What Foreclosures?

Posted on October 12, 2016 by grim

From HousingWire:

Foreclosure inventory drops to less than 1% nationally

Foreclosure inventory in August declined significantly from last year, hitting its lowest point since the housing boom, according to the August 2016 National Foreclosure Report from CoreLogic, a property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider.

Foreclosure inventory decreased 29.6% while completed foreclosures decreased 42.4% to 37,000, down from last year’s 64,000, according to the report. This is down slightly from last month’s 38,000 completed foreclosures. The decrease is 69% less than its peak of 118,551 in September 2010.
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In August, the national foreclosure inventory hit 351,000, or 0.9% of all homes with a mortgage. This is down from 499,000, or 1.3%, in August 2015. This inventory is the lowest it’s been since July 2007.
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“Foreclosure inventory fell by 30% from the previous year, the largest year-over-year decline since January 2015,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said.

“The large decline in the distressed inventory has been one of the drivers of steady home price growth which helps Americans increase their home equity to support increased spending or cushion future economic risk,” Nothaft said.

The number of mortgages in serious delinquency, mortgages that are 90 days or more past due including loans in foreclosure or real estate owned, saw a significant decrease of 20.6% from last year. At 1.1 million mortgages, or 2.8%, mortgages in serious delinquency hit its lowest point since Sept. 2007.

“Foreclosure rates and serious delinquency continued to trend down in August as real estate markets across many parts of the U.S. exhibit strong demand growth and rising prices,” CoreLogic President and CEO Anand Nallathambi said.

Posted in Foreclosures, National Real Estate | 142 Comments

“Inner Cities” Thriving?

Posted on October 11, 2016 by grim

From Forbes:

Trump May Think Inner Cities Are A Disaster, But Home Prices Tell Another Story

Donald Trump mentioned “inner cities” 10 times in last night’s second presidential debate, using words like “disaster” and “devastating” to describe them. When neighborhoods decay, home prices decrease. However, a look at home prices in the “inner cities” of most major U.S. metro areas shows that the opposite is happening. Instead of falling, the median price per square foot of homes sold in the inner cities of 31 major metro areas has jumped 52 percent over the last six years, outpacing price growth in the surrounding metro areas by 18 percentage points. The only inner cities where price growth has fallen behind that of the surrounding metro area are Chicago, Houston and Miami. For this analysis, we defined “inner city” as the 5 kilometers around the city center of a given metro area.

Not only have they seen stronger price growth in the past five years, inner-city homes tend to cost 92 percent more per square foot than homes in the surrounding metro area. In Boston, a typical inner-city home costs more than twice as much as a typical home in greater Boston. In only seven of the inner cities we looked at, homes were less expensive than those farther out.

The concept of the inner city has changed radically since the 1970s when central districts were synonymous with crime and poverty. In recent years, cities have undergone an economic and cultural Renaissance, making the urban core a popular and highly demanded place to live and to work. New light-rail infrastructure has been built in many inner-city areas, and nowadays the high-paying jobs are showing up downtown instead of in suburban office parks.

That’s not to say that people aren’t struggling, but Donald’s Trump’s picture of the urban core doesn’t match the real estate market, and he more than anyone should know that when it comes to house prices, it’s all about location.

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate, Politics | 104 Comments

Conforming loan limit holding back prices?

Posted on October 10, 2016 by grim

From HousingWire:

Is it now time to finally raise conforming loan limits?

The chances the Federal Housing Finance Agency will raise the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages to be acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2017 is high now after meeting one certain condition.

Despite predictions that the loan limits would rise for 2016, the FHFA announced in November of 2015 that the conforming loan limits would remain unchanged for much of the country.

Now that a year has passed, it’s time again for the FHFA to announce what the limits will be for next year, and according to at least one industry expert, the signs point to yes.

Raising the conforming loans limits for mortgages to be acquired by the GSEs depends on one fact. According to the FHFA, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 established the baseline loan limit at $417,000 and mandated that, after a period of price declines, the baseline loan limit cannot rise again until home prices return to pre-decline levels. And now home prices have.

The FHFA defines pre-crisis levels as the level of the expanded-data HPI in the third quarter of 2007, and according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, in the second quarter of 2016, the FHFA’s house price index was almost identical to the level of the index in the third quarter of 2007.

