Lakeshore Analytics

Negative residential investment bodes ill for recovery

If you’re interested in the role housing plays in a broader economic recovery, check out this paper from Harvard’s Joint Center on Housing Studies (“Frequently asked questions about the role of housing in recessions and recoveries,” August 2009). Though it’s a year old, it still captures some data from this recession and compares it to [...]

Index shows ‘dramatic drop’ in U.S. home prices

A home price index published by Clear Capital, a real estate valuation firm that serves banks, shows a “sudden and dramatic” drop in home prices over the past two months. The index shows a 5.9% drop in the two months ending October 11. Click on the graph at left to see the index’s latest movement. [...]

Marginal impact of tax credit: 16.5%

Although half of all Illionis home buyers took advantage of the federal home buyer tax credit while it was offered, only 16.5 percent of them would not have bought a home otherwise, according to a study by the University of Illinois Regional Economics Application Laboratory (REAL). The local study casts doubt on a Government Accountability [...]

HUD denying a second housing credit

HUD is denying that there is any talk of extending the home buyer’s credit after a spokesman left the matter up in the air during a CNN interview last week. Today, a spokesman told CNBC that “there are no discussions underway to revive the tax credit.” This is good news. Prices are depressed because the [...]

What will happen once the housing tax credit expires?

What is likely to happen to home sales once the generous tax credit for first-time and repeat buyers has expired? For some guidance, look at a chart showing what happened to new vehicle sales when the cash-for-clunkers subsidy expired: Auto sales jumped in June and July, followed by an even-lower-than-trend month in August 2009. While [...]