Real Estate

September 26, 2008

Ending the Credit Crunch: Four Benchmarks to Watch

From a report released Sept. 22 by Standard & Poor's Market, Credit and Risk Strategies The credit crunch has been with us for more than a year. The Federal Open ...

September 8, 2008

Blogs: What They're Saying About Fannie, Freddie

Skepticism swept over the financial blogosphere in response to the government's historic bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) announced on...

September 8, 2008

Financial Stocks: Is It Safe Yet?

It wasn't hard to find skeptics on Wall Street on Sept. 8, the day after the federal government's weekend takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac ...

August 25, 2008

The Credit Crunch Cuts Deeper and Wider

On Wall Street, the yearlong credit crunch continues to hog headlines. For example, the future is still in question for investment banks like Lehman Brothers (LEH) and...

August 7, 2008

Homebuilders: When Will Things Turn Around?

In light of the ongoing difficult operating environment for U.S.-based homebuilders, investors have raised several questions about S&P Ratings' views on the sector's ...

July 23, 2008

Banks Stick with Stadium Sponsorships

Over the last several years, many banks galvanized by the housing boom affixed their names to sports stadiums and arenas across the country, hoping to drive brand ...

July 1, 2008

Real Estate: Making the REIT Picks

After a great run, real estate investments have suffered over the past year, with the average real estate mutual fund down 18%, according to Morningstar. David Lee has...

June 27, 2008

Tips for Homeowners on the Brink

Mortgage rates are skyrocketing. Credit is locked up. Economic pressures are rising. Time to bail on that McMansion? Some homeowners who are three months to a year ...

May 20, 2008

Home Depot and Lowe's Get Hammered

It was already clear that Home Depot (HD) and Lowe's (LOW) would get pummeled by the drop in new-home construction and housing sales. But now even consumers who are ...

May 16, 2008

The Economy: Housing Hope, Consumer Gloom

By BusinessWeek, Standard & Poor's, and Action Economics staff The housing market may be loosening up a bit, but the consumer mood is the darkest it has been since the...

May 6, 2008

Fannie Mae Soothes the Street

Fannie Mae's worse-than-expected first-quarter loss, reported on May 6, shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the news of continuing declines in home...

May 6, 2008

Homebuilders: Waiting for the Thaw

With home prices continuing to drop and the pace of home sales slowing further, nobody has been looking for encouraging results from homebuilders. On May 6, D.R. ...

April 25, 2008

REITs Show Strength

Did someone say something about the deflating of a real estate bubble? Sure, home prices may be falling, but real estate investment trusts (REITs) outperformed broad ...

April 17, 2008

Housing: Time to Halt Taxpayer Subsidies

Homeownership has long been a vibrant part of achieving the American Dream. But these days owning a home is more like starring in a horror flick, perhaps called ...

April 16, 2008

Inflation Warms, Housing Chills in March

by BusinessWeek, Standard & Poor's, and Action Economics staff The U.S. economic picture remains murky, to say the least. Reports released Apr. 16 showed that ...

March 26, 2008

A Frigid February for New Home Sales

by BusinessWeek, Standard & Poor's, and Action Economics staff Reports released Mar. 26 show that two key segments of the U.S. economy—housing and ...

March 25, 2008

Consumer Confidence, Home Prices Plunge

The recent run of optimistic headlines enjoyed by financial markets was interrupted, at least for a day, by two economic reports released Mar. 25. The releases ...

March 20, 2008

Fannie and Freddie Set Free

Another stone fell into place in the federal government's plan to build a path to credit market recovery. On Mar. 19, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise ...

March 18, 2008

Stocks: A Place Called Vertigo

The year 2008 is turning into the ultimate stress test for investors. The troubles pile on top of each other: wild volatility in stock prices, a housing slowdown, a ...

February 29, 2008

Subprime City Confidential: Leap Day Edition

Egad. Take just a bit of time (O.K., a few months) off from chronicling the doings and undoings of the denizens of Subprime City, and all hell breaks loose. As the ...

February 26, 2008

The Economy: A Mix of Bad News

By BusinessWeek, Standard & Poor's, and Action Economics staff A series of economic reports released Feb. 26 delivered bad news on wholesale inflation, housing prices,...

February 21, 2008

Vital Signs: Deeper Damage from Housing?

The potential economic fallout from housing may be far from over. That’s bad news for the economy at large. Once widely viewed as a well contained problem, economists ...

February 19, 2008

Recession Watch: Inflation Rears Its Head

The market has been preoccupied with the Fed's interest rate cuts, the health of the housing sector, and prospects for the broader U.S. economy. But new record highs ...

January 28, 2008

New-Home Sales on a Slippery Slope

The housing sector's slump appeared to worsen considerably in December. A report released on Jan. 28 shows U.S. new-home sales fell 4.7%, to a 0.604 million-unit ...

January 16, 2008

The Economy: Five Signposts to Recovery

Nearly all economists think the U.S. economy is skating on some very thin ice, and some believe we've already plunged into recession. The economic data paint a scary ...