The Fed’s own holdings of MBS dropped a mild $0.383 billion with the foreign central banks adding almost a billion to their holdings, but after a huge buying splurge in US Treasury Debt in the previous week the cenbanks swung to one of the biggest dumps of the stuff ever. This week’s Reuters report1 is, as usual, based on the weekly update from the NY Fed’s H.4.1 table site.2 Here is Doom’s updated CSV version3 of the agencies and treasuries foreign central bank holdings data set.   Treasury Debt spun down $20.446 billion (Reuters’ anonymous reporter allowed that it “tumbled”…
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During the boom we watched acres and acres of farmland ploughed under and turned into housing developments and shopping centers.  While we have only seen a few developments actually ploughed under, there have been a number of acres that were slated for development, that are not going back to farmland: [Thanks L!] Rick Gibson, University of Arizona county extension director and agriculture agent in Pinal County, said the real-estate crash has farmland once sold to developers finding its way back into agriculture, especially in Maricopa and Pinal counties. “Some are buying or coming back to them when the buyers defaulted…
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A very Happy Thanksgiving from your friends here at HousingDoom:   And save a slice of pie for me!

And yes, I have seen the fnords, but you’d think that they would at least have the decency to let Natalie Wood rest in peace  The Fed’s own holdings of MBS dropped a thudding $7.278 billion with the foreign central banks divesting themselves of a bit more than half that amount, but after a slight easing of their treasuries holdings in the previous week, this week sees another monumental surge in cenbankers’ appetite for US gilts, one of the biggest ever. While the cenbankers work in almost complete secrecy, the sloshing in the trim tanks has lately become all too…
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The Arizona Republic had a headline yesterday that announced, Phoenix area foreclosures way down in October.  This was the monthly article the Republic does every month based on the Existing Home Sales Report by Dr. Jay Butler.  Back during the boom these articles focused on rapid appreciation and booming home sales.  Here’s this month lead-in paragraph: Home foreclosures made up 26 percent of all home-resale transactions in October, the lowest percentage since April 2009, according to an existing-home sales report issued Monday by Arizona State University. In spite of the optimistic headline though, Butler remains skeptical of the “improvement”: The…
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The Fed’s own holdings of MBS rose $34 million, exactly the trivial amount they fell in the previous week. Too bad there’s no real auditing of the Fed or we could make fun of the mailroom clerk who put insufficient postage on the paperwork last month After shocking treasuries changes the last few weeks all the numbers in the series have suddenly become completely flat. The MSM usually terms such a juddering halt “a return to calm,” but we’ll have to see in coming weeks. This week’s Reuters report1 is, as usual, based on the weekly update from the NY…
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Will the real San Francisco real estate market please stand up? Looking at the past week’s headlines, you wouldn’t think that these were the same market. For example, we read in the San Francisco Chronicle that real estate investors have become a potent force in a moribund real estate market: OAKLAND, Calif. — Real-estate investors have become a potent force in a moribund housing market, accounting for more than one-fifth of transactions in the San Francisco Bay Area over the past 12 months, according to real-estate data. Despite record low interest rates, many consumers simply don’t have enough confidence in…
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Yesterday Edward DeMarco, acting director for the Federal Housing Finance Agency Issued a statement to the House of Representatives entitled HR- Private Mortgage Investment Act. In this discussion, DeMarco reviews some recent changes to HAMP (Home Affordable Refinance Program). Changes to the program include: eliminating or reducing certain risk-based fees; removing the current 125 percent LTV 5 ceiling; waiving certain representations and warranties; eliminating the need for certain property appraisals; carrying over mortgage insurance coverage; and extending the end date for HARP until December 31, 2013. These changes were made to the program because so few homeowners were able to…
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The Fed’s own holdings of MBS were almost unchanged, dropping a measily $34 million, while the foreign cenbank holdings of agencies were pretty flat. On the other hand, the treasuries number went completely bonkers. Now the pay-walled financial media are becoming nearly as secretive as the cenbanks, but there seems to be a consensus that a BoJ desperate to control the upward spiral of the yen bought about $100B of Treasury Debt on Halloween, which would seem to imply that while in the aggregate we’re looking at a record weekly buy of treasuries, if you take away Japan there was…
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I’ve had occasion to drive by Occupy Austin a time or two, as well as seeing the Occupy Wall Street protests on TV.  For the most part, I haven’t been impressed much by the signs I’ve seen. [I don't think signs that say, for example, tax the rich or corporations are evil are clever, informative, or very useful.] I saw one online today though that I really liked: