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This blog has covered a few times the impact that foreign affairs can have on the U.S. housing market, but sometimes it can be useful to look not just at direct impact, but at global comparisons. Jonathan Lansner over at The OC Register did us the favor of compiling a bunch of global data into…

Literally every day there are prognostications about the rate of mortgage applications, based on projections of future interest rates. You know what? That’s crazy. And it’s even crazier to make your purchasing decision on projected rate moves. Sure, 1/4pt here or there makes a big difference over 30 years. But in 1972 the average annual…

One of the most interesting things about America is the relationship between the state and the federal governments; and the corollary, what should federal policy be for such a large and diverse country. When it comes to housing, it seems that the government holds two conflicting opinions at the same time: housing should always be…

With the U.S. housing market completely (or at the very least, nearly) recovered, it’s may seem like it’s getting harder and harder to find good investment properties. But the truth is, with the increase in rents, now may still well be a great time to invest in property. Canadian Business wrote an article with their…

With the U.S. housing market completely (or at the very least, nearly) recovered, it’s may seem like it’s getting harder and harder to find good investment properties. But the truth is, with the increase in rents, now may still well be a great time to invest in property. Canadian Business wrote an article with their…

A tangential item of note that’s come up a few times is that the size of the average American home is on the rise — in fact, up almost 30% since 1970. And that’s averages — new homes are up 60% compared to the early 70s. One interesting side effect of this is that we’ve…

A tangential item of note that’s come up a few times is that the size of the average American home is on the rise — in fact, up almost 30% since 1970. And that’s averages — new homes are up 60% compared to the early 70s. One interesting side effect of this is that we’ve…

As we reported Friday, it is true that at least statistically it is harder for blacks and hispanics to get mortgages than it is for whites and asians. However, while the news isn’t necessarily good, it’s not completely dire, either. At least we can say that the picture is improving. Conventional loans for blacks, for…

The problem with averages is that pretty much no one is average. While it’s fairly clear that the housing market as a whole has recovered, Business Insider correctly points out that the recovery is divided by age, race, and location. The location part is fairly obvious, as could be seen in yesterday’s blog post. We touched…

As you’ve seen, the data are up and down on the state of the housing market. The Economist has done an exciting job of aggregating data from Zillow, and producing five interactive charts. The charts cover data from Q1 1980 all the way through Q2 of this year. They also address 24 major markets, and the U.S.…