The 2010 health reform legislation introduced a new 3.8% tax on the net investment income of high-income taxpayers. That tax, which I suspect you will hear more about in coming months, goes into effect on January 1, 2013. This tax raises important policy issues, not least of which is whether Congress should give the name [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Housing’
Public Service Announcement: There Is No Health Care Tax on Home Sales
Posted in Budget, Taxes, tagged Budget, Capital Gains, Housing, Taxes on April 2, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Another Record Low for Homes Under Construction
Posted in Economy, Macroeconomics, tagged Housing, Macroeconomics on August 16, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Today’s housing data showed that the number of single-family homes under construction hit another record low in July: Ten years ago, America’s home builders were in the midst of constructing 689,000 single-family homes. Five years ago, they were building 913,000 homes. Last year, they were building 278,000. And now that figure is down to a [...]
Homes Under Construction – Still Falling
Posted in Economy, Macroeconomics, tagged Housing, Macroeconomics on March 17, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Wednesday’s housing data showed that the number of single-family homes under construction fell again in February: Ten years ago, America’s home builders were in the midst of constructing 672,000 single-family homes. Five years ago, they were building 990,000 homes. Last year, they were building 304,000. And now that figure is down to 252,000.
How is Housing Affecting Inflation? An Update
Posted in Economy, Macroeconomics, tagged Economy, Housing, Inflation, Macroeconomics on February 20, 2011 | 3 Comments »
A few months ago, I argued that housing was messing up inflation measures, in particular the core CPI. With last week’s release of fresh CPI data, I decided to check in to see if that’s still true. Answer: Yes, but less so. The cost of housing is still rising slower than for other core goods [...]
Treasury Offers Some Good Ideas on Mortgage Finance
Posted in Finance, tagged Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, GSE, Housing on February 11, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Today was a big one for housing finance. Treasury kicked things off with its much awaited report to Congress on “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market.” And then the Brookings Institution hosted a full day conference on “Reforming the U.S. Mortgage Market.“ Both Treasury’s report and the conference showed that there’s still important debate about the [...]
CBO Weighs in on Fannie and Freddie
Posted in Budget, Finance, Regulation, tagged CBO, Fannie Mae, Finance, Freddie Mac, GSE, Housing, Regulation on December 23, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released its long-awaited report on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Role in the Secondary Mortgage Market (written by Deborah Lucas and David Torregrosa, with input from a cast of dozens — including, full disclosure, me as an outside reviewer) provides an [...]
Is Housing Messing Up Inflation Measures? Yes, But …
Posted in Economy, Macroeconomics, tagged Economy, Federal Reserve, Housing, Inflation, Macroeconomics, Money on November 28, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Here’s the simplest argument in favor of the Fed’s decision to restart quantitative easing: The economy remains very weak. Unemployment, for example, is still almost 10%, and the underemployment rate is close to 17%. Key inflation measures are exceptionally low. The core consumer price index (CPI), for example, is up only 0.6% over the past [...]
Yet Another New Low in Houses Under Construction
Posted in Economy, Macroeconomics, tagged Housing, Macroeconomics on November 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Today’s Census data show another decline in the number of single-family houses under construction: In short, completions are still outrunning starts.
Home Construction Hits Yet Another Low
Posted in Economy, Macroeconomics, tagged Housing, Macroeconomics on October 19, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Housing starts and permits usually dominate the headlines on residential construction data day. In September, for example, single-family starts increased a healthy 4.4% (total starts increased 0.3%), and single-family permits rose 0.5% (but total permits declined 5.6%). Those are certainly important measures, but I also like to look at a third measure of residential activity [...]
House Prices: Demographics Giveth and Taketh Away
Posted in Finance, Macroeconomics, tagged Finance, Housing, Macroeconomics, Pensions on August 6, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Over at the Bank for International Settlements, Elod Takats has a new working paper that examines how demographics may affect asset prices (ht Torsten Slok). As he notes, standard economic theories suggest that aging will lead to lower asset prices. In an overlapping generations model, for example: [T]he young save for old age by buying [...]
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