18 mai 2008
From dawn to dusk to dawn
source: International Business Times
In a specialreport on "Signposts for a Commodity Mania", the Bank Credit Analyst has foundthat its "mania roadmap" for commodity prices and related assets is "on trackand not yet at a late stage". The research outfit says that one possible catalystfor the next upleg would be the end of US deflation ata time when the rest of the world has not slowed much.
Is Britain's love affair with the property market finally over?
source: Times
Still, there are few signs that the national property obsession is abating. If anything, the repossession crisis appears to have already turned into an opportunity. At an auction in Kensington town hall, the room is so packed that there aren’t enough chairs to seat the potential buyers. The sale is full of repossessions, including new-builds and former housing-association properties in London going for £100,000-200,000 – a price bracket that one might be mistaken for thinking was part of the capital’s history. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors acknowledges a rise in repossessed residential properties offered at auction that now attract ordinary buyers seeking bargains. And the giddy atmosphere in Kensington attests to the buyers’ hope that they will find the downturn’s property pickings. Edward Parry of Moneysorter, a personal-finance website, calls it the “vulture syndrome”. “It’s the upside of the downturn: first-time buyers can pick up cheaper properties.
News : Irish Last Updated: May 14, 2008 - 2:53: PM Irish mortgage lending fell 20% in the first quarter
source: Finfacts
Irish mortgage lending fell 20 per cent in the first quarter as the housing contraction intensified. New loans to
homebuyers fell to €6.3 billion from €7.8 billion a year earlier,
according to an Irish Banking Federation today. The number of loans
fell by 25 per cent to 28,508.
South Africa&: HOW TO SURVIVE THE HOUSING MELTDOWN
source: Financial Mail
The cold truth is that, over the next two years,
some South Africans will battle to keep their homes. Whether in houses,
commercial property or JSE-listed property funds, there's no escaping
the downturn. And the crunch in SA will continue until at least 2010
before there's a recovery.
Hollywood bust as celebrities feel the credit crunch
source: Times
Even those who aren’t selling may be losing money. According to the report, the heiress Paris Hilton’s pad in Beverly Hills, which she bought for $6m last summer, is losing $64,500 a month in value. At least Hilton is doing better than Sharon Stone – the report found that the value of the 50-year-old actress’s home in the Hills plunged by $740,000 in March alone
What a Deal: Trash for Treasuries
source: The New-York Times
To be sure, crisis times call for creative measures. But as long as Wall Street is allowed to swap trash for Treasuries on the taxpayers’ dime, don’t try to tell me this horror show is over.
The Scars of Losing a Home
source: The New-York Times
Auteur: R. Shiller
But we are now seeing the president’s Ownership Society plan operate in reverse. Already, the homeownership rate has fallen — from 69.1 percent in the first quarter of 2005 to 67.8 percent in the first quarter of 2008. That’s almost back to the 67.5 percent level where it stood when Mr. Bush took office in 2001. And it is likely to fall further.
The pain of this reverse movement could leave a psychological scar that will be with all of us for the rest of our lives
Immobilier. Des perdants et des gagnants
source: La Dépêche
Montauban, Albi, Tarbes sont parmi les villes touchées mais c'est sur Agen que le service Habitat de la DDE du Lot-et-Garonne a réalisé une enquête que nous nous sommes procurée.Iimpossibilité de louer les biens faute de demande, copropriété en difficulté, dégradation du bâti cfaute d'entretien, locataires isolés… L'étude révèle que 48 % des propriétaires des appartements sont des Parisiens ! Récemment on pouvait encore lire à Paris une publicité pour un programme locatif à Saint Gaudens qualifié de « proche de l'aéroport de Toulouse » (88 km) ! Selon la DDE, les acheteurs ont surpayé leur appartement à Agen: 2 500 € le m2 contre un prix du marché de 1 500 € ! Toute revente sera très difficile et nul ne sait ce que deviendront ces logements...vacants.
Jean-Claude Trichet savoure son triomphe avec modestie
source: Le Monde
Cette fois, ce n'est plus une victoire, c'est un triomphe. Complet,
total, sans appel. Une forme d'apothéose pour Jean-Claude Trichet. Le
président de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE) avait déjà gagné sur
le front de l'inflation, en annonçant depuis longtemps, contre l'avis
des meilleurs experts, que celle-ci n'était pas morte.
On attend maintenant l'autocritique de Nicolas Sarkozy, qui n'a cessé de
décrier la politique de la BCE depuis qu'il s'est installé à l'Elysée.
Je me marre aussi.....