Tag Archives: housing

Business/Economics, Idaho

Housing Boom Insanity: Despite impending crash, Idaho’s housing construction set to explode!

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13 October 2022 (12:23-UTC-07 Tango 06) 21 Mehr 1401/17 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1444/18 Geng-Xu 4720/13 октября 2022 года

It has been established that there are not many good paying, steady, long term jobs spread across The Gem State, and that there isn’t a lot of available land for private ownership, resulting in a low population, and that there has been plenty of house construction since the end  of the 1990s.  In other words, sparse population due to lack of decent long term jobs (90% of the population growth has been in the Boise Metro Area), and decades of house building actually resulting in a glut of houses.  Yet, housing rental prices and purchase prices are too high.   This is the excuse that local municipalities and property developers are using to justify the approval, and acceleration, of massive residential construction projects.

For proof here is a list of links to articles (just the tip of the iceberg) proclaiming new housing projects, and reporting on housing cost problems, across Idaho, from the past month:

Yet another huge housing development project for tiny Southeastern Idaho city of Chubbuck!  The U.S. Census says Chubbuck’s population is just under 16-thousand!  Over the decades, the poverty rate has been consistently between 10% and 15%, in other words, all the actions of the local leaders have done nothing to drop the poverty rate!

Utah property developer to build massive 40 acres (16 hectares) housing rental operation in Caldwell, news media says it is “much needed”!  U.S. Census says Caldwell’s population is under 57-thousand!

Nearly 3-thousand house development announced, next to golf course near Kuna!  The U.S. Census says the population of Kuna is just under 21-thousand!

Sparsely populated Elmore County approves development that promises to build enough homes for more than 5-thousand people!  The U.S. Census says the population of Elmore County is only about 27-thousand!

Announced; three more massive apartment complexes for the Boise Metro Area, and yes, another promise of low income housing!

Revealed; despite promises of constructing affordable houses, in the Boise Metro Area, the data proves that property developers actually build more expensive houses!

Despite the decades of promises of affordable housing by developers, the National Low Income Housing Coalition says Idaho still needs more than 20-thousand low income residences, lists more than 42-thousand Idahoans as being “extremely low income renters”!  Mirroring a problem across the United States.  The entire population of Idaho is about 1.9-million!

Federal government expanding low income housing vouchers for poor people in the Boise Metro Area.

Revealed; more than 4-hundred Boise Metro Area homes are actually owned by California speculators/investors!

Naïve Christian church in Nampa gives away, yes gives away, more than 3-thousand square feet of land so that one affordable house can be built!  U.S. Census says the population of Nampa is under 97-thousand!

Coeur d’Alene considering annexing county land for massive housing project, which will build more than 4-thousand homes over the next 20 years!  The U.S. Census says the city of Coeur d’Alene has a population of about 51-thousand!

Idaho State Rural Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development took part in the first ever Idaho Rural Success Summit in Twin Falls.  U.S. Census says population of Twin Falls is under 50-thousand!

“Boise in full fledged housing crash”

Boise first in the U.S. to see housing price bust?

The Land Trust of the Treasure Valley is trying to to raise enough money to buy-out hundreds of acres of “prime real estate” for the express purpose of halting any future development!

Idaho Housing & Finance injects $7.2-million in additional mortgage back securities into the General Indenture of Trust, because the asset to debt ratio of the Trust has been declining!

Ada County area real estate agent says the number of actual available units are flat despite all the construction, and predicts inventory will actually go down, which means rents and prices will stay high.  Reveals a disturbing trend that was insignificant before 2008 and is also the cause of high prices; residential Institutional Buyers, aka Investors/Speculators, who outbid families trying to buy a home:

Proof that your government wants a revolving door housing market, the Idaho Department of Labor blames high prices on home owners/renters staying in their homes longer than previous generations: “The recent decline in Idaho’s existing housing inventory has been driven by a decline in homeowner and renter mobility. This means that the supply of existing housing is declining as a result of households owning or renting longer than they did in the past.”

Does this imply that the government will find ways to force people out of their homes to facilitate ‘development’? It has happened before!

