Just a few years ago, U.S. housing markets in aggregate were overbuilt, and that was reflected in declining rents, home prices and home sales. What has happened in the interim has been a quicker than anticipated absorption of surplus property, and when viewed in today’s… Read more

There’s a real dilemma as an investor relations person when it comes to Wall Street and your company’s earnings performance. If you have a bad quarter and fail to meet expectations, the market will react negatively and essentially punish your stock price – sometimes literally… Read more

Once again I invoke the TINSTAANREM clause — There Is No Such Thing As A National Real Estate Market. Each real estate market is different. Ditto the economy. And proving that clause today is Corpus Christi, Texas. Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak in… Read more

The National Association of Home Builders surveyed their membership on what features will likely not be included in 2012 construction as much as in the past.  Builders were asked to rate these amenities from 1 to 5 with 5 being more likely to be included. … Read more

The number of new home sales in the U.S. hit an all time low since data collection commenced in 1963.   This now tallies to six consecutive years of declines in new home sales.  The industry continues to have resistance on two fronts:  1.  Ongoing absorption… Read more

For Every Three Dwellings in the World Today, an Additional One Needs to be Built In addition to U.S. population forecasts, the U.S. Census Bureau also forecasts population for all foreign countries.  Some countries are on track to more than double by 2050 while others… Read more

Some Home Builders Run Out of Lifelines- WSJ.com Imagine an industry that just six years ago built 1.3 million new homes and now is on a pace of building less than 300,000 units in 2011 – the fewest number since statistics commenced being collected in… Read more

An MIT economist is now forecasting a rapid recovery in the housing construction segment (click here to see article). While I agree that construction will indeed return, growth is not imminent. In the long run, a growing population will require extensive construction. But in the… Read more

Experts see underlying weakness in housing Despite a surprising surge in home sales reported this week experts say the housing market’s spring fling has been fueled by now-expired tax credits and is unlikely to last.

Weather & Economy Provide One-Two Combination.  Not a Knock-Out Punch, But it Did Hurt New housing starts edged lower in February as bad weather and a similar ongoing bad economy slowed residential building permits to an almost one-half million annualized pace.  The continuing below normal… Read more