Home Sales: Distressing Gap
The following graph shows existing home sales (left axis) and new home sales (right axis) through May. This graph starts in 1994, but the relationship has been fairly steady back to the ’60s.
Then along came the housing bubble and bust, and the “distressing gap” appeared due mostly to distressed sales. The flood of distressed sales has kept existing home sales elevated, and depressed new home sales since builders can’t compete with the low prices of all the foreclosed properties.
I expect this gap to close over the next few years once the number of distressed sales starts to decline.
Note: Existing home sales are counted when transactions are closed, and new home sales are counted when contracts are signed.
UN expert calls for immediate lifting of Israeli blockade of Gaza
A United Nations human rights expert on the occupied Palestinian territories today called on Israel to lift its Gaza blockade “entirely and immediately.”
Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, commenting two days after Israel announced it would allow the UN to bring in material for school and housing construction, said the blockade is “a deliberate policy of collective punishment which is legally indefensible and morally reprehensible.”
“It is aimed at denying Palestinians humanity and a life with dignity,” he said. “The blockade of Gaza must be lifted entirely and immediately.”
Mr. Falk said: “Thi
Hackers Claim Sony Hit with Second Massive Data Breach
Sony may have been hit with the second massive data breach in just over a month, says a group of hackers that claim they were responsible for the attack. The group, known as LulzSec, says it pulled off what it describes as an elementary attack on Sony’s “disgraceful” security.
While Sony says that it can’t confirm the breach and will be looking into the situation, LulzSec had already posted the data, including passwords, e-mail addresses, home addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth, on its own website.
Other people contacted AP confirming that their passwords had been published online as well. They expressed their disappointment with Sony and distress over the fact that they were so vulnerable to identity theft at no fault of their own.
This is the second massive data breach Sony faces in just over a month. On May 1 Read more…
Tax advice of the week: Lose the taxman in the woods
Woods provide more than an escape from modern life, says Kevin Dowling in The Sunday Times. They are also a tax-efficient investment.
Britain is one of the least wooded countries in Europe and half of its ancient woodland has been lost since the 1930s. Today, according to Forestry Commission figures, just 13% of the total UK land area is covered in trees.
But investment or leisure buyers may be able to do something to reverse that trend.
Over the past five years the number of Britons paying up to £60,000 for small woodlands (5-25 acres) has doubled. Many buyers plant new trees, and there are “hard-headed” reasons for doing so. “The price of firewood has risen sharply and is currently around £75 a ton.”
Profits from timber sales are free of income tax and there is no capital-gains tax to pay on standing or felled wood. Plus if y
New Home Sales Rise
Sales of new houses rose 7.3 percent, to 323,000 annual pace, the highest level in 2011. Of course, this comes on the heels of a record low just two months ago.
New home sales statistics are quoted on an annual basis. In other words, if April’s new home sales numbers were what the new home sales numbers would be for every month of the year, how many new homes would be sold. So, the 323,000 new homes sold number means that there would be 323,000 new homes sold for the year.
There are two important things about this latest economic data and how it will affect investors and the economy. First, the number is slightly higher than what economists were expecting. Any time a number surprises to the upside, that is good news, because it means that things were actually better than everyone thought. S Read more…
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