U.S. Housing Collapse:  NO MORE ‘MY IMMIGRANT IDAHO’, MASS EXODUS BEGINS!

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

U.S./Canadian Housing Hooliganism: Drug lords, foreign speculators & LLC monopolizing!

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05 June 2022  (14:49-UTC-07 Tango 06) 15 Khordad 1401/05 Dhu l-Qa’da 1443/07 Bing-Wu 4720

Traditional home buyers, families wanting to have a place of their own, have been overwhelmingly outbid by Limited Liability Companies (LLC), speculators and even criminal money launderers, for at least a decade. It is these profit seeking/money laundering operations that have driven-up housing costs, not traditional market forces. It seems that local, state and federal politicians are fine with that.  Especially local politicians because a top source of tax & fee revenues for local governments is real estate.

U.S. tax schemes benefit LLCs:

Traditional investors, like Warren Buffet, do not like the idea of putting their money into real estate, yet there is a new game in town involving LLCs that are buying-up homes across the U.S., turning those homes into high dollar rentals:

A 05JUN2022 report lists more than 55 real estate transactions involving LLCs in Northwest Arkansas!

In California, the City of Berkeley itself is using tax dollars to get into to the rental game by buying-up properties, under the guise of lowering housing costs!

In Pennsylvania, for the week of 05JUN2022, more than 20 real estate transaction in the Pittsburgh Eastern Suburbs involved LLCs!

At least 7 real estate transactions involving LLCs in the Boise metro area, Idaho, were reported on 04JUN2022!

In Nebraska, a 04JUN2022 report revealed that multi-million dollar LLC real estate purchases caused property values to double for Lincoln County, in just one day!

On 01JUN2022, the U. S. President Joseph R. Biden Junior began an “initiative” that will likely drive up the cost of building new homes!

In May 2022, it was reported that Canada’s government is so concerned over foreign speculation driving-up prices in local real estate markets that a ban on home purchases by foreigners is being considered!

Iredell County, North Carolina, reported that for 22-26MAY2022 the top three real estate transactions involved LLCs!

Single family homes in Massachusetts are being bought-up by ‘anonymous’ Limited Liability Companies, more than 6-thousand homes in 2021: “It’s becoming more prevalent in Massachusetts and everywhere. More and more rental properties are coming to be owned not by individuals, but by companies, by business entities.”-Adam Travis, Harvard doctoral candidate studying rental housing and the private market

U.S. Home Owners Associations (HOA), and traditional homeowners, want to ban real estate speculators (‘investors’) from buying housing: “It feels like we are being preyed upon.”-Deborah Smith-Gregory, homeowner in New Jersey

Canada’s The Globe and Mail blames rising real estate interest rates on speculation and investing.

September 2020, investment analyst gives advice to foreigners on how to buy U.S. real estate, it’s all about money:

Associated Press, May 2022: Drug gangs from Latin America, Europe and Asia take advantage of Oregon’s lax drug laws and buy-up properties to create massive illegal drug-farm operations!

In the drugged out state of Oregon (don’t deny it you Beaver Staters) people expressed shock that there was an illegal drug store in their neighborhood, 12 people arrested! It was part of a massive Mexican drug lord operation which also included money laundering by buying up properties with cash! March 2022, KPTV report about the multi-state (California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington) drug bust that also included real estate:

In November 2021, Oregon State Police warned state politicians that drug dealers from south of the border had set-up numerous illegal marijuana farms using illegal immigrants as the workers!  Migrant workers describe the drug dealers as operating like an army!

It is not just drug lords setting-up shop to manufacture and distribute drugs, but according to a 2021 Global Financial Integrity survey, in the past five years U.S. real estate has become the number one way for drug lords, and other international criminals, to ‘launder’ their dirty money!  According to the authors of the survey, this massive international money laundering scheme is being facilitated by U.S. attorneys, real estate agents, investment advisers, and employees of U.S. financial institutions who know full-well what is transpiring.

Using U.S. real estate is so prolific that a company called CRES Real Estate Errors and Omissions Insurance has published a guide explaining how to identify and report real estate transactions that are possibly foreign money laundering schemes.

