
I don’t know why all the wires are leading with the quote from Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY today, that “The commercial real estate time bomb is ticking.” I’d venture to say it’s exploding all over the place. She made the comment at a hearing she chaired of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.
Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe in that whole supply and demand thing; that’s why I’m slightly obsessed with the inventory of existing homes floating around the nation’s local MLS’s and more importantly those not floating around the MLS’s. I’m talking about the inventory of foreclosed properties that banks are holding onto, refusing to unleash onto the sales market.
Government officials claim the refi plan has been extremely successful, far moreso, they admit, than the modification program. But clearly it wasn't doing enough, or they wouldn't have widened the parameters of elligibility.
That's right, your loan can be a full 25 percent more than the current value of your home, and Fannie and Freddie will gladly buy and/or back your new refi.
A lot of folks are parsing the latest S&P Case Shiller home price report out today, and debating whether some month-to-month increases are proof of home price stabilization nationwide. I frankly think it’s impossible to say anything nationwide, because a lot of different markets are reacting very differently. That may seem an incredibly prosaic thing to say, but I think an awful lot of smart folks often lose sight of that.
An interesting aside in the interview I did today with Michael Barr, the Treasury Department’s Asst. Secretary for Financial Institutions. Barr is the architect of the Administration’s Making Home Affordable program, i.e. the housing bailout, and this was his first on-camera interview since he was sworn in as a Treasury official.
