Monthly Archives: June 2019

The first cracks?

Posted on June 29, 2019 by grim

From Curbed: SF home prices drop, still unaffordable for all On Thursday, Orange County-based data firm Core Logic reported that the median home price in San Francisco is down year over year, dropping four percent in May. Earlier this year, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 31 Comments

May contracts tick higher

Posted on June 28, 2019 by grim

From MarketWatch: Pending home sales roar higher, but the housing market is still in low gear Pending home sales jumped by a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in May but were 0.7% lower than a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 30 Comments

Blame the Boomers

Posted on June 25, 2019 by grim

From The Atlantic: The Boomers Ruined Everything The Baby Boomers ruined America. That sounds like a hyperbolic claim, but it’s one way to state what I found as I tried to solve a riddle. American society is going through a … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, National Real Estate | 140 Comments

Blame Millennials? For what?

Posted on June 22, 2019 by grim

From the Guardian: Like it or not, ‘Generation Snowflake’ has got a raw deal The idea of generational conflict has come to prominence in the last few years, but few seem to agree on its shape and causes. Public discussion … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, National Real Estate | 140 Comments

NJ loses 7600 jobs in May

Posted on June 21, 2019 by grim

From the APP: NJ jobs faltered in May: Spring slump or Trump tariffs? New Jersey employers tamped down their hiring in May and are growing more pessimistic about their outlook, a series of reports released this week shows. The New … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate | 110 Comments

Murphy bribes voters to get his millionaire tax

Posted on June 20, 2019 by grim

From the Star Ledger: Is a one-time $125 property tax credit really worth that much? Well, it would be a good start, Murphy insists. Admittedly, a one-time $125 property tax credit for two million residents of the state with the … Continue reading →

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 90 Comments

Gates invests in Newark

Posted on June 18, 2019 by grim

From the Star Ledger: Bill Gates just chose 10 cities to invest in and one of them is in N.J. Newark’s newest initiative to provide free legal help for low-income tenants facing evictions is getting a major boost from three of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, New Jersey Real Estate | 70 Comments

Burn it all down

Posted on June 18, 2019 by grim

From the Philly Inquirer: N.J. task force: Norcross-linked firms benefited from behind-the-scenes lobbying A special task force appointed by New Jersey’s governor to investigate the state’s multibillion-dollar tax-credit programs released an extensive report Monday evening, finding that two powerful brothers – lawyer … Continue reading →

Posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics | 92 Comments

IRS closes SALT loophole

Posted on June 16, 2019 by grim

From Accounting Today: It’s over: States lose fight against SALT deduction cap New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have been fighting a new cap on state and local tax deductions ever since it was included in the 2017 Republican tax … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 33 Comments

Train town prices go poof

Posted on June 14, 2019 by grim

From Bloomberg: NJ Transit Train Delays Hit a Record After the Governor’s Pledge to Fix Them New Jersey Transit commuter trains have hit their worst on-time and reliability records in the 18 months since Governor Phil Murphy promised to overhaul … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, NYC, Politics | 70 Comments

Gettin risky with it

Posted on June 11, 2019 by grim

From HousingWire: FHA is increasing lending to riskier borrowers Citing rising risks among the mortgages it is backing, the Federal Housing Administration earlier this year announced that it was changing some of its lending rules to increase the prevalence of manual underwriting. The idea behind the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, Mortgages, Risky Lending | 249 Comments

Flipping will never die

Posted on June 10, 2019 by grim

From MarketWatch: Home flipping rate hits 9-year high — and that could foretell troubles in the housing market Home-flipping has rebounded by one key measure. But that’s doesn’t make it an easy path toward becoming rich. Just over 49,000 single-family … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, National Real Estate, New Development | 34 Comments

Everyone Hates Murphy

Posted on June 8, 2019 by grim

From the Observer: NJ Politics Digest: Legislature Reportedly Prepared to Override Murphy’s Veto The state legislature could deal Gov. Phil Murphy an embarrassing rebuke, overriding his veto of a bill to force dark money groups—like the one supporting his progressive … Continue reading →

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 33 Comments

All eyes on jobs

Posted on June 7, 2019 by grim

From CNBC: The May jobs report is coming and economic reports don’t get much more important than this one The economy was expected to have added a solid 180,000 jobs in May, but if the payroll number is much stronger … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, National Real Estate | 82 Comments

A new record for NYC

Posted on June 5, 2019 by grim

From the WSJ: Philip Falcone Sets NYC Record With Nearly $80 Million Townhouse Sale Former hedge-fund manager Philip Falcone has sold a New York townhouse for close to $80 million, making it the most expensive residential townhouse ever sold in … Continue reading →

Posted in Comp Killer, Economics, Employment, NYC | 137 Comments