Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 25th, 2014 First-time buyers are a diminishing sector of the housing market and now account for about 16% of new-home purchases, down from 25% – 28% between 2001 and 2007, according to the National Association of Home Builders. In the existing-home market, first-time buyers accounted for 29% of purchases in April:… [Read More]
NUMBER OF MORTGAGES DROPS DRAMATICALLY: A NEW ‘NORMAL"?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on April 25th, 2014 The number of mortgages issued has dropped dramatically compared to a year ago fueling concerns that rising interest rates could have a negative impact on the housing market in general…..the bulk of the drop is attributed to the drop-off in re-financing. $235 billion in mortgage loans were… [Read More]
HOUSING CONTINUES TO IMPROVE
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on November 26th, 2013 Housing continues to improve, and for anyone who believes housing is not the key to the welfare of the US economy, think again: Permits for future U.S. home construction hit a near 5-1/2 year-high in October and prices for single-family homes notched big gains in September, suggesting… [Read More]
MAYOR-ELECT DE BLASIO AND TAXES: THE REALITY?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on November 6th, 2013 Its official: Bill de Blasio is the mayor-elect of New York City. Getting elected was relatively easy, but now its down to work. He is smart enough to know that botching Bloomberg’s successes will almost certainly lead to a fiscal mess and prevent the very things that… [Read More]
DEAR "MAYOR" DE BLASIO: PLEASE GET THIS HOUSING THING RIGHT!
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 19th, 2013 Its almost a certainty that New York’s next mayor will be Bill de Blasio who has been very vocal about the need for more affordable housing. He is correct, and just like Mayor Bloomberg has added more than 156,000 units in his 12 years, very close to… [Read More]
FIVE YEARS LATER…..
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on September 18th, 2013 This week, five years ago, the global financial crisis reached a fever pitch with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Today the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to begin its long retreat from ultra-easy monetary policy by announcing a small reduction in its bond buying, while stressing that interest… [Read More]
WALL STREET RESCUES THE HOUSING MARKET CRASH WITH PRIVATE STIMULUS?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 4th, 2013 Did large Wall Street firms save the crashed housing markets in the USA with PRIVATE STIMULUS? Some would say yes. Large investment firms have spent billions of dollars throughout 2012 buying homes in some of the nation’s most depressed markets. The influx has been so great, and… [Read More]
CAN GOVERNMENT LEARN FROM THE US CONSUMER ABOUT DEBT REDUCTION?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 26th, 2013 The question keeps getting asked: why is the New York real estate market so incredibly strong this month (and the past few months too)? Yes, mortgage rates are very low, the wealthy are doing well and have more confidence, the election circus is behind us, the optimism… [Read More]
THE MANHATTAN INFLATION MYTH
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on December 4th, 2012 Our beloved Government claims that the US inflation rate is currently somewhere around 2.25%…..remarkably they do not include the cost of housing in this figure, probably the single most expensive line item cost in every American’s budget. As we all know the cost of housing is rising dramatically, especially in… [Read More]
EXISTING HOME SALES CONTINUE CLIMBING
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on November 19th, 2012 The economy’s recovery is largey reliant on the housing market recovery, so today’s news from The National Association of Realtors that existing home sales climbed 2.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million units, beating forecasts by Wall Street economists, comes as… [Read More]