It is not just the U.S. that is suffering Housing Hooliganism, Canada news outlet Global News shows you the detailed global money laundering web created by organized criminals from Communist China, who are snatching up homes in British Colombia:

Miami Herald, October 2021: Money laundering remains prevalent through U.S. real estate

United States Department of Justice, April 2021: Court Orders Forfeiture of Real Estate Purchased by Mexican Cartel Leader

Global Witness, 2020: How anonymous companies are used “to stash cash, launder money, and buy-up homes in a tight market.”

May 2019, Canada’s state funded CBC News reveals how money laundering is driving up housing costs:

This is not new; from Housing Wire, 2016: Texas real estate agent takes down Mexican drug gang

Wall Street Journal, July 2016: The U.S. government adds new counties and cities to its list of real estate money laundering hot spots:

2014: The top buyers of U.S. real estate are from China, followed by British empire (Commonwealth of Nations) members!

From the Baltimore Sun, February 1999: When a drug lord is your landlord 

U.S. Wildfires, 2022: BLAME HOUSING DEVELOPMENT SPECULATION GAME!

U.S. Housing Crisis, 2021: IDAHO’s HOUSING COSTS “LITERALLY MATHEMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE”! KILLING IDAHO’S ECONOMY! GET READY FOR THE CRASH-N-BURN!

What Housing Market Recovery? 2015: IDAHO HOUSING MARKET LIES!

“I KNOW…A MANAGER…WHO SAID THEY LOSE $200-THOUSAND A YEAR!”

U.S. Housing Implosion, 2014: “EVERYBODY WANTS A BETTER OUTCOME, EVERYBODY BUT THE LANDLORDS.”

Government Incompetence, 2011: CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES SAY IDAHO CITY DRIVING DOWN THE ECONOMY WITH THEIR OUTRAGEOUS CONSTRUCTION FEES. IS City of POCATELLO VIOLATING STATE LAW?

Business/Economics

What Housing Market Recovery? 1st Quarter 2015: “I know…a manager…who said they lose $200-thousand a year!”

Incomplete list of residential and commercial construction industry job destruction that took place, or were announced, from January to March 2015:

“The number of future foreclosure auctions scheduled in January continued to increase in many states, foreshadowing more foreclosure spring cleaning to come in the next several months…”-RealtyTrac

According to the National Association of Counties, only 65 out of 3,143 counties across the United States have “fully” ‘recovered’ since 2008!!!

Internet based commercial office space seller 42Floors laid off at least 14 people in the cities of New York and San Francisco. The company halted its commercial real estate brokerage ops and will focus on providing internet searches and listings only: “Over the past few months, 42Floors has experimented with being a brokerage in addition to being a commercial real estate data and search website. We’ve decided today to stick with what we’re best at…”-Jason Freedman, founder

Alabama: After 25 years Applebee’s shutdown their Brookwood Village restaurant. The Texas based property owner refused to renew the lease with the restaurant.

Alaska: The U.S. Census Bureau reports 10,137 people left the state from July 2013 to July 2014!

Arizona: The Grand Canyon State lost 43-hundred construction jobs in 2014, the most in the U.S.! The Associated General Contractors warns that even more jobs will be lost in 2015. RealtyTrac says foreclosures jumped 100% from December 2014 to January 2015!  The city of Phoenix now has a 22% office vacancy rate, or more than one in five!  In Tucson, after ten years The District Tavern shutdown, it’s blamed on jacked up rent.

California: The U.S. Census Bureau reports a net of 32,090 people left the state from July 2013 to July 2014!  RealtyTrac reported a sudden jump in foreclosures by the end of January. In Los Angeles County 1,231 homes were foreclosed on.  Agoura Hills based InterThink sold off its mortgage division, resulting in at least 70 people being laid off.  In Santa Barbara, after six years the Bizerk Costume Store shutdown, the owners blamed the greedy landlord, LYNX, for giving them a 30 day eviction notice (instead of the required 60). Local news sources say LYNX administrators refused to say why they kicked out their tenant. Bizerk co-owner says its all about jacking up the rent: “At the rates that are being charged on State Street, I think it’s very possible that a lot of chain store business might be taking a loss. I know someone who is a manager at Abercrombie & Fitch on State Street who said they lose $200-thousand a year…..!”-David Sampanis

Connecticut:  The U.S. Census Bureau reports at least 2,664 people left the state from July 2013 to July 2014!  In Wallingford, Acuity Brands Lighting issued a shutdown for April, 93 jobs lost.

