Real Estate Bubble

Here is a round up of real estate related news stories I found interesting this week.

• Home sales in Memphis, TN were either up by 8% or 12% for the month of January depending on who you talked to.  Either way they were up!
• The foreclosure crisis has decreased home ownership rates across the US.  Less homeowners means more renters.  The market is waking up to this fact.  Keep your eyes open for a possible multi-family price bubble in the future.
• Banks may have finally figured out that short sales are a good way to dispose of some inventory.  Perhaps now investors will actually be able to complete short sales!
• Commercial real estate is overbuilt.  The times are changing and businesses like Amazon.com are leading the way.
• A quick take on the robo-signing deal.   A good deal?
• Now that the robo-signing deal is done, people may not get to live for free anymore and will actually have to pay their mortgages or rents.  That may suck as much as $50 billion out of the retail economy.
• Big money is looking to start buying up all those foreclosed single family homes and rent them out.

“The new loan program would likely be only available for deals of $100 million or more.”

•   The world’s tallest building is now a distressed property.  The folks here called it way back in 2007.

Anything else catch your eye this week?  Send me a message and let me know.