Double Dip In Home Prices; Kohn Wins "Neanderthal Award"

Zillow claims Home Prices Have ‘Double Dip’ in 12 U.S. Cities

Twelve U.S. cities, including Boulder, Colorado, and Providence, Rhode Island, are showing extended declines in housing values, reversing signs of a sustained recovery last year, according to Zillow.com.

The number of markets in a “double dip” jumped in January from five in December, data released today by Seattle-based Zillow show. The real estate information provider defines a double dip as five consecutive price drops after at least five straight monthly increases. The gains must be preceded by a period where values fell in at least 10 of 12 months.

Home prices nationally dropped 0.6 percent in January from the prior month, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said yesterday. Government efforts to bolster the market spurred a 4.9 percent rise in home sales last year, the first annual gain since 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The double dip through January also was seen in Colorado Springs and Greeley, Colorado; Augusta, Georgia; Columbus, Ohio; Harrisburg and Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Little Rock, Arkansas; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Lincoln, Nebraska, according to Zillow.

Ten other markets, including Boston and Denver, “seem poised for a double dip,” the company said. Zillow still expects home values to bottom out by June, said Humphries.

Bottom Out In June? Why?

What possible reason can anyone have to think home prices will “bottom out in June? Perhaps a better question is “June of what year?”

There is a massive amount of shadow inventory, the job market sucks, we had a housing bounce because of $8,000 tax credits and that bounce is dead.

Good Riddance to 40-Year Fed Veteran Donald Kohn

When it comes to housing bubbles, the Neanderthal Award must go to Donald Kohn for his statements on combating bubbles.

Federal Reserve policymakers should deepen their understanding about how to combat speculative bubbles to reduce the chances of another financial crisis, the central bank’s outgoing vice chairman said Wednesday.

Donald Kohn said the worst crisis to hit the country since the 1930s points to the need for more research on how higher interest rates can be used to limit financial speculation. Kohn suggested that, and other “homework assignments,” in remarks prepared for a lecture at Davidson College in North Carolina.

Given the limited research, Kohn said he favors using regulation to prevent new speculative bubbles from developing that could burst and plunge the economy into a recession. Higher rates could be used if stronger regulations don’t work, he added.

A 40-year veteran of the Federal Reserve system, Kohn plans to step down at the end of June.

Here’s The Deal

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