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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Vosilla who wrote (42684)	9/30/2005 2:12:27 PM
From: russwinter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

<Ponzi scheme won't end until housing boom turns into bust..> Do you think they are bluffing? Friday, September 30, 2005 Housing Market Unravels On All Sides thehousingbubble2.blogspot.com The Inman News site has this report out today. "Consumer confidence and home-buying plans fell to their lowest levels in more than a decade, according to the University of Michigan's Survey of Consumers. Consumer home-buying plans..fell to 10-year lows, according to the survey. The decline in home-buying plans was due to an increasingly negative reaction to high home prices, as consumers expressed in September the least favorable assessment in nearly a quarter century." And Inman had this on California construction. "A total of 16,522 building permits were issued in August statewide, down 11.1 percent compared to July and down 10.6 percent from August 2004, according to figures compiled by the Burbank-based Construction Industry Research Board." "Single-family housing starts in August totaled 12,850, down 8.5 percent from July and down 4.6 percent compared to August 2004. CIRB said the biggest factor in the drop-off in single-family construction was a fee increase in Riverside County, the state's leading growth area, that took effect Aug. 1. Many builders obtained their permits in July to avoid paying the higher fees, which are typically passed along to new-home buyers." "Multifamily starts totaled 3,672, down 19.1 percent from July and down 26.8 percent from August 2004. Multifamily construction tends to be much more volatile than single-family starts." And another mortgage REIT warned about the cost of doing business. "'This quarter, Luminent's dividend was again pressured by Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, which directly increase our cost of funds,' said Gail P. Seneca, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. 'Since June 2004, the Federal Reserve has increased rates eleven times, pushing the Federal Reserve rate up by 2.75%." "The asset yields on Luminent's high quality portfolio haven't risen nearly as quickly in this short time period. The resulting spread compression has caused us to reduce our current dividend. We do not expect such unrelenting pressure by the Fed to continue much longer. Luminent investors should expect much greater stability in our dividend when the Federal Reserve tightening cycle ends.'"