With one month already behind us, moving further into 2016, the U.S. housing market looks like it’s on shaky ground. This could be the year when home prices decline—for the first time since 2011. Let me make my point very clear: I don’t expect the U.S. housing market…

Canada’s Real Estate Bubble Is Jaw-Dropping Canada’s housing market is overpriced and the nation’s real estate bubble is due to burst at any moment. At least, that’s what we’re told. This message has been repeated so often that many Canadians have tuned out the conversation altogether. But lately,…

Could This Pop Canada’s Real Estate Bubble? Soaring household debt levels could pop Canada’s real estate bubble and threaten the country’s entire economy. At least, those are the findings from a report on Canada’s housing prices from the C.D. Howe Institute. According to a paper published by the…

Is Canada’s Real Estate Bubble About to Pop? The verdict is in: Canada’s housing market is in big trouble and the end of the country’s real estate bubble could begin in 2016. In December 2014, the Bank of Canada reported that as things stand, the nation’s housing prices…

There are three negative developments in the U.S. housing market, the U.S. economic ramifications of which we should be worried about. These developments are the collapsing homeownership rate, falling household incomes, and declining housing starts. They all suggest the housing market is headed for trouble. Homeownership in the…

Chinese Investors Are Doing Some Strange Things in the U.S. Housing Market Just months after China’s stock market crash, data on the U.S. housing market shows that tons of Chinese investors are pouring cash into U.S. real estate. The rapid influx of capital into U.S. housing comes at…

A new report shows poor households cannot earn enough to live in even the least expensive metropolitan American cities. This is a signal that the country’s slow-motion economic collapse is hitting low-income workers the hardest. Commentators continue to cheer on America’s so-called booming economic recovery. Last quarter, the…

I have written over and over again on how distorted the U.S. business sales and inventory figures are. Manufacturers are stockpiling products. Retailers are experiencing a decline in sales. Consumer spending is getting softer. But it’s more than just retail that is becoming a drag on the U.S.…

The U.S. existing home sales surged to an eight-year high. On Thursday August 20th, the National Association of Realtors published its report on exiting home sales for the month of July. (Source: The National Association of Realtors, August 20, 2015.) In July, total existing home sales increased two…

Soaring rents and stagnant wages have pushed the dream of homeownership out of reach for most Millennials, another signal of the country’s economic collapse since the 2008 financial crisis. According to a new report by Zillow, young Americans are now waiting longer than ever to buy their first…

We are seeing momentum in the real estate market dissipate—this is something readers of Profit Confidential shouldn’t be surprised about, as I have been predicting problems ahead for the housing market. In fact, I won’t be surprised if 2015 is the first year home prices decline since our…

The National Association of Realtors’ Housing Affordability Index has dropped 12% in the first five months of 2015. (Source: National Association of Realtors, last accessed July 16, 2015.) In January, the qualifying income to get a mortgage for an existing median-priced home in the U.S. was $36,576. In…

One of the nation’s largest home builders crushed market expectations on Wednesday June 24th, signalling that a housing recovery may be here at long last. Lennar Corp. (NYSE/LEN) posted strong second-quarter earnings of $0.79 per share, up from $0.61 during the same period last year. Revenue growth skyrocketed…

If you live in one of the top 20 metropolitan areas of the country, you have probably already witnessed a strong appreciation in your house’s value over the past several years. Based on my economic outlook for 2015, I believe there could be more to come for homeowners.…

In the month of May, the purchase of new homes in the U.S. reached its highest level in the last seven years, signaling that the housing market is recovering. Sales of new single-family houses beat analysts’ forecasts, up 2.2% during the month of May. Stronger employment and higher…

Home prices rose to a six-year high last month, signaling the U.S. housing recovery is starting to pick up momentum. Existing home sales came in at an annualized rate of 5.35 million units in May—their highest since November 2009. This is a 5.1% increase from April’s upwardly revised…

There’s a major problem in the U.S. housing market; the disparity between rent and disposable income growth has widened drastically and is making it harder for renters to become homeowners. Disposal Income Trend Negative in the Last Decade Before going into details, let’s look at the chart below.…

Ask any professional involved in the real estate market and they will tell you that when interest rates are low, it’s a great time to buy. Lower interest rates mean higher affordability because mortgage payments are smaller. In December of 2014, the 30-year mortgage rate tracked by Freddie…

In November, existing-home sales in the U.S. declined 6.1% from the previous month. They dropped to the lowest annual pace since May of 2014, falling to 4.93 million units from 5.25 million in October. (Source: “Existing-Home Sales Lose Momentum in November as Inventory Slightly Tightens,” National Association of…

The chart below shows us that between April and August of this year, home prices in the U.S. declined. The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index is only released 60 days after each month’s end, so while data for September and October are not yet available, based on what…