Helping you navigate the new normal since 2001
US home ownership is back at levels seen briefly in the mid-1980s, and before that in the mid-1960s. One key issue today is that while the US population is still growing, the younger population has quite a different profile from the Boomer generation, as the Pew Institute have reported. In 1980, only 1 in 10 young Boomers were […]
The best view is always from the top of the mountain. That’s probably why the outlook seems so promising for US auto and housing markets. Both appear to be doing well on the surface, but dig a little deeper and concerns soon emerge. The chart above demonstrates the point, updating the data from my July post […]
US auto sales, housing starts, will be hit by oil price collapse Read More
We now have full US Census Bureau data for housing starts in 2014, which shows: Starts returned to the 1m level for the first time since 2007 They were also nearly double the low of 554k seen in 2009 But at 1.006m, they were less than half of the 2.068m peak in 2005 The data also […]
Oil price collapse will likely end recovery in US housing starts Read More
As promised yesterday, the blog today looks at the wider impact of the major changes underway in housing markets. Driven by the ageing BabyBoomers these changes are, in effect, like throwing a series of large stones into the middle of a pool of water – the ripples spread wider and wider as the impact grows. One key […]
US housing demand used to be a major support for the US economy. But that was in the days when millions of new BabyBoomer families wanted to set up home in the suburbs and raise a family. The rule was simple – if prices were high, you just drove 10 miles down the freeway to find a […]
US home ownership falls back to 1995 levels, as Boomers retire Read More
US house prices were the original cause of the financial collapse in Q4 2008. Since then, the politicians have failed to grasp the depths of the problem. Now, the housing market seems about to start on a new downward leg.
The chart shows that prices …