Democrat Housing Efforts Fail, Minorities Hardest Hit

Back in 2008, writing on a different blog, I chronicled the push by Democrats going back to 2001 to push a quota of minority owned homes and now they are once again reaping what they sowed.

Prince George’s County, Md., has gained prominence in recent years as the most affluent county in America with a majority African-American population. Average income in the county is almost double the national average for black families, according to the Census Bureau’s 2009 American Community Survey.

But the county, adjacent to the District of Columbia, has been laid low by the recession and the mortgage meltdown and now holds a more dubious distinction: a rising foreclosure rate that ranks as the worst in Maryland.

More than half of all housing sales in the county so far this year have been properties in foreclosure, a rate that dwarfs other counties in the state, according to MRIS, which provides listing services for real estate agents. This has caused a domino effect of social, economic and financial problems to ripple throughout Prince George’s communities.

Liberals immediately want to point the finger at sub prime mortgage lenders that were handing out these loans for creating this problem while trying to ignore that they not only set the conditions for these sub prime mortgages, they encouraged them and with a push from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac backed these mortgages.

Their misguided desire to set an affirmative action quota system in home ownership led to this. Granted my earlier writings on this is very dry but I hope you take a few minutes to at least browse the series to get a sense of how pervasive the attitude of putting minorities into homes at any cost was and how staunchly it was defended and promoted by Democrat lawmakers and their lackeys at Freddie and Fannie were.

She paid $230,000 for a tiny, 664-square-foot home that she said is “more like a small cottage.” The previous owners had paid $60,000.

Really?

Obama Snubs Utah and Idaho With Home Stimulus Bribe

Hey, what's a Democrat to do when he can't bribe the lawmakers? Why try to bribe the voters, that's what.

Unless of course you happen to live in a state which ain't exactly in line with their line of thinking and probably not going to be able to be flipped into your column in the next election.

Barry O announced a $1.5 billion taxpayer funded bribe to some states to help with their housing foreclosures and looking at the list he was doing okay until I compared the list of states getting the money to the states that needed it and while he did get 4 out the top highest states as far a foreclosures right, he skipped over Utah and Idaho in favor of Michigan. The five targeted states Nevada, Arizona, California, Florida, and Michigan.

Only one reason I can think of for that.

From CNBC the top 10 states in foreclosures are:
1. Nevada
2. Arizona
3. California
4. Florida
5. Utah
6. Idaho
7. Michigan
8. Illinois
9. Oregon
10. Georgia

The governments first attempt at these so called mortgage modification loans was a miserable failure, so why not do some more of the same. Good luck to the taxpayers in these states actually getting a return on some of their tax dollars, and enjoy your present from the responsible citizens of this country.

Guess Who Is Responsible For the Housing Crisis Now

No it isn't Barney Frank, or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or banks who gave too many loans to less then deserving borrowers. It is the Christians.



Just enjoy it for it's idiocy. I mean why not. Some in congress are already declaring all out war on the Catholic church.

WWJD?

Rising Gas Prices Affecting Housing

As the cost of gasoline continues to rise, the housing market in outlying areas is impacted.

Rising gas prices may be the latest ailment afflicting the housing market, as figures released Monday showed Southern California home prices plunging 27% in May from a year ago and falling even more precipitously in distant suburbs.

Outlying areas like the Antelope Valley and the Inland Empire have long appealed to people who were willing to accept a burdensome commute for the chance to own a better house. But buyers are increasingly factoring gasoline costs into their purchase decisions, said Dan Griffith, a Rancho Cucamonga-based real estate agent.

This 27% drop in prices has nothing to do with mortgages or the banking industry. It has everything to do with fuel prices and how people make consumer decisions.

In economics, we say that people make buying decisions "at the margin." That means that the consumer looks at the facts presenting them at the moment and makes the best decision in their favor at that time. Applying this reality to the housing situation, when gas was cheaper folks were willing to trade a long commute for a bigger, cheaper house in the outlying areas. That decision made sense when fuel was much cheaper.

But now that fuel prices have doubled in the last year or so, the dynamics of those decisions have changed. Since it costs a lot more now to make that long commute, housing closer to the employment centers to cut the commute cost is now more affordable. So demand has dropped for the outlying areas and the housing prices drop accordingly.

Overall, you have a re-evaluation going on in the economy due to fuel prices. As fuel prices have increased the dynamics have changed on other consumer goods and services and that will continue to happen for a while. Consumers are re-evaluating how much things are worth to them and trying to save cost. I think you will see further changes in the types of vehicles people buy, for example. I just returned from Ireland and gasoline there is approximately $10 a gallon (adjusting for currency differences and liter versus gallon measurements). The average car in Ireland is much smaller than in the US (also because the roads are also much narrower), almost all cars are stick shift (which is more fuel efficient than automatic transmissions) and most of them have at least six forward gears. I rented a Renault for several days with six forward gears and got about 48 mpg over several days of driving. A relative I visited had a Ford station wagon with stick shift and six forward gears as well and was getting about 38 mpg.

The upshot of all this is I expect to see a shifting of demand for housing closer to employment centers with a corresponding shift in pricing.

Home Sales Hit New Low as Home Sales Rise 4.8%

Confusing, isn't it?

US home sales hit fresh lows as unsold properties flood market

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Sales of US homes and apartments tumbled a hefty eight percent in September extending one of the nation's worst housing slumps in decades, an industry group said Wednesday.

The National Association of Realtors said in a monthly snapshot that sales of existing homes and apartments fell to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.04 million properties in September from 5.48 million in August.

The drop was much worse than expected. Most economists had only expected sales to decline to around 5.25 million. August sales were revised lower from an original tally of 5.50 million.

Grim news, huh?

So what about this?

September new homes sales rose 4.8 percent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of new single-family U.S. homes rose 4.8 percent in September while the inventory of homes fell and the median sales price rose, according to a government report on Thursday that delivered unexpectedly benign news for the battered housing sector.

New single-family home sales rose to an annual rate of 770,000 from a revised rate of 735,000 in August, the Commerce Department said. Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting September sales to fall to an annual rate of 780,000 from the August previously reported rate of 795,000.

Economics professors and housing experts, feel free to weigh in and interpret this news.