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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (26173)	3/23/2005 9:49:25 AM
From: zonder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Yeah, well, I can't see that far when sober, either. You take a kick out of reminding me how dull my life is these days, don't you? -g-

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (26173)	3/23/2005 10:18:16 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

Housing ancedote from Slapdasher on the FOOL The wife told me last night that the supply of homes available has massively increased. There were no single family homes under $200k a few months ago, now there are about 30. The cheapest decent single family home was $225k in Nashua a few months ago, now there are some as low as $175k. I was at a party last Friday and at my table was a real estate agent. She left 401k investments late last year, and now is in RE in Portsmouth, NH. I asked how the RE prices have been over the last six months. She said she doesn't know, but from what she's hearing and what she's seen since starting in January, it's now turning into a buyer's market, with a good number of price drops. I said my impression is that RE prices have been flat to trending slightly down since June 2004. She (and her friend) agreed with that assessment. I've spoken with a number of people in the RE industry over the last year, and they've all agreed that things have been flat to slightly down.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (26173)	3/23/2005 10:19:49 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

z, I agree that we are heading into a deflationary spiral, but only after we get Weimar Republic style inflation. Hyperinflation would bail out debtors at the expense of creditors. You have it backwards. It comes AFTER the credit crunch and deflation. Mish

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (26173)	3/23/2005 10:23:12 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

Higher interest rates dampen refinancing activity: MBA Wednesday, March 23, 2005 12:15:36 PM afxpress.com WASHINGTON (AFX) -- Higher interest rates helped reduce volumes of mortgage applications by 9.5 percent in the week ended March 18 compared to the prior week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. On a seasonally adjusted basis, applications to purchase homes dropped by 3.5 percent, while refinancings fell 16.5 percent. Compared to this time last year, refinancing applications are running more than 60 percent lower, MBA senior director Michael Fratantoni said. Refinancings accounted for 39.5 percent last week's total applications, down from 42.9 percent a week earlier, while adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 33.5 percent from 32.4 percent. Week to week, average contract interest rates rose to 5.95 percent from 5.91 percent for 30-year mortgages and to 5.49 percent from 5.47 percent for 15-year mortgages. The rate on one-year ARMs dropped to 4.12 percent from 4.19 percent, the MBA's data showed.