Bargain Hunting for Doorbuster Discounts

Dec 1, 2015

This article is an excerpt from a previously released Sidoxia Capital Management complementary newsletter (December 1, 2015). Subscribe on the right side of the page for the complete text. It’s that time of year again when an estimated 135 million bargain shoppers set aside personal dignity and topple innocent children in the name of Black Friday holiday weekend, doorbuster […]

Marathon Market Gets a Cramp

Oct 3, 2015

This article is an excerpt from a previously released Sidoxia Capital Management complementary newsletter (October 1, 2015). Subscribe on the right side of the page for the complete text. “Anyone can run a hundred meters, it’s the next forty-two thousand and two hundred that count.” Investing is a lot like running a marathon…but it’s not a […]

Review: A human face for the foreclosure fiasco

Sep 25, 2015

Seven years on and the financial crisis blame game is still alive and well. In his new film, “99 Homes,” Ramin Bahrani crafts a dramatic narrative that does the best job yet of capturing the…

Have Peripheral Colds Caused a U.S. Recession Flu?

Aug 30, 2015

At the trough of the recent correction, which was underscored by a brief but sharp -1,100 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Dow had temporarily corrected by -16.2% from its peak in May, earlier this year. Whether we retest or break below the 15,370 level again is debatable, but with the Dow […]

Housing in Canada: A Tale of Two Markets

Aug 2, 2015

Guest post by Norman MogilCanada’s housing market has diverged in recent years: Vancouver and Toronto joined other international real estate markets such as New York, London, and Sydney, while prices in other major cities remain subdued. Vancouver an…

Looming rental crisis in the United States

Jun 6, 2015

The United States is not building enough homes to meet the nation’s housing demand. It’s difficult for many to accept this fact given some of the over-building that took place during the housing bubble. However that wave peaked around ten years ago and…

U.S. housing demand is building

Dec 26, 2014

The post-crisis rebound boosted home prices 25 pct even as sales and construction lagged. Increasing household formation, job creation and easing credit look set to give the market another leg up,…

Remember the UK housing bubble?

Nov 26, 2014

Not long ago an overheating housing market was seen by many as the big UK danger. Now mortgage approvals are dropping and house inflation is easing – even though mortgages are getting cheaper….

China index: Home truths upset economy

Oct 30, 2014

Our alternative growth index hit its lowest levels since April 2009 last month. Housing investment is leading the downturn with the slowest pace of growth in over two years. In the past, more bank…

China has not one property problem, but many

Sep 17, 2014

Rank the biggest cities by riskiness, and huge differences become apparent. Some places face heavy oversupply, others look unaffordable, while in most prices are sliding. A national correction is…

France’s housing slump is sign of deeper woes

Aug 26, 2014

House prices are falling and Paris is a buyer’s market. Hollande’s clumsy policies and lower interest rates should have the opposite effect. But the seriousness of the slowdown incites households and…

A look behind the headline housing starts report for the United States

Aug 19, 2014

As discussed in yesterday’s post on residential construction, today’s report on US housing starts indeed showed significant improvements.Investing.comHowever, this is only part of the story. The number of housing starts for single-family units remains to a large extent range-bound (see chart). A great deal of the growth instead is coming from mu…

Signs of improvement in residential construction

Aug 18, 2014

Despite tepid wage growth in the US and Dodd-Frank-driven headwinds for mortgage lending (see post), two signs point to moderate improvements in residential construction.1. The homebuilder optimism index recovered more than forecast.2. Lumber futures have risen materially from their lows in June.Sep lumber futures contract (barchart.com)At this point…

Day Trading Your House

Jul 19, 2014

By several measures, this economic recovery has been the slowest, most-challenging  expansion since World War II. Offsetting the painfully slow recovery has been a massive bull market in stocks, now hovering near all-time record highs, after about tripling in value since early 2009. Unfortunately, many investors have missed the boat (see Markets Soa…

London real estate at an inflection point

Jul 17, 2014

Property values in the UK capital are up 20 pct in a year. But leading indicators – buyer enquiries, new mortgages and volumes – have stalled. For prices to hold, foreign buyers will have to spend…

Watching for signs of US housing market activity

Jul 10, 2014

The US housing market remains sluggish, as wages, at least at the national level, have not kept up with the recent price appreciation (see post). The reason for these higher prices is that housing inventories remain tight, particularly in the more desirable areas. A great deal of the inventory has been picked up by “cash buyers” that include domestic…

Winning via Halftime Adjustments

Jul 5, 2014

This article is an excerpt from a previously released Sidoxia Capital Management complementary newsletter (July 1, 2014). Subscribe on the right side of the page for the complete text. In the game of sports and investing there are a lot of unanticipated dynamics that occur during the course of a game, season, or year. With the […]