Florida:  In Jacksonville, Too Big to Jail Bank of America Mortgage issued a layoff WARN for April saying 69 people will be laid off. JPMorgan Chase Mortgage rendered 163 people jobless!  In Dania Beach, Boomers! Greater Ft. Lauderdale amusement park shutdown and being forced to liquidate by greedy property developers.  Taxsucking developer of so called affordable housing, Aburn Trace, is now chapter 11 bankrupt busted! This could mean no chance of recovering any taxpayer funding the company got. It’s blamed on numerous lawsuits filed by and against home developers, banks and even the federal government! (classic cluster f*ck with taxpayer and investor funds)  In Plantation, the Fashion Mall chapter 7 bankrupt busted and now up for sale. The mall has been vacant since 2007!

Georgia: Maker of concrete reinforcing steel Insteel Industries shutdown their Newnan factory, 20 jobs lost. They are consolidating ops as part of their takeover of American Spring Wire.

Hawaii: The U.S. Census Bureau reports a net of 5,141 people left the state from July 2013 to July 2014!  The Children’s Place clothing store in the GGP owned Ala Moana Center shutdown. Store administrators say they couldn’t afford to renew the lease.

Idaho:  Washington based wood products company Plum Creek Timber sold-off its Meridian remanufacturing factory, at least 61 jobs lost.  According to National Association of Counties most recent data eastern Idaho’s Bannock County has failed to make any recovery in the areas of Jobs, Unemployment, GDP or Home Prices since 2008! Never mind that Bannock County is still assessing the value of homes at tens of thousands of dollars above what they will actually sell for!

Illinois:  The U.S. Census Bureau reports a net of 94,956 people left the state from July 2013 to July 2014!  In Chicago, housewares retailer Crate & Barrel laid off under 30 of its HQ employees. Administrators admit they don’t see any economic recovery happening, saying they need “to align our work force with our future business strategies.”  Employees went public and revealed that the Ace Hardware on East Oakton Street, in Des Plaines, shutdown.  RealtyTrac reports that foreclosures for January 2015 beat out foreclosures for January 2014. In Cook County there was a 24% increase!  After 26 years Soapy’s laundromat being shutdown by greedy property developers.

Kentucky: Remke Markets announced they could not afford to renew their lease on their Newport grocery store and shut it down, 58 jobs lost.  In Louisville, Cunningham’s Restaurant shutdown without warning, 30 jobs lost. The property is for sale, but the current lease is good until 2022. Gatti’s Pizza shutdown their Westport Village Gattiland restaurant, the owners blamed the greedy landlord: “The lease is expiring, and after months of attempting to negotiate with the landlord, a satisfactory agreement has not been reached.”

Massachusetts: It may have survived the Marathon bombing but it can’t survive the Boston Weak property owners; the iconic FORUM Bar & Restaurant shutdown, the owner blames evil property owners for killing it off: “After the tragic events of the 2013 Boston Marathon….four long months of reconstruction…bureaucracy…the current real estate climate on Boylston Street has motivated FORUM’s landlord to raise rent…nearly three times our current rate…makes it financially impossible…”

Michigan: The tax auctions of homes in Detroit are now considered failures. In 2014, 394 homes were put up for auction, but by January 2015 only 138 auctions actually sold!  In Grand Rapids, after 14 years Louis Benton Steakhouse shutdown with a one day notice, 35 jobs lost. It sounds like the landlords have other plans for the property.

