The Hill (April 22)
“Anyone doubting that China is well on its way to a Japanese-style lost economic decade has apparently missed the bursting of its massive housing and credit market bubble and the souring of U.S. and European trade relations with that country.” Make no mistake, China’s fall “would constitute a major headwind for world economic recovery.”
Tags: Bubble, Bursting, China, Credit market, Europe, Fall, Headwind, Housing, Japan, Lost decade, Trade relations, U.S., World
Washington Post (October 16)
“Climate change is the catastrophe to end all other catastrophes.” Every other issue pales in comparison. “Even our boldest notions of how to improve the status of women — expanding access to education, health care, housing and liberty — will be meaningless if women are swept away in mega floods, buried in landslides or suffocated by wildfires.”
Tags: Access, Boldest, Catastrophe, Climate change, Education, Floods, Health care, Housing, Landslides, Liberty, Meaningless, Status of women
Financial Times (October 30)
Empty housing poses an increasing threat to both Japan and China. The former already grapples with surplus units while the latter “may already have enough housing to meet its future needs.” Nomura Research Institute has forecast that in Japan, “even as the number of empty units roughly doubles between 2023 and 2038, construction will add more than 8mn new ones.” Due to the rise of single person households, the total number of households will only peak next year. From that point, “the housing surplus will rise more acutely and the downward pressure on property prices strengthen.” The major demographic issue facing China, “may be how to avoid a Japan-style property crisis.”
Tags: China, Construction, Demographic, Downward pressure, Empty, Households, Housing, Japan, NRI, Peak, Property crisis, Surplus, Threat, Units
MSN (October 10)
“It’s more critical than ever to construct cost-efficient housing quickly since the UN predicts that by 2030, almost 100,000 homes will need to be built daily to keep up with population growth. In less than eight years, the organization expects three billion people to need housing, which makes the concept of inflated homes even more necessary.”
Tags: 2030, Built, Construct, Cost-efficient, Critical, Homes, Housing, Inflated homes, Population growth, UN
LA Times (September 11)
“America’s malls are dying. Owners are hoping virtual reality and fitness centers will save them.” As merchants increasingly withdraw in the face of e-tailers, Credit Suisse “recently predicted 20% to 25% of U.S. malls will shut down within five years…. To survive, malls need to set aside long-established models that rely on two or more anchor tenants to draw customers and, instead, develop a mixture of retail, entertainment and housing.”
Tags: Anchor tenants, Credit Suisse, Customers, Dying, e-tailers, Entertainment, Fitness, Housing, Malls, Retail, U.S., Virtual reality
Reuters (January 15)
“London’s once red-hot housing market has slowed for the past year due to a double hit from higher purchase taxes on expensive homes and the June 2016 Brexit vote, which hurt demand from foreign buyers and raised fears of big job losses in the capital’s financial industry.” The average asking price dropped 3.5%, year on year, to approximately 601,000 pounds.
Tags: Brexit, Expensive homes, Financial industry, Foreign buyers, Housing, Job losses, London, Purchase taxes, UK
Wall Street Journal (October 15)
“Murky data” are adding “to China’s housing headache.” The housing glut has eased in China, moving down from 25.2 months’ worth of supply in March to 16.5. But the “glut in China’s property market is worse than official data show,” as data excludes many partially completed or not yet for sale homes.
Financial Times (February 25)
When then Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled a potential policy change in 2013, he “triggered a ‘taper tantrum’ in financial markets across the world” and “put a chill on the US housing market.” Current Fed Chairman Janet Yellen “is determined not to do the same and catch the markets unaware.” Judging from the calm market reaction to her recent guidance, she is earning “high marks” for successfully managing expectations.
Tags: Bernanke, Calm, Expectations, Fed, Housing, Markets, Reaction, Taper tantrum, U.S., Yellen
New York Times (December 2)
While there have been some signs of a housing recovery in the U.S., action is still required. “In all, nearly 12 million borrowers collectively owe $600 billion more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, a loss of wealth and a load of debt that make a strong and steady economic recovery all but impossible.” President Obama should “use his second term to get mortgage relief right and, in the process, put the economy on a firm footing.”While there have been some signs of a housing recovery in the U.S., action is still required. “In all, nearly 12 million borrowers collectively owe $600 billion more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, a loss of wealth and a load of debt that make a strong and steady economic recovery all but impossible.” President Obama should “use his second term to get mortgage relief right and, in the process, put the economy on a firm footing.”
CBS (April 19)
First New York banned cigarettes in workplaces, then parks and beaches. Now, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to make it easier for residents to find smoke-free housing. His proposal would require that potential renters and apartment buyers be informed of a building’s smoking policy. The Mayor explained his reasoning. “Because of air circulation in buildings, if you smoke in one apartment, other people in the building do get some of that smoke.”
First New York banned cigarettes in workplaces, then parks and beaches. Now, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to make it easier for residents to find smoke-free housing. His proposal would require that potential renters and apartment buyers be informed of a building’s smoking policy. The Mayor explained his reasoning. “Because of air circulation in buildings, if you smoke in one apartment, other people in the building do get some of that smoke.”
Tags: Beaches, Cigarettes, Housing, New York, Parks, Workplaces