Posted in Mortgages, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 113 Comments

Tax tax tax tax tax tax tax

Posted on October 8, 2016 by grim

From the Star Ledger:

N.J. Legislature passes 23-cent gas tax hike, road funding plan

New Jersey is poised to lose its claim to the second-lowest gas taxes in the nation.

The state Legislature on Friday passed legislation raising the tax on gasoline sold in New Jersey by 23 cents a gallon, the centerpiece of a controversial tax package that also includes $1.4 billion in tax cuts.

As part of the deal, lawmakers voted to give a tax break for people with pension and retirement income, low-income workers and veterans. In addition, they voted to eliminate the estate tax over the next 15 months and roll back the sales tax slightly.

The most recent iteration of the tax bills never got a public hearing. The deal was struck last Friday afternoon by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson).

The 23-cent increase to 37.5 cents a gallon will drive the state’s gas tax from second-lowest to seventh-highest, though still below neighboring Pennsylvania and New York. The tax has not been raised since 1988.

The Senate passed the tax package 24-14, with 19 Democrats and five Republicans in favor, and the Assembly, 44-27, with 37 Democrats and seven Republicans in favor, sending it to Christie’s desk.

It will go into effect Nov. 1 or two weeks after it is signed by the governor, whichever is later.

Lawmakers say the increase will finance an eight-year, $16 billion Transportation Trust Fund, which pays for road, bridge and rail projects across the state.

“Today, that difficult vote will allow us to make a significant investment in a crumbling infrastructure,” said Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), a bill sponsor. “Our state is ranked at the bottom when it comes to investment in our roads, our bridges, our utilities. We are at the bottom. For a state that has so much promise, so much wealth to be ranked at the bottom … is not a good position to be.”

The compromise tax package comes after years of growing concern about the future of funding for a declining transportation network and after months of political wrangling.

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics | 91 Comments

NY Metro finally catching up?

Posted on October 6, 2016 by grim

From the Real Deal:

Home prices in NY area climbed 5.1% year-over-year in August

August prices for single-family homes in the New York metro area rose 5.1 percent compared to the same time last year, according to a new report from CoreLogic.

CoreLogic released its monthly Home Price Index and Home Price Index Forecast for August on Tuesday, covering all single-family home transactions in New York City, Jersey City and White Plains. The analysis also shows prices rose 1.7 percent month-over-month.

The slight rise is in keeping with a national trend, which CoreLogic TRData LogoTINY CEO Anand Nallathambi attributed to investor-fueled demand and lack of adequate supply.

“This continued price appreciation is contributing to a growing affordability crisis in many market around the country,” Nallathambi said.

Nationwide house prices increased by 6.2 percent year-over-year, and 1.1 percent on a month-over-month basis, the data showed.
CoreLogic predicts U.S. home prices will increase by 5.3 percent on a year-over-year basis between August 2016 and August 2017. The month-over-month prices are expected to rise by 0.4 percent.

Posted in North Jersey Real Estate, NYC | 138 Comments

Peak 2017

Posted on October 5, 2016 by grim

From HousingWire:

CoreLogic expects home prices to peak in 2017

Home prices increased in August both monthly and annually, according to the Home Price Index and HPI Forecast released by CoreLogic, a global property information analytics and data-enabled solutions provider.

Home prices, including distressed sales, increased 6.2% annually in August and 1.1% from July, according to the CoreLogic HPI.

“Home prices are now just 6% below the nominal peak reached in April 2006,” said CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft. “With prices forecasted to increase by 5% over the next year, prices will be back to their peak level in 2017.”

Posted in Housing Bubble | 72 Comments

Affordability Sucks, Inventory Sucks, Housing Sucks

Posted on October 4, 2016 by grim

From HousingWire:

Looking to buy a home? Now is not the time

The summer heat also brought with it rising home prices, which reached levels not seen since before the housing crisis. Now, however, as the heat subsides and we move into autumn, high home prices are not leaving.

Actually, data from realtor.com predicts we will have the hottest fall in a decade, and I’m not talking about temperatures. The housing market continues to see a rise in home prices and a drop in inventory.

