Housing.com News, Analysis & Opinion: Mortgage Rates: Greenspan Flips Again

Don't get me wrong--I'm happy to see Greenspan stop drinking the Kool-Aid and demonstrate some economic sense. I just wonder if it's too little, too late. And more importantly, will Bernanke pay heed?

I drove by a luxury apartment complex on Wisconsin Avenue in D.C. yesterday, and found that it was now a luxury condo complex. Now, I've been in this place. I've visited it numerous times. You can't tell me that those cramped 1-bedroom apartments are suddenly going to morph into $500,000 luxury condos because they're under new management. It looks like we've reached the bottom of the barrel in the price appreciation sweepstakes. The folks over at Patrick.net have a particularly brutal assessment of the condo conversion craze.

The inward turn of the housing boom continues. Bankrate.com quotes a report saying that Arizona is the leading market for home appreciation. ("I like you, house! I really do!") The report cites Indiana as one of the slowest states for price appreciation, which conveniently makes it the nation's most affordable housing market. I wonder if they'll get Daylight Savings Time once their prices start to climb...

It's interesting that analysts are forecasting a dip into the ARM realm as the future of Fannie and Freddie. Now that the housing market is stretched to the limit, lenders will be pushing more and more consumers to take on riskier mortgage products, and conveniently enough, Bush has been calling for more divestment of the mortgage giants' assets. The invisible hand at work...what these guys don't reckon with is that people are becoming more and more cognizant of the dangers of ARMs, and have less and less desire to risk their financial futures in a fickle market.

Using your credit card to pay your mortgage? I liked that a lot better when we called it "Robbing Peter to pay Paul." :)

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According to the Big Giant Fed Head, America's deficit is reaching unsustainable levels. Well, there's an astute and timely observation if I've ever seen one. Maybe if he hadn't been cutting interest rates like he was Edward Scissorhands, there wouldn't be so much cheap cash on the market. Don't get me wrong--I'm happy to see Greenspan stop drinking the Kool-Aid and demonstrate some economic sense. I just wonder if it's too little, too late. And more importantly, will Bernanke pay heed? I drove by a luxury apartment complex on Wisconsin Avenue in D.C. yesterday, and found that it was now a luxury condo complex. Now, I've been in this place. I've visited it numerous times. You can't tell me that those cramped 1-bedroom apartments are suddenly going to morph into $500,000 luxury condos because they're under new management. It looks like we've reached the bottom of the barrel in the price appreciation sweepstakes. The folks over at Patrick.net have a particularly brutal assessment of the condo conversion craze. The inward turn of the housing boom continues. Bankrate.com quotes a report saying that Arizona is the leading market for home appreciation. ("I like you, house! I really do!") The report cites Indiana as one of the slowest states for price appreciation, which conveniently makes it the nation's most affordable housing market. I wonder if they'll get Daylight Savings Time once their prices start to climb... It's interesting that analysts are forecasting a dip into the ARM realm as the future of Fannie and Freddie. Now that the housing market is stretched to the limit, lenders will be pushing more and more consumers to take on riskier mortgage products, and conveniently enough, Bush has been calling for more divestment of the mortgage giants' assets. The invisible hand at work...what these guys don't reckon with is that people are becoming more and more cognizant of the dangers of ARMs, and have less and less desire to risk their financial futures in a fickle market. Here's a chilling Doomsday prediction as to what may happen if we don't stop. Also the source of the best story of the week. Using your credit card to pay your mortgage? I liked that a lot better when we called it "Robbing Peter to pay Paul." :)