From CR: There are so many reports of a housing bubble in China, I asked a friend living in China for his thoughts … this is his view: From Michael Kleist in Shanghai: News of soaring housing prices in China, … Read More

A couple of articles tonight that fit together with my earlier post: Housing: A Tale of Boom and Bust and a Puzzle The puzzle is when the banks will start moving ahead with distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales). First … Read More

The Financial Times reports: Big bank oversight to stay with Fed Chris Dodd … is set to propose this week that the 23 largest institutions stay under the Fed’s oversight … At issue … was the regulation of several hundred … Read More

This is an update on a great series by Kelly Bennett of Voice of San Diego. First a little background: According to Kelly, in 2008 - after the bubble burst - James McConville bought distressed condos from developers in bulk, … Read More

UPDATE: From CNBC: Frank Denies Saying No Guarantee on Fannie, Freddie From Zachary Goldfarb at the WaPo: Rep. Frank questions safety of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac investments “People who own Fannie and Freddie debt are not in the same legal … Read More

First - David Leonhardt at the NY Times Economix asks: Is the Recovery Losing Steam? How you view today’s jobs report depends on snow. … If the storms indeed had a big effect — if they cut even 100,000 jobs … Read More

Here are a few more graphs based on the employment report … Employment-Population Ratio The Employment-Population ratio ticked up slightly to 58.5% in February, after plunging since the start of the recession. This is about the same level as in … Read More

Alana Semuels at the LA Times discusses her article today: Here is the story: Many borrowers in default stay put as lenders delay evictions Throughout the country, people continue to default on their home loans — but lenders have backed … Read More

Here is Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders. The following is an excerpt on housing (Buffett focuses on manufactured housing because Berkshire owns Clayton Homes): The [manufactured homes] industry is in shambles for two reasons, the first of which must … Read More

Two informative articles … Diana Golobay at HousingWire reports on the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) National Mortgage Servicing Conference 2010 in San Diego: Mortgage Servicers Kick Around HAMP Mod Options … a session called “Loss Mitigation – When HAMP is … Read More