While this is great news for sellers or homeowners, the news isn’t as welcome to potential homebuyers.
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In other words, here’s why you should wait to buy a home.

Inventory also remains down as less than 450,000 new listings came on the market in September, while the median home price rose 9% from last year to $250,000, a new high for the month, according to the data from realtor.com.

In August, Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors Chief Economist, said that without new housing construction, the housing recovery could stall.

Housing inventory declined annually for 15 consecutive months, and properties closed 11 days quicker than August last year, according to the Pending Home sales report by NAR.

These constraints keep home buyers out of the market, despite mortgage rates being at historical lows. Last week, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage decreased again to a 10-week low, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey.

This trend looks like it will continue not just in the fall, but even into 2017.
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Nationally, home affordability is at its worst level in seven years, with 24% of the U.S. county housing markets less affordable than their historic affordability averages in the third quarter, the most recent ATTOM Data Solutions Home Affordability Index for third quarter 2016 recorded.

However, not all hope is lost. The most recent S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices results showed that household incomes are actually rising faster than home prices, leading some experts to believe the affordability crisis could be almost over.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 65 Comments

Want to sell your house? Wrap it in bacon.

Posted on October 3, 2016 by grim

From the Star Ledger:

When it’s time to sell your home, words matter

So you’re selling your house. You could keep the listing short and simple: “3BR, 1BA, eat-in kitchen.”

Or you could do what real estate agent Maryanne Elsaesser did when she wrote this listing description for a client’s home:

“With magical, embracing arms, this home can whisk you right back to your childhood. Remember racing down the street with your brand new Schwinn bike to be greeted by the smell of bacon frying for your special BLT lunch….”
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There are as many ways to describe a home as there are homes. And many experts agree with Elsaesser that it’s not enough to dryly recite a home’s features; it’s also smart to touch a buyer’s emotions and tell a story about the property. Just as photos are crucial, choosing the right words can make a difference in how fast a home sells, and for what price.

“It’s important to give a little bit of the flavor and character of the home,” said Lisa Sammataro, a Keller Williams agent in Ridgewood (and a former English major). “Sometimes you try to create an image of what it might be like to live there.”

“Words play on the imagination in a way that a photograph cannot,” said Beth Freed of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Ridgewood, who likes to evoke images like the wedding you could someday host in the backyard of the home.

One thing seems clear: there’s no need to be terse. Zillow executives Spencer Rascoff and Stan Humphries analyzed tons of listings on the online real estate site for their 2015 book, “Zillow Talk.” They found that longer descriptions — up to 250 words — tend to boost the sale price.

Rascoff and Humphries also found that sellers do best when they highlight a home’s specific advantages. So if you’ve got granite counters, let the world know. At the same time, bland words like “nice” are deadly, because they suggest you don’t have anything very meaningful to say about the home.

And “cute” or “cozy”? Everyone knows that means “small.” Rascoff and Humphries also say you should avoid “unique” because homebuyers take that to mean it’s a place only a few people will love.

Property poets face some constraints, of course. You can’t write a novel, because the multiple listing services limit how many words agents can use. In the case of the New Jersey Multiple Listing Service, it’s 1,000 characters, or about 250 words, which happens to be the magic number cited by “Zillow Talk.”

Posted in Humor, National Real Estate | 72 Comments

Tiny Houses? Yeah Right.

Posted on October 2, 2016 by grim

From Fox News:

Why the Recession Brought So Many Supersized Homes to the U.S. Market

Since the Great Recession, more new homes have been selling at what we’d call the extra-large size: 4,000 square feet or bigger. Given that many Americans suffered financially during the recession, that might be surprising. Wouldn’t it make more sense for home sizes to go down during an economic downturn, not up? Here’s why new homes have been trending in the opposite direction of what you might expect.
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As the total number of new home sales has come down, the proportion of these homes that are large has gone up.

In 2005, homes 4,000 square feet and up accounted for 7 percent of new home sales.
In 2015, homes 4,000 square feet and up were 11 percent of new home sales.
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On the flip side, a smaller share of the new homes selling are 1,400 square feet or less.

