Tuesday, June 4, 2013

What's Behind the Rise in Home Prices?

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/behind-the-rise-in-house-prices-wall-street-buyers/?src=me

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"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." (Will Rogers)

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According to DealBook, the comeback in prices for houses is being fueled by institutional money. The Blackstone Group has purchased 26,000 homes in 9 states. Most of these firms are renting out houses with the possibility of unloading them at a profit when the prices get high enough.

Quoting DealBook, "Some see the emergence of Wall Street buyers as a market-driven answer to the nation's housing ills. Investment companies are buying up rundown homes at a time when ordinary people can't or won't...Nationwide, 68% of damaged homes sold in April went to investors and only 19% to first time home buyers...these investors put a floor under the housing market."

That's the good news. The bad news is what happens when the big institutions decide they want to sell because the market has peaked?

Nobody knows where this is going but wouldn't it be strange if we had a second "housing bubble" to follow up the first?

Stranger things have happened.

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