Friday Housing News

There's a lot of interesting and important stuff swirling around today, so I'll take a page from Instapundit and just get right to it, only minus the knee-jerk conservatism. :)

A dramatic drop in GDP across the board. "Unexpected?" Please. Only to those who drink the Kool-Aid served at NAR parties. It's a simple equation...higher costs lead to less spending, which leads to less investment, which leads to lower profits. And yet people keep calling the housing market's part in this passion play moderation:

In total, we see price gains for homes in the Northeast and West as historically large, but not unprecedented, and prior boom periods have extended well beyond the emergence of public perception that prices in these markets are "too high." Though such an assessment is likely correct for some urban markets, calling the top won't be easy until we see signs that price declines are actually emerging, and any pop in the bubble may not occur until later in 2006, or even 2007, depending on the course for Fed policy and market interest rates.

Well, we're agreed on that at least. Then again, Business Week broke out the tissues for their glowing essay on the joys of ABN AMRO's outsourcing, perhaps forgetting the little matter of a $41 million settlement with HUD. Oh, and identity theft, too! :)

Behold, the face of economics as modern art:

That grimacing visage is none other than Alan Greenspan, whose face has become as elusive as his predictions.:

"His expressions were always very complex," she added. "There were different shadows in his face that were really hard to capture."

Unfortunately, the mess that Greenspan made is far easier to capture and document. And that pic just screams to be Photoshopped, doesn't it? :)

Posted at January 27, 2006 03:20 PM

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There's a lot of interesting and important stuff swirling around today, so I'll take a page from Instapundit and just get right to it, only minus the knee-jerk conservatism. :) A dramatic drop in GDP across the board. "Unexpected?" Please. Only to those who drink the Kool-Aid served at NAR parties. It's a simple equation...higher costs lead to less spending, which leads to less investment, which leads to lower profits. And yet people keep calling the housing market's part in this passion play moderation: In total, we see price gains for homes in the Northeast and West as historically large, but not unprecedented, and prior boom periods have extended well beyond the emergence of public perception that prices in these markets are "too high." Though such an assessment is likely correct for some urban markets, calling the top won't be easy until we see signs that price declines are actually emerging, and any pop in the bubble may not occur until later in 2006, or even 2007, depending on the course for Fed policy and market interest rates. Well, we're agreed on that at least. Then again, Business Week broke out the tissues for their glowing essay on the joys of ABN AMRO's outsourcing, perhaps forgetting the little matter of a $41 million settlement with HUD. Oh, and identity theft, too! :) Behold, the face of economics as modern art: That grimacing visage is none other than Alan Greenspan, whose face has become as elusive as his predictions.: "His expressions were always very complex," she added. "There were different shadows in his face that were really hard to capture." Unfortunately, the mess that Greenspan made is far easier to capture and document. And that pic just screams to be Photoshopped, doesn't it? :)