In 2005, 9 percent of new homes sold were 1,400 square feet or smaller.
In 2015, 4 percent of new homes sold were that size.
To look at it another way, in 2015, nearly three times as many extra-large new homes (11 percent) sold compared with small ones (4 percent).
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In recent years, builders have focused on building larger homes because they have financial incentive to do so. “Builders were only building luxury, high-end homes because those were the sure thing,” says Nela Richardson, chief economist at Redfin, a real estate data firm and brokerage. Not only did wealthier buyers have the money to purchase homes, but they were also the only ones who could qualify under tighter mortgage standards.

Other factors in the construction industry have amplified this tendency. “Lot availability has declined,” says Nino Sitchinava, principal economist at Houzz. As lots become more scarce and expensive, and construction costs go up, builder profit margins get squeezed. It makes economic sense for developers to build larger homes, Sitchinava says.

Also, foreclosures are still happening, and homes that are foreclosed tend to be small- to medium-sized. Although the distressed sales rate has come down, it’s still about 23,000 per month, according to Attom Data Solutions, formerly known as RealtyTrac, a firm that tracks foreclosure. That’s more than twice the rate in 2000. With so many small- and medium-sized homes going through foreclosure, builders don’t have incentive to build homes on the smaller end. “It doesn’t make sense to make medium- to small-sized homes when there are so many existing homes that are not doing well,” Sitchinava says.

The result is not enough supply on the more affordable spectrum to meet the demand. As a result, prices of starter homes and small homes are rising at a faster rate than prices at the high end of the market.

Posted in Housing Recovery, National Real Estate, New Development | 46 Comments

NJ Market Continues to Lag

Posted on September 28, 2016 by grim

From the Record:

Region’s home price increase is weakest in U.S.

Home prices in the New York metropolitan area inched up in July, but the increase was the weakest in the nation, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices reported today.

Nationally, prices rose by about 5 percent in the 12 months ending in July, the Case-Shiller index said. The area’s home values have been rising at a slower rate than national averages for several years, partly because the region continues to deal with flat incomes and a backlog of distressed properties after the foreclosure crisis.

Home prices in the region are equal to the levels of November 2004, and about 14.8 below their peaks during the housing boom in mid-2006. Nationally, values are equal to the levels of June 2005, and about 7.6 percent below their peaks.
Svenja Gudell, Zillow’s chief economist, said that the recent rise in home values is linked to higher incomes nationwide. The Census Bureau recently reported that in 2015, median household incomes in the U.S. rose at a healthy 3.9 percent.

But in New Jersey, the Census said, household incomes barely budged, moving up only 0.3 percent – the weakest performance in the nation. That may be one reason why home values have been essentially flat in this region.

Case-Shiller does not break out home values by county. But according to the New Jersey Realtors, single-family home prices dipped 1 percent in Bergen County, to a median $490,000, over the 12 months ending in July. In Passaic, prices dropped 2.4 percent to a median $294,750. Those prices reflect the mix of properties sold during the month, while Case-Shiller tracks the value of the same properties over time.

Posted in Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate | 69 Comments

Clever ruse to build two homes on one lot?

Posted on September 26, 2016 by grim

From the Star Ledger:

Owners want ‘Watcher’ house razed; lawyer says stalker ‘can see it come down’

Owners of “The Watcher” house, who bought the $1.3 million dwelling but never moved in because of threatening letters from a stalker, now are seeking permission to tear it down and build two new homes on the property.

Derek and Maria Broaddus, who own the home on the Boulevard that was targeted by somebody calling himself “The Watcher,” have applied for permission from the township planning board to raze the home and replace it with two others, Mayor Andrew Skibitsky confirmed Sunday.

A hearing on the application will be at the Oct. 5 planning board meeting, the Broadduses’ lawyer said. He said another lawyer is handling the planning board application.

Levitt said the Broadduses are seeking a “de minimis variance,” for creating two lots, requiring an exception of a few feet for a side-yard setback on one side.

The couple, who have three children, bought the six-bedroom, home in June 2014 and started making thousands of dollars in renovations, but never moved in. Within a week after the purchase, the couple received the first to three threatening letters in which the writer claimed to be watching the house and waiting for the new owners to bring him “young blood,” an apparently reference to children.”

