As recently as February of this year, Russian officials cleared the way for two of its sovereign wealth funds, the Reserve Fund and National Wellbeing Fund, to invest in various foreign bonds, including those issued by the twin towers of American residential finance, Fannie and Freddie. “The prospect for every GSE bond clearly states that it is not backed by the United States government,” says Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks.
July 21st, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 12 comments | ContinuedReal Estate
Commentary on real estate and the worldwide bubble by your Daily Reckoning editors in Melbourne, Australia. Still haven’t subscribed to the Daily Reckoning? What are you waiting for… sign up here, it’s free!
A chronological listing of articles is below.
Fannie and Freddie Bailout Didn’t Have Quite the Healing Power
Despite the rescue of Fannie and Freddie, U.S. banks, such as Washington Mutual and Cleveland’s National City, are in full retreat following the collapse of IndyMac. WaMu went down 35%…
July 16th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
Equity Shareholders Are Wiped Out As Financial Shares Plummet
Now the wealth destruction is advancing on two fronts. Equity shareholders are wiped out as financial shares plummet. Meanwhile, assets are being revalued or in some cases, written off. Bondholders will be next. Here in Australia the credit noose tightened on the economy last month. Gasp. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that total lending finance fell by a seasonally adjusted 13.3% in May.
July 15th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 5 comments | Continued
The Feds Are Counting on Fannie and Freddie to End the Nation’s Housing Misery
Freddie and Fannie were the darlings of Wall Street…the leaders of the house price bubble…with nearly half the nation’s $12 trillion worth of mortgages…
July 14th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Fannie and Freddie Are Surely Doomed
“The downturn in the housing market is beginning to bite corporate Australia,” reports Ben Butler in today’s Herald Sun. “Shares of big building supplies company CSR plunged almost 15 per cent yesterday after it warned the housing market was taking a hit from high interest rates and declining confidence.” And so it begins. Actually, it began years ago when people began to think that house prices always go up in double digits.
July 11th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
Abandoned Shopping Malls to Follow Abandoned Houses
Last week, we saw a report telling us that vacancies in retail space were increasing. The United States has ten times more retail space per person than France. When people spend less, much of this space will cease to be commercially viable…
July 10th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 6 comments | Continued
Denmark, Spain, the U.K. and Ireland Have Begun to Register Falling Housing Prices
This housing mania spread into other parts of the European economies. In Britain, consumer debt now totals $1.4 trillion pounds, more than in any other country in the world…
July 7th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
The Mother of All Housing Booms
Without new buyers coming into the market, it will be interesting to see what house prices do the rest of the year. Individual sellers are always reluctant to lower their asking price. They believe higher prices are always just around the corner. Builders and developers are quicker to cut prices so they can liquidate inventory. More on housing below, with plenty of reader mail.
July 4th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 5 comments | Continued
Housing Market is Becoming More Affordable but That’s Not Necessarily a Good Thing
Housing is not a problem at all. It’s becoming more affordable. It’s only a problem for people who mistook the roof over their heads for a speculative investment.
July 2nd, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Housing Market Drops Housing Prices by 16%
In the United States, the fall in stocks has cost investors almost a trillion this year. Losses from housing are said to be about a third of that. But that is just the beginning.
June 18th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 5 comments | Continued