Thursday Links
A: You guys have to bear with me over the next few weeks as I deal with my father battling an awful disease. Time is short and I'm trying to post as much as possible to keep content fresh, but most of my free time goes to my buyer/seller clients. So, live chat will be erratic and grammar errors might be more prevalent; yesterday I messed up the see-saw picture because I rushed to get the post up. So, please bear with me. In meantime, here are some worthwhile reads from sites that I consider daily reads to keep me educated on the Manhattan real estate market and the economy.
The Latest Housing Data Suggest the Housing Recession is Not Bottoming (Nouriel Roubini's Blog) - An explanation into why New Home Sales data is flawed and other arguments that analysts seemed to diss when arguing that the national housing market is nearing a bottom.
Housing ATM 'Out of Money' (Calculated Risk) - Bill's link to a Washington Post article that goes into the lack of funds that are available to homeowners as home prices fall. Less equity in your home means a reigning in of spending and a psychological shift to avoid cashing out what's left in your home equity unless in an emergency. How this might cause sluggish consumer spending reports in the future and be a further drag on US economy.
Housing Freefall Continues Unabated (Big Picture) - Barry Ritholtz's take on the continuing trend of downward national home prices; with a reference to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index showing negative annual returns in US. Barry also goes into Existing Home Sales data and concludes "...the number of unsold properties relative to sales hits a 15 year high". There is an issue with bottom calling in the mass media via so-called experts and this article tries to argue the other side of the coin; the data and the builders.
My Co-op is Growing: More Evidence of Square Footage Lies (True Gotham) - Douglas Elliman superstar broker Doug Heddings take on Jonathan Miller's latest chart showing that condo apt size is decreasing as co-op size is rising? What gives?
Doug argues, "Jonathan Miller attributes some of the skewing of data to the high end co-op sales of the past ten years. Perhaps, but I think it is more a result of overstating square footage. I have witnessed the "puberty" of apartments in most listing databases: The fledgling 1BR that has gone from 620sf to a handsome 750sf "spacious home," and the Classic 7 room on West End Avenue that "sprouted" a few years back from a measly 2000sf to a robust 2400sf."
What A Revolting Development (NY Mag) - S. Johanna Robledo's take on the rising number of buyer complaints at new development condos. While one would expect top quality by paying top dollar plus the developer's transfer taxes at closing, some developments have to resort to shoddy construction tactics to make the numbers work and the project economically feasible. This article focuses on Brooklyn.
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