After trying unsuccessfully to sell the house, the Broaddus in 2015 filed suit against the previous owners, John and Andrea Woods, claiming they had also received a letter from “The Watcher” just prior to the closing but never disclosed it. News outlets around the world reported on the suit, which is now in court.

Posted in Humor, New Jersey Real Estate | 113 Comments

We have no idea where people are going.

Posted on September 25, 2016 by grim

From Zillow:

The Elusive Truth on Domestic Migration: Comparing Data Sources on U.S. Cross-County Migration

Mark Twain is famous for saying that a man with one watch always knows what time it is while a man with two never does. Unfortunately, when it comes to regional migration within the United States – one of the most important factors influencing local demand for everything from homes to schools and roads – there are at least three, sometimes dramatically different though all semi-official, data sources.

There are small differences in precisely what they measure and how they measure it, making drawing definitive conclusions about regional migration within the United States difficult to pin down. This already complex task has become even more difficult with the addition of various unofficial data sources on online search patterns, which are often referenced as a leading indicator of regional migration.

In two recent analyses we looked at the metro areas that are most attractive for home buyers and renters on Zillow looking to move from one part of the country to another. For housing markets, demand shocks – the increase in housing demand because of new residents moving into an area from elsewhere in the country (or the world) – are an important driver of price trends.

It has become increasingly popular to draw conclusions about national migration patterns based on online search trends, but it’s something Zillow has historically shied away from. Consumers’ online search behaviors often reflect aspirations or curiosities as much as any kind of actionable intent. Put another way: A Zillow user might look at homes in Seattle from their couch in New York not because they actually intend to move to the Pacific Northwest, but simply because they’ve always wondered what it’s like there or because they are viewing the home of a friend or relative. So while online search data certainly does contain some real, forward-looking signals, depending on the source, the signal is unlikely to be strong enough to merit extrapolating real-life trends without first modeling the relationship between the search data and some more authoritative truth.
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On average, between 2011 and 2014 for the typical county for which we have data, the IRS estimates of net cross-county migration were off from Census official estimates by 417 people, a median absolute percentage error rate of almost 60 percent (table 1). For 17 percent of counties, the signs of the estimates were different, meaning one data source suggested the county experienced a net population inflow while the other suggested the county experienced a net population outflow. The error rates were higher when comparing official population estimates with estimates from the American Community Survey.

When comparing net household migration in the ACS to net taxpayer migration in the IRS data, the median absolute error rate between 2011 and 2014 was 1,050 households/taxpayers and in 40 percent of counties, the sign of the change in the two data sources was different.

The divergences between the trends implied by various data sources on internal movements in the United States suggest users should be cautious in drawing definitive conclusions from any single data source. Official data sources based on surveys and administrative records – much less online search data which are even noisier – can point to sharply different trends.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, National Real Estate | 9 Comments

Renters making headway? Nah.

Posted on September 22, 2016 by grim

From Real Estate Weekly:

Study: NYC renter income growing faster than rental rates

While the rent may too damn high, it seems renters in New York City have grown more resilient.

According to the US Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey, the household income of New York City renters outpaced median gross rent between 2014 and 2015. During the period, the median renter household income grew 4.8 percent to $43,261, which is just below the record of $43,563 set in 2008. When compared to the previous survey period, the year-on-year increase in median renter income was the highest over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the growth in median gross rent in New York City was more moderate, increasing by just 3.1 percent from $1,278 to $1,317.

The jump in renter income in New York City was part of a nationwide trend. According to the study, the median household income of renters grew in 21 of the 25 most populous metropolitan areas in the country.

However, income growth was not limited to renters. The study found that the median income for both renters and buyers in New York City grew by 5.1 percent to $55,752.

In spite of the growth in income, the economics of renting in New York is more equal for some than for others.

The study, which measured income inequality through its Gini index, found that New York was one of five states that had higher income inequality than the US average. The other states that scored higher than the US rate were California, Connecticut, Florida and Louisiana. The District of Columbia also posted figures higher than the US average.

The gap between renter income and median rent may grow wider. According to Douglas Elliman’s August market report, rental rates are going down as the luxury end of the market gets weaker.

