All signs recently have been pointing to a sustained housing market, but CNBC reported two conflicting numbers today. Housing starts fell in August 3.0%, which was a larger drop than expected — but it’s mostly been in the Northeast, which fell 33%, according to the attached video. On the other hand, building permits in August…

Fourteen of the top 100 U.S. markets, in terms of home prices, are now “above the long-term fundamental value for that market”. CNBS insists that  this is not a bubble, though in the opinion of this writer, the argument  — that bubbles ultimately pop, and just because home prices are over valued doesn’t mean that…

There’s a new book out by Bethany McClean — Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants — published by Columbia Global Reports, and focused on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Kai Ryssdal interviewed Bethany, and it’s available as a podcast. Additionally, the site includes a reasonably lengthy excerpt from the book. Between…

Boral Limited, a multinational company founded in Australia, focused on building and construction materials, thinks the financial markets are making too much out of any Fed rate hike. According to their CEO, Mike Kane, points out that “consumer confidence is rising, unemployment is low, and the nation’s new housing stock is 40 per cent below…

We’ve been reporting for a while that many sectors of the housing market seem to have fully recovered, and almost all are doing well. However, the recovery in mortgage applications through Q1 seems to have stalled. Brena Swanson for Housing Wire gives a nice little summary on the current thinking, providing a completely understandable, short…

Normally this blog covers topics directly related to the real estate and mortgage industries, with a few homeowner tips thrown in. However, sometimes it’s good to step a little outside of the same-old same-old. Yesterday, The Street published an article on how to beat the market in September — and their recommendation covers 5 stocks…

Well, that’s it. Summer is over. OK, not technically for another week or two, but now that we’re past Labor Day, the kids are back to school, and that means — clutter. Organizing expert Marie Kondo provided some great tips to the Huffington Post on how to avoid the fairly natural clutter that occurs when…

This blog recently reported on the tremendous up-tick in investment in housing by foreigners; however, at the same time that increased investment is happening, foreign governments are cutting back. Now, foreign governments typically own very little property; however, their central banks invest heavily in mortgage-backed securities, as well as agency-backed securities (i.e., Fannie, Freddie, and…

Last month, this blog reported that availability of mortgage credit, as benchmarked by the mortgage credit availability index set to 100 for March, 2012, had increased 0.5% month over month. It continues to set new records, hitting 126.1 in August (it was 116.4 for July when we previously reported). As with last month, the increases…

The second quarter of 2015 was a banner one for the mortgage industry, with the highest level of originations since Q4 2007. The actual figure, $395 billion, is up $65 billion quarter-over-quarter, and $98 billion year-over-year. Forbes goes in-depth on the market share of the top 5 banks, which is notable primarily because their share…