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Jonathan Sweet - Remodeling Notes


Jay Sweet
As senior editor of Professional Remodeler, a lot of information crosses my desk. This blog will be a chance to share some of that with you, with an immediacy not possible with a monthly magazine. It's also your chance to tell me what you think about what I have to say. Whether you agree or disagree, I hope you won't be shy.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Reaction to stimulus plan and more

Jan 28 2008 1:30PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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It's time once again for a Multi-link Monday, that old standby for bloggers, the big old bunch of links to other sites. Anyway, here's what's been catching my eye lately:

  • The Wall Street Journal's Development blog has reactions to the proposed stimulus plan from people in the housing industry.
  • A lot of people have been talking about how much more house prices have to fall. One argument has been that with rents at historic lows compared to ownership costs, home prices need to fall significantly to reach the "right" spot. Here's a recent paper by some Federal Reserve economists that argues that prices need to continue to fall through 2012 to bring prices back in line with rents.
  • This has the feel of one of those shark-attack-type media pile-ons, but a lot of the consumer press has been writing about people who can afford to pay their mortgages walking away from homes just because they don't think they're worth the investment. I find it hard to believe it's happening on a widespread level, but it just feeds into the idea that many people have now that homes are a lousy investment.
  • And really its consumer confidence (or the lack thereof) that is causing a lot of what's going on in housing and the broader economy. Here's an interesting article about the idea that we're talking ourselves into a recession.

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