The median rent in Manhattan was at $3,399, one dollar less than the figure from the previous year. Meanwhile, the median rent in Brooklyn dropped 1.9 percent to $2,895.
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In an interview with Real Estate Weekly, Jonathan Miller, the head of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, said that he expects the decline to persist over the coming months.
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“The rent is sideways because, if you look under the hood, the upper end of the market showed flat prices and the low rent market showed really strong growth.ˮ

Posted in Economics, NYC | 78 Comments

Welcome back old friend!

Posted on September 20, 2016 by grim

From the WSJ, Hat Tip Moose:

Freddie Mac Starts Pilot Program With Looser Standards

Mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac and two nonbank lenders are loosening income and documentation requirements for mortgage applicants in a new pilot program.

The changes announced Monday are designed to help boost mortgage originations among first-time buyers, applicants with low-to-moderate incomes and those who live in underserved areas.

The moves come nearly a decade after the start of the mortgage meltdown, as many consumers remain shut out of the housing market largely because they can’t meet the underwriting criteria that most lenders require. Under the Freddie program, applicants will be able use the income of people who will live with them but aren’t going to be on the mortgage to qualify.

In addition, income from second jobs that borrowers have held for a relatively short period will be factored in. The pilot also doesn’t require bank statements that would show a paper trail of how some borrowers save for their down payments.

Many of the pilot’s features are similar to what Fannie Mae currently allows on some mortgages it purchases but are new for Freddie Mac, which is among the largest purchasers of mortgages in the country. Freddie Mac says it purchases one in every four mortgages originated by lenders in the U.S.
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In addition, borrowers who will be living with family or other individuals for at least 12 months after they purchase the home will be able to use those non-borrowers’ income to get approved for the mortgage. The income will be factored in to help improve the borrowers’ debt to income ratio, a key figure that compares borrowers’ monthly debt obligations to their gross monthly income.

Paperwork requirements will also loosen up for some borrowers who don’t have bank statements to show how they have saved for their down payment.

Posted in Mortgages, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 116 Comments

Christie the problem? Or all the governors before him?

Posted on September 19, 2016 by grim

From the Star Ledger:

Chris Christie’s state is an economic cripple

Newly-released 2015 Census data only further confirms the depth of New Jersey’s economic funk.

The state’s recovery is really struggling, people. Compared to other states, including our neighbors, we’ve had some of the weakest improvements in wages, poverty, median household and per capita income.

We have finally seen some jobs added after a lost decade, but they tend to be lower-paying. Meanwhile, the number of New Jerseyans living in deep poverty has risen by the thousands.

Thanks to our high cost of living and low wages, we also have the largest share of young adults living with their parents in the nation. New Jersey was one of just 8 states that actually saw growth in income inequality.

In short, the magical thinking that Gov. Chris Christie has relied on to steer the economy is simply not working. Like many Republicans, he clings to the notion that lower taxes are the key to economic growth, despite all the hard evidence to the contrary.

Christie has imposed more than $2 billion in business tax cuts during his time in office, not including an additional $660 million annually that kicks in at the end of 2016, when they are fully phased in. He also repeatedly vetoed a modest increase of taxes on the richest among us, despite the fiscal crisis.

The truth is that investors look not just at taxes, but at the quality of the infrastructure, the skills of the workforce, and even the performance of public schools.
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Meanwhile, our structural problems remain: Bridges and roads in dreadful shape, that we can’t afford to fix; overcrowded buses and trains with obscenely expensive fares, high costs on energy and health care, and a fiscal crisis that cripples state government.

What would help? Both business and labor say the most pressing task is to rebuild the states crumbling infrastructure, where Christie’s failure has been dramatic. He promised a reliable funding source for transportation, then failed to produce it, throwing up his hands and blaming the Legislature.

No serious player disputes that we need a tax increase to cover these costs. The math is unforgiving. But Christie won’t agree to that unless a gas tax is paired to even larger tax cuts, despite the fiscal crisis. That rigid thinking is a triumph of ideology over evidence.

But this was never about the data. It’s about Christie’s national ambition. Our state’s recovery trails the rest of the nation because Christie won’t defy anti-tax dark lord Grover Norquist, and do what is best for this state.

Posted in Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate | 107 Comments