While most of the world's central banks are still fighting the last war, Sweden's Riksbank has moved on to the next one. Rather than looking at conventional inflation gauges, the world's oldest central bank is basing its actions on asset-price growth in an effort to prevent the next bubble.
Common sense suggests that as home prices decline, the property taxes based on their valuations ought to as well. But even as house prices continue to slip, property taxes nationally are clicking higher.
The humbled housing sector took a modest step forward last month as starts rose a better-than-predicted 3.9% to a 530,000-unit annual rate. Still, at the current pace, the nation is 18 to 24 months from seeing normal levels of homebuilding.
Jerilee Wei never expected to be living next to a cow pasture when she bought her home in Lakeland, Fla., in 2007. In her upscale community, newly constructed houses were selling for between $300,000 and $425,000. Then one morning she woke up and found some cattle had moved in.
Simply put, the losses Irish taxpayers will be forced to cover are larger than the nation's economy can support, even with the promised bailout. The EU and Irish political leadership's attempts to put a brave face on the crisis is no match for this crippling burden.
In some parts of the U.S., the real estate market remains deep in recession. But even with housing prices sitting at multi-year lows, millions of houses remain empty, unable to attract buyers haunted by unemployment and a weak economy. As part of a new series, DailyFinance takes a look at one town near New York City that is still struggling with the effects of the great real estate bust.
Hong Kong took a new step this week to let some air out of its real estate bubble, levying a heavy tax on property flippers -- a move that has already sent asking prices there downward. But Hong Kong's real estate risks are dwarfed by those in Mainland China.
In a case with wider implications for the financial industry, jurors in a class-action securities fraud suit found that BankAtlantic Bankcorp was liable to shareholders for about $42 million for making false statements about the bank's real estate portfolio and net income.
Home prices in 20 major U.S. cities rose a better than expected 0.6% in July compared to June, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price survey. However, year-over-year gains slowed, suggesting a slowdown in the nation's economic recovery.
China's local governments are dependent on fees and taxes from developers. Builders gorge on no-cost credit from state-controlled banks to churn out high-end homes most Chinese can't afford. Sounds like a familiar recipe for disaster.
The future of the government-backed mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which critics have accused of exacerbating the meltdown in the U.S. housing market, will be discussed next month at a conference sponsored by the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Home prices in 20 major U.S. cities rose a better-than-expected 0.5% in May, Case-Shiller said Tuesday. However, analysts warn that it's probably too early to celebrate, as the housing market has a long and difficult road ahead of it.
If you think China's decision to unpeg its currency from the U.S. dollar was a good move, Gary Shilling says don't believe it. The economist who saw the subprime crisis coming warns that the move will have a number of unintended consequences.
Want to know what Beijing really believes about China's red-hot economy, its real estate market or the state of the global recovery? Look at whether it allows China's currency to rise against the dollar.
After sagging in the global financial meltdown of 2008, property values in China's urban centers skyrocketed in 2009. Some economists believe Chinese real estate is now experiencing a bubble, and when that bubble pops, it could threaten the global economic recovery.