Urban areas have begun to outpace the growth of suburbs. Could that be good for America’s social ecology?
Real Estate
Countrywide VIP Loans Went to Key Lawmakers: Congressional Report
When people ask why banking CEOs haven’t been called to account for the devastating mortgage meltdown that helped plunge the United States into the worst recession in generations, a name that invariably comes up is Angelo Mozilo, …
Is Stockton the Start of a Rash of Municipal Bankruptcies?
State and local borrowing amounts to only a fraction of the national debt, but while the scale may be smaller, the financial crises are much, much closer.
Can the Economy Get Healthy Without a Housing Recovery?
This spring has been filled with disappointing economic news, but one bright spot has been the possible bottoming out of the housing market. The conventional wisdom is that a stable housing market is important not only because …
Our Net Worth Is Down 39%. How Worried Should We Be?
It’s unlikely that most families will be able to make up for lost time after a 21-year period in which growth in their net worth has averaged out to less than nothing. However, some analysts are clinging to misconceptions that …
Home Sales Jump as Number of Foreclosures Drops
April housing numbers released by the National Association of Realtors were, wait for it … good. Spring is traditionally a busy season for home sales, but the real estate market has been in such a slump for the past couple of years that “ordinary” good news comes as something of a surprise.
Report: Housing Market Recovery Has Officially Begun
A new analysis suggests that home prices will begin to rise later this year.
Congressmen Accuse Fannie and Freddie Boss of Ideological Bias
Updated at 1:30 p.m.
There’s a sizable portion of the American public that’s against bailing out underwater American homeowners under any circumstances. That sentiment was most eloquently summed up by CNBC’s Rick …
Has the Housing Market Finally Hit Bottom?
Housing and jobs: these are the two keys to the economic recovery really taking off, and while we’ve gotten some positive news on the jobs front recently, real estate prices have more or less continued to decline steadily since …
Building a Better Bailout: Can Fannie and Freddie Help American Homeowners?
Since the financial crisis, American taxpayers have collectively made all sorts of investments that would have been unthinkable ten years ago. We bought stakes in the auto and insurance industries and, perhaps most significantly, …
Foreclosures Are at a 4-Year Low, But That’s Not Necessarily Good News
Foreclosure filings fell in March to their lowest level in four years, according to real estate data provider Realty Trac. For the first time since July 2007, the nationwide number of filings fell under 200,000 — a 4% drop from the month before and a 17% decrease from March of 2011. However, the news isn’t as good as it may sound.
Is Fannie and Freddie Honcho Ed DeMarco “America’s Most Dangerous Man?”
Ed DeMarco, acting head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), doesn’t have the look of a comic-book super-villain, but if you listen to some of the barbs his critics hurl at him, DeMarco is more dastardly than The Joker …