a little honesty here. Losing 11,000 jobs in November means that things aren't getting bad as fast as they have been, not that they are getting better, but it is definitely an improvement. Gaining jobs means that things are getting better.

 

[rightwinger]

Jobless claims fall to lowest level since ’08 - Stocks & economy- msnbc.com

WASHINGTON - The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits dropped unexpectedly last week, a sign the job market is healing as the economy slowly recovers.

New jobless claims have dropped steadily since September, raising hopes that the economy may soon begin creating jobs and the unemployment rate could decline. That, in turn, would give households more money to spend and add fuel to the broader economic rebound that began earlier this year.

The Labor Department said Thursday that new claims for unemployment insurance fell by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 432,000, the lowest since July 2008. That's much better than the rise to 460,000 that Wall Street economists expected.

The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, fell for the 17th straight week to 460,250, the lowest since September 2008, when the financial crisis intensified. The crisis led to widespread mass layoffs, which sent jobless claims to as high as 674,000 last spring.

 

[Old Rocks]

Worms eye view.

At our steel mill, the usual winter slump is just the opposite this year. While we still have over half our people layed off, we are seeing more orders, and putting more steel out the door than we were a year ago. A few people rehired, and nobodys looking over their shoulder, wondering if they will be the next to go.

Housing prices have stabalized in my neighborhood, but the market is slow. Two years ago, I had about 60% to 70% equity in my properties. Today, 40% to 50%. A significant differance, but, by the same token, the money will buy far more where I want to retire to than it would have two years ago.

Right now, I am somewhat optimistic. But many things can happen in the next six months.

 

[Navy1960]

Rocks, if our a real estate investor and want a good deal on property here in Arizona you have a LOT to choose from. It is amazing to me the number of homes available and the prices on them are cheap. Some of these would have sold for 3 to 4 times what they are selling for now. I suspect that, here especially many of these homes are being sold to first time buyers and investors. The one positive thing though, is the less inventory at least in my opinion the better off the rest of us will be in terms of overall value and that means doing something about the massive numbers of forclosures.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in October for a fifth consecutive month, putting the housing market and economy farther along the path to recovery.

Tax credits for first-time buyers and mortgage rates that are less than a percentage point from record lows may prevent the market from retreating after sales jumped 35 percent over the first 11 months of 2009.

Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Rose for Fifth Month (Update2) - BusinessWeek

Chris your are the king of providing partial information I swear.

Consumer Confidence up, House Prices Stall - ABC News

Home prices didn't drop or rise in october.

 

[Screaming Eagle]

Why does everyone think it's so great when home prices go up? It sux if you ask me.

 

[Chris]

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in October for a fifth consecutive month, putting the housing market and economy farther along the path to recovery.

Tax credits for first-time buyers and mortgage rates that are less than a percentage point from record lows may prevent the market from retreating after sales jumped 35 percent over the first 11 months of 2009.

Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Rose for Fifth Month (Update2) - BusinessWeek

Chris your are the king of providing partial information I swear.

Consumer Confidence up, House Prices Stall - ABC News

Home prices didn't drop or rise in october.

12.31.09
By Lewis Green

In news that may interest potential home buyers and sellers in the country, a recent index shows that prices for homes across the country rose during October, which may indicate that the market is on the path to recovery.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for 20 cities in the country saw an increase of 0.4 percent for October, after experiencing a gain of 0.2 percent the month before.

http://www.credit.com/news/housing-...indicating-market-may-be-seeing-recovery.html