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This Housing Recovery Is Different: Investors Are Now Big Buyers (MUST VIEW VIDEO)
There’s no doubt that housing is recovering. Existing home sales—which account for the bulk of the market—have topped year-ago levels for 20 months in a row and existing home prices have bested year-ago levels for 12 consecutive months. In addition, inventories of those homes have dropped to a 4.7 month supply — far below the more normal 6 months.
But unlike past housing recoveries, this one is heavily supported by investors — big and small. They account for about a third of home purchases in the existing housing market, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Among those big investors are the Blackstone Group (BX) which has been buying $100 million worth of single family homes a week since early last year, spending a total $3.5 billion to date, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Investors are snapping up some of the controlled inventory. Families? Not so much. It has been, and is, a game of keep away, for greed’s sake. It’s predatory capitalism at a cross roads,
it’s been decided making a buck is more important that people’s lives.
Now we read FNMA isn’t “reliant on the taxpayers”, that must mean throwing people out of their houses, funneling billions to pay off TBTF and allowing organized crime to flourish is a good thing. This less than subtle form of tyranny is wearing thin.