1. From Atif Mian and Amir Sufi.
We are now five full years from the end of the recession (if you buy NBER dating). And housing starts are still below any level we’ve seen since the early 1990s!
Pointer from Mark Thoma.
Nationally, half of all renters are now spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, according to a comprehensive Harvard study, up from 38 percent of renters in 2000. In December, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan declared “the worst rental affordability crisis that this country has ever known.”
Pointer from Tyler Cowen.
By the way, I saw this coming, and so I made a big investment last year in several companies that own and manage apartments. The performance of these investments was terrible, particularly when compared with the overall market. Go figure.
On Thursday April 17, 2014, Residential REITS, REZ, such as SUI, SNH, MAA, CPT, AIV, AVB, ESS, and EQR, seen in combined ongoing Yahoo Finance Chart … http://tinyurl.com/jvujz2b … traded lower as the bond vigilantes called the Interest Rate on the US Ten Year Note, ^TNX, higher to 2.74%.
The investments you chose will for ever be going forever lower, as the cost of money, that is the Benchmark Interest Rate, $TNX, will be going higher, as investors have concluded that the world central banks monetary policies can no longer stimulate investment growth.
Gold, $GOLD, traded lower to $1,293, on a higher US Dollar, $USD, UUP. The Gold ETF, GLD, is in a area of strong resistance, and being a currency as well as a commodity, traded lower with the commodity currencies the Australian Dollar, FXA, the Brazilian Real, BZF, as well as the Emerging Market Currencies, CEW.
Please wake up from you liberal slumber, and consider investing in some real money, that is gold bullion; one should not be invested in paper gold, such as the Gold ETF, GLD; one should take possession of the genuine article that is gold bullion; be safe, be sane, and buy yourself a gun vault as well as several good pistols to protect yourself and your investment.
The chart of the Gold ETF, GLD, shows that it entered an Elliott Wave 3 of 3 Up in January 2014. Short Side Of Long posts Gold Has Outperformed Other Asset Classes In First Quarter 2014. ETF Daily News reports Phantom Gold Inventories: has the Comex already defaulted?
And be aware It’s hard to justify an investment in Gold Miners, such as AEM, with a forward PE of 37.
What can I say but…
אם בארזים נפלה שלהבת – מה יגידו אזובי הקיר
If cedars went up in flames, what can say the moss on the wall (from the Babilonian Talmud).
Real estate is per definition a long term investment. One year’s result says nothing.
Arnold, you assume that the people inthose companies you bought is smarter than you are. That is improbable. What is sure that they are in that business to make money for themselves, not for Arnold, and are stealing from you. All fund managers do. So go out and buy a solid property in a good location and manage it yourself. No one will do it for you.
Im eyn any li…
Many thought of that earlier. Real estate is slow moving though and a year is but a blink.