Minnesota: In Morris, the owners of Cullen’s Home Center shut it down: “It’s just a number of different factors and we feel terrible about it, obviously it was the last thing we wanted to do…”-John Cullen

Barnes & Nobel shutdown its 20 years old Saint Paul Highland Park book store, not because the store wasn’t making money. The store was shutdown by the greedy landlord. Barnes & Noble administrators are looking for a new home: “We are diligently working on a new store offering…There’s nothing immediate. In fact, I can honestly tell you, we have not selected any locations for a new store offering, but we’ll probably look to that by the middle of 2015″-David Deason

Missouri:  Ten years old Town & Country Masonry and Tuckpointing now chapter 11 bankrupt busted.  Texas based Romano’s Macaroni Grill forced to shutdown all their Saint Louis restaurants, and one in Columbia, due to greedy property owner! Employees had no warning, it turns out the property owner made a secret deal with evil Christian Chick fil-A back in September 2014!

Nebraska: After 37 years, the new owner of Duggan’s Pub (formerly Sam’s Pub) shut it down. The new owner is a property developer.  In Lincoln, after nearly 60 years Baker Ace Hardware shutdown by the greedy property owners who sold the property to an apartment developer.

New Jersey: Atlantic City reports that property values have crashed 35% since last year!

New Mexico: The U.S. Census Bureau reports a net of 14,154 people left the state from July 2013 to July 2014!

New York: The U.S. Census Bureau reports 153,921 people left the state from July 2013 to July 2014!  In Rochester, Too Big to Jail JP Morgan Chase issued a WARN saying they will shutdown their mortgage ops in June, 390 jobs lost!  In NYC, Homes for the Homeless issued a shutdown WARN saying 34 people will become jobless in June.  Too Big to Jail Bank of America announced that 53 people will become unemployed as they shutdown their Jericho mortgage office.  In Alden, building contractor Gamma North issued a layoff WARN for April, saying they will layoff 81 of their 99 employees.  Administrators also admitted they already started layoffs back in January.

North Carolina:  In Wilson, bathtub maker Bathcraft announced they will shutdown in May, 87 jobs lost. HR director Sandy Moore directly blamed the crashing housing market.   Bank of America Mortgage laying off 250 people in Charlotte! Apparently that’s on top of the 540 layoffs announced back in June 2014!  Monument stone provider North Carolina Granite laid off 28 people. The 125 years old (surviving the Great deflationary Depression and numerous recessions) company has been laying off people since the early 2000s, reports say they are down to only 97 employees. RealtyTrac ranks North Carolina number 10 for zombie foreclosures (foreclosure of abandoned homes), at 3,177 by the end of January! In Franklin, hardwood flooring maker Shaw Floors  laid off 25 employees.

Ohio: After more than 70 years Springboro Hardware shutdown.  Florida based Trulite Glass and Aluminum Solutions  shutdown their Hebron factory, as a result of taking over a competitor, 70 jobs lost.

Oklahoma:  In Sand Springs, after 59 years Morrow-Gill Lumber Company shutdown. The family owners say they’ve had the business up for sale, but nobody wanted to buy it.

Oregon: Ochoco Lumber shutdown their 2nd shift at their Malheur Lumber plant, just seven months after starting up the 2nd shift. About 90 jobs affected. Administrators admit they overestimated sales. Ochoco Lumber had also sold off $18.5-million USD of their land to pay for upgrades to their Malheur Lumber factory.

Tennessee: In Nashville, after 18 years Fiddle & Steel Guitar Bar shutdown. The property was sold off to a hotel developer.

Texas: In Angelina County, T&B Construction Services laid off 20 people, blaming the oil industry for reducing the number of planned construction projects. Local Angelina County judge Wes Suiter summed up the bad economy thusly: “The hits just keep on coming!”

Utah: The U.S. Census Bureau reports 1,235 people left the state from July 2013 to July 2014!

Virginia: In Norfolk, Too Big to Jail Bank of America laid off 200+ people in their mortgage servicing division!  In Culpeper, the owner of 109 years old (surviving the Great deflationary Depression and numerous recessions) Clarke Hardware announced he must shutdown by June. News reports say the owner wants to retire, but the owner blames the local Masonic Lodge, who owns the property: “They told me last Wednesday that I have to be out by the end of June. They want the building to renovate. They plan to split it into two sections to get more rent.”-Claude Minnich

Washington DC: The U.S. Department of Commerce reports new U.S. home construction fell 2% from December 2014 to January 2015. Home sales fell 6.7%.

West Virginia: The U.S. Census Bureau reports 3,269 people left the state from July 2013 to July 2014!

Wisconsin: Too Big to Jail Wells Fargo will layoff 1-thousand people when they shutdown their Milwaukee home loan service center this summer! And Wells Fargo reported a $23.1-billion profit last year!  Lighting company Orion Energy Systems laid off 40 people. Company administrators said of the economy “The issues we face today are far more complex.” In De Pere, Furniture and Appliance Outlet being shutdown due to “The building has been a challenge to operate since the storefront itself got blocked by highway construction.”

Last six months of 2014: “Everybody wants a better outcome, everybody but the landlords.” 

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shutdown. It doesn’t count people who get a severance for being laid off.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Eldery woman loses home after selling everything to pay it off, a 101 year old woman gets foreclosed on, despite getting a reverse mortgage

“I had one year left on my mortgage, and it would have been paid off, I wanted to live here for as long as possible.”-Linda Hatchel

Linda Hatchel spent decades, and tens of thousands of dollars renovating her Chicago home.

What makes it all the more terrible is that more than twenty years ago she paid about one dollar for the home.  It was a demolition sale.  She took out loans to renovate the house, but her cancer treatment, and the loss of her job left her unable to make the final payment (she had one payment left), now she’s about to become homeless.

In Texas, 101 year old Texana Hollis was evicted from her home this week. In 2003, her son asked her to sign it over to a reverse mortgage company for $32,000 to help with home repairs.  Despite claims that reverse mortgages can keep you in your home, the bank kicked her to the curb.

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Bank of America increases Home Foreclosures by 200%

Despite their promise to cut back on home foreclosures, Bank of America boosted foreclosures by 200% in August!

CNBC reported that other banks will follow suit.  California and Nevada are being hit the hardest.

RealtyTrac confirms the huge jump in foreclosures in August.  One analysts says don’t necessarily blame the home buyer: “This proves once again that ‘credit’ as measured by legal defaults and foreclosures is not necessarily about borrowers missing payments, rather about what the servicers [banks] chose to do about it.”-Mark Hanson, housing analyst

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Housing bubble bursting in Australia, big banks try to offer lower interest rates to get people to buy

“Outside Hong Kong and Shanghai, Australia is the most expensive real estate market in the world compared to income.”-Harry S. Dent Jr, economist

The housing market bubble is finally bursting in Australia, it’s being called an “economic tsunami” in Australian media.

One of the biggest Australian banks, Commonwealth Bank, has dropped its interest rates to try and get people to buy homes.

Also, most of the major home finance banks in Australia are offering refinancing loans to help keep people form defaulting on their home loans.  It’s very much like whats been going on here in the United States.

Home prices in the state of South Australia (SA) have been slashed by thousands of Australian dollars.  One woman cut her asking price by $60,000: “It’s been on the market for nine months now and the way the economy is at the moment it wasn’t even getting a look-in at open. My partner and I came to the conclusion we needed to drop the price.”-Jan Grainger, Fullarton

This weekend, U.S. economist Harry S. Dent Jr stated that the housing bubble in Australia was about to burst, as well as in China and Japan. He also indicated that the housing correction in the U.S. isn’t over: “People in places like Sydney or Tokyo or Miami say, ‘Hey, real estate can never go down here, we’re a great place, everyone wants to move here, there’s not much land for development’, and what I say is that is exactly the kind of place that bubbles.”

Dent said Australia’s house prices need to correct to 1990s levels.

In the Australian state of Victoria (VIC) real estate agents are actually dropping clients who refuse to drop their prices: “An agent only gets paid when they sell a property so if they are investing a lot of time into something they know is not going to sell, then there is no point in wasting time on it.”-Catherine Cashmore, real estate agent

In New South Wales (NSW) the state government announced that a new tax, on existing home sales to first time home buyers, would go into effect after January 1.  That is causing sales to hit 60% rate, due to people trying to beat the new tax (stamp duty).

