We have been waitin g for the persistently high interest rates, and the questions about America’s future to dig in and start eating the bottom out of the American Dream of Home Ownership.
Today, the wait is….slowly coming into view:
“. The leading measure of U.S. home prices recorded a 3.9% annual gain in February 2025, a slight decrease from the previous reading in January 2025. “
Year on Year
“The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 3.9% annual return for February, down from a 4.1% annual gain in the previous month. The 10-City Composite saw an annual increase of 5.2%, down from a 5.4% annual increase in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a year-over-year increase of 4.5%, down from a 4.7% increase in the previous month. New York again reported the highest annual gain among the 20 cities with a 7.7% increase in February, followed by Chicago and Cleveland with annual increases of 7.0% and 6.6%, respectively. Tampa posted the lowest return, falling 1.5%…
Month on Monday (which matters most, to our way of thinking…)
“The pre-seasonally adjusted U.S. National, 10-City Composite, and 20-City Composite Indices
presented slight upward trends in February, posting 0.4%, 0.8%, and 0.7% respectively.
After seasonal adjustment, the 10-City and 20-City Composite Indices posted month-over-month
increases of 0.5% and 0.4%. The U.S. National Composite Index posted a month-over-month increase of 0.3%…”
Which – as you can see – looks to us like it may be forming a top:
After the number, the Dow was trying to hold onto some delusion, but the S&P and the techs were rolling over.
Gold was down on prospects of inflation….but then again, silver was up, so everyone to the shrink couch and let’s seem if we can get more chemical assistance with life, shall we?
-ure
G : mkts will become rationale(r) after this spate of irrational exuberance. Fast money rules the waves for now, jumping from one speculative asset to another, struggling to form leadership. The [bear mkt?] bull of late looks tired. Fortunately energy is almost free again and, despite hyperbole, the terrible tariff torture is (for now anyway) just a flesh wound.
ATL: someone finally opened a can of summer. We are wobbling between freezing and 70-ish F with rockin’ windstorms today. The lake is kicking up 2-footers with gusts blowing the froth off top. So, without consulting a WX site, it’s gusting mid-20s to 30.
Beaufort Wind Force Scale https://www.weather.gov/mfl/beaufort
[OBSCON ^ at link]
Enjoy spring!
Egor
Been a while since mentioned:
7.295 Usb by day,
3.999 Lsb by nite.
Mamy straws in the wind presently.
Mortgage rates bounce around but are currently pretty steady:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US/
If the market is topping, blame it on debt slave fatigue. Running on the debt treadmill is a tough way to live. Did that for a while back when mortgage rates were higher and homes were cheaper. I was never comfortable with it.
My county property tax home appraisal went up 82% this year; land stayed the same. The county can only raise the tax 10% per year, so it was more a threat to hurt me for the next ten years, rather than an actual casualty. There is a bill to raise the tax exemption applicable to me from $100,000 to $200,000, which will nullify the gouging. I compared notes with neighbors on appraised value vs insured value, and I don’t think I am going to appeal this year.
DeSantis is exploring the possibility of eliminating property taxes completely, in the State of Florida…
I finally aged out of the local school tax, so my property tax bill dropped to about half what it was last year! There IS something good about getting old!
My property tax initially dropped 3/4 for the same reason; now they are trying to double it back. If the exemption is increased, the county is largely SOL and the nearby school districts obsessed with building mega coliseums are as well. Personally, I would shut down the pro ball training franchises and reinstitute vocational training. I would make high schoolers take at least one vocational course each year. Rich privileged brats need to learn how to do something other than sponge off society and run their mouths.
Sitting here on the veranda …can’t at my feet ..feeling what life should feel like..no stress..relaxed and normal everyday life experiences instead of the drama of the bottom..I asked the boss..what do you think? we could dump this hectic life at the bottom..sell out all our rap and relocate.. feel the dramatic stress free of regular life..we decided to check it out.. A small 24/ 30what essentially is a garage that finished would be a nine hundred to a thousand food house finished as a house.. with lot..about 250 to 300 payments would be thirty dollars an hour and roughly three times our normal income per month grand..as nice as it could be..its unfeasible to contimplate.. in the event either of us was to get taken out of the equation.. our present living would be in realistic.. right now there’s not even money to go grocery shopping where we reside.. here prices are roughly a third here compared tohome..
I see the expression on the faces of the young and can see the stress and problem issues just beneath the surface..their masks are good but reality shows..if low income housing is more than low income… things will have to change.. I seen it with the text threats that showed up in welcomed on my phone..these type things will escalate.
last night we had late-night discussions on what we experienced on all sides. the hosts could relate since when they first began had similar situations where they could have ended up in the very same situation I am presently in if things had continued on the paths they first started out on..
so will housing escalate.? I believe it already is in the progress of heading that way..
Money:
1) BRICS gone if China gone… tariffs
2) India? No Pakistan
3) Israeli? No Gaza
4) Germany? Whole Ukraine
5) Marcon? Canada mine
6) Charles? democracy
Stu’s site has been down for more than 12 hours.
Hosting Server Read Timeout
HTTP 502 — Unable to Connect to the Origin Server
After this comment? Just a coincidence?
Nostradamus Epistle: Paragraph 32:4
Neither Christians nor Muslims, without communications or mobility, will understand what is happening to them.
Nostradamus Epistle: Paragraph 32:5
And their power will be taken from them.
TRANSLATION: Nostradamus Epistle: Paragraph 32:5
Their technological power will be taken from them.
https://theageofdesolation.com/nostradamus/2024/02/23/without-eyes-or-hands/
Still can’t get into Stu’s site with the passwords.
Used the latest one (I think) from Nov 14, 2023
The one from before that from Jan 2, 2021
and the First One from Jan 12, 2018
I have basically given up trying to read Stu’s site because of the continuing password problems. He may be saying some interesting stuff but I am NOT going to waste my time to try to go out time after time to read it since I know I am never getting in.
I have never been able to get the passwords to work for any of his protected material. Might be an Old Computer in my case — still in Win7.
I gave up. He’s a good and energetic worker. I only blame my own lack of skills and old gear.