The problem is that after January 1 you can expect home sales in NSW to hit the floor: “The stamp duty will be a hit of $15,000 – that’s a lot of money for anyone these days. People who haven’t bought or can’t buy by this time have no choice to go back on the rental market. People that don’t buy before January will see rent increase.”-Joel Hollis, real estate agent

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Respected U.S. Economist says deeper recession coming, Australia no longer safest place to be

“We predicted this (current) downturn in the U.S. 20 years ago.”-Harry S. Dent Jr

September 11, U.S. economist Harry S. Dent Jr is predicting a second, deeper downturn between the beginning and the middle of next year.

Dent says the downturn will start in Europe, spread to the United States, China and eventually Australia.  He says Australia might not be the safest place to be: “Australia is probably the best place in the world to survive this, but we do think Australia will not escape as well as it did from the last crisis (in 2008).”

Dent says there are still ‘bubbles’ that need to burst.  He believes gold and silver prices are overrated, and there are still housing bubbles around the world, like in Australia, Japan and China, that need to burst.  The housing bubble that burst in the U.S. still hasn’t fully deflated.

Dent is in Australia to promote his book, The Great Crash Ahead – How to Prosper in the Debt Crisis of 2010-2012.


Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. home construction down again, no recovery in sight

“This range leaves us at the lowest levels since the series began in 1959. While monthly volatility is likely to continue, no real recovery looks to be on the horizon.”-Jill Brown, Credit Suisse

August 16, the United States Census Bureau reports housing starts fell 1.5% in July, and permits to build new homes fell by 3.2%.

The biggest drop came in what’s called “groundbreakings” of single family homes, down by 4.9%.

The Census Bureau blames the declines on too many existing homes on the market, no thanks to the big banks foreclosing on so many home buyers.

Just last week, Idaho officials downgraded their economic forecast, with one factor being a decline in construction jobs.

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Proof the housing market hasn’t fallen enough: Big Banks bulldozing smalltown America

“Things that were unthinkable are now becoming thinkable.”-James W. Hughes, School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University

If you want proof that the housing market still hasn’t hit bottom, just look at what Bank of America is doing, they’re bulldozing all those homes they foreclosed on.  Why? “There is way too much supply, the best thing we can do to stabilize the market is to get the garbage off.”-Gus Frangos, Cuyahoga County Land Re-utilization Corp of Cleveland

It’s not just BoA, but the other big banks that foreclosed (sometimes unjustifiably) on hundreds of thousands of homes across the U.S. are doing the same thing.

Essentially the big mortgage lenders shot themselves in the foot.  Now there is way too many homes on the market, compared to the decreasing number of qualified home buyers.

BoA is planning on bulldozing 100 homes in Cleveland, Ohio.  BoA is even giving away homes to local authorities: “No one needs these homes, no one is going to buy them. Bank of America is not going to be able to cover its losses, so it might as well give them away and get a little write-off and some nice public relations.”-Christopher Thornberg, Los Angeles office of Beacon Economics LLC

So far they’ve off loaded around 100 homes in Detroit, Michigan and 150 in Chicago, Illinois.

Even big cities are bulldozing their own.  Detroit Mayor, Dave Bing, proposed bulldozing one quarter of the entire city’s houses, and empty buildings, over the next three years.

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Chinese Housing Bubble about to explode: Property Loans halted

“You’d better prepare to pay 40% of your home price as down payment, because commercial banks are going to ask more for a property loan.”-Gong Hang, bank official

First the Chinese government created a new income tax schedule that meant more people were excused from paying taxes, but left them potentially unable to buy a home (due to not having the required tax documents).  Then they ordered down payments to be increased, or mortgage interest rates must be increased (some banks did both).  Now, banks are just flat refusing to issue anymore property loans.

In what’s called 2nd and 3rd tier cities, in China, banks are refusing to issue anymore loans for property: “We will not accept property loan applications at present, even if it is from a first-time home buyer.”-unnamed bank official

If you think paying 40% down on a home is outrageous, wait ’till you read this: 40% down is for first time home buyers, if you’re buying a home for the second time Chinese banks now want 50-60% down.

Bank officials say it’s because the Chinese government ordered banks to hold onto their money, by not lending it out.  This is an attempt to control inflation, which Chinese officials are fearing could get out of control.