Examining the Russian Real Estate Market

Dmitri Boulkhoukov, executive director of the Etalon Group, discusses the Russian real estate market.

Keith Jurow: House Prices Are Nowhere Near A Bottom

Jurow bases his conclusion primarily on concerns about so-called "shadow inventory"--a huge number of houses that will eventually be on the market but aren't counted in current inventory figures. For example, a large number of households are behind on their mortgages or have stopped paying their mortgages, Jurow says, but the banks have yet to foreclose. When banks are finally forced to foreclose, Jurow says, and these houses hit the market, they will cause significant additional price declines. Additionally, some homeowners who want to sell are waiting for price increases. When they finally give up and put their houses on the market, Jurow says, this will add additional supply.

Phoenix Leads U.S. Housing Recovery

Steve Berkowitz, chief executive officer of Move Inc., talks about Realtor.com's latest quarterly report on the top 10 turnaround housing markets in the U.S.

Market Volatility Here to Stay

Tom Yorke, Managing Director, Oceanic Capital Management says that U.S. equity markets are "leaking oil" and 10-year U.S. Treasurys could creep down to the 1.25 to 1.50 level.

Play the US Housing Sector Through ETFs

Tom Yorke, Managing Director, Oceanic Capital Management recommends investing in the U.S. real estate sector via ETFs, instead of individual stocks.

Real Estate Realities

Neil Bluhm, Walton Street Capital founder; Allen Smith, Prudential Real Estate Investors CEO; and Steve LeBlanc, Texas Teachers, discuss the current real estate market and where to find attractive returns relative to fixed income.

Steve LeBlanc of Texas Teachers discusses Texas-style investing!

"We believe real estate can deliver a net 10% return to the pension plan," says Steve LeBlanc, Texas Teachers senior managing director, discussing the Texas-style of investing, and his decision to invest $3B with KKR and Apollo Global.

Sam Zell on `Overleveraged' Commercial Real Estate

Billionaire investor Sam Zell  says the US real estate market is still significantly over-leveraged with "zombie properties" because of "pretend-and-extend" strategies employed 5 years ago, so in the end it's difficult to have a viable commercial market until this problem is corrected, which in his eyes, is by letting the price discovery process play out. Today's low cost of capital also changes the incentives for banks to clear assets from their balance sheets.

Outside of real estate, he has invested extensively in deleveraging situations with middle market companies that have higher cost of capital, spanning all kinds of industries.

Phoenix Housing Market Rises

CNBC's Diana Olick reports on lower home supply numbers from Phoenix, down 42% from a year ago. Rick Sharga, Carrington Mortgage Holdings, weighs in.

Ed Yardeni: US housing market "has clearly hit bottom" (Audio)

Edward Yardeni of Yardeni Research says the U.S. housing market "has clearly hit bottom." Yardeni talks with Bloomberg's Ken Prewitt and Tom Keene on Bloomberg Radio's "Bloomberg Surveillance."

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Investing in Foreclosures

Geoffrey Jacobs, Empire Group, discusses investment opportunities in distressed properties, and cashing in on rental properties

Warren Buffett: Good Time to Buy a Home

Now is a good time to buy a home and finance it with a 30-year mortgage, says Warren Buffett. He discusses why he wants to invest in more businesses, explains why he bought eight European stocks at the end of 2011 and also shares why he decided to invest in the Omaha World-Herald.

Meredith Whitney on the Mortgage Market

Low rates have not moved the mortgage market, says Meredith Whitney. Low rates are not the solution and banks have not done anything to remedy the mortgage markets. US housing policy should include banks working together to have an industry re-pricing.

Dick Bove is not a big fan of the mortgage deal

"Those people lucky or smart enough to stop making payments on their homes may get their loan balances reduced," he said. "Other beneficiaries of the agreement may be homeowners who have seen the value of their houses drop below the size of their mortgages. They get a freebie that other homeowners who have paid their mortgages down will not get."

Sam Zell: Government Bailout Hurt Housing Recovery

"Rather than let the elements of the business world take care of the problems, we basically stopped the process of creating market clearing. Had we allowed the market to clear without trying to stop reality...we would have a healthy housing market today."

Michael Hudson on the Foreclosure Crisis

Robert Shiller: Buying Real Estate Not `Clever Move'

Robert Shiller, professor at Yale and co-creator of the Case-Shiller home price index, talks with Tom Keene about the U.S. housing market.

Ivy Zelman: Bottom in housing?

Zelman's one of the best housing analysts on the planet. It really does appear that housing is close to a bottom, but prices may stay muted for several years. I often compare housing to a supertanker - it takes a long time to change direction, but when it does, it stays changed for a while! [Disclaimer: I own XHB, the homebuilder's ETF]
"It's been six long years and believe the fundamentals are now at that inflection point that we have confidence that it is really starting to come to fruition and we're excited about it"

Zillow CEO: Worst over for US housing

Zillow's CEO, Spencer Rascoff, tells CNBC that although 90% of the cities they follow are showing falling prices, the US has passed the worst of the real estate decline - but don't expect a big bounce anytime soon

WSJ: Big Hedge Funds Build Case For Housing

Big money is starting to wager on housing.
Caxton Associates, SAC, Avenue Capital and Blackstone have been buying housing-related investments, betting on a rebound. And formerly bearish research firm Zelman & Associates now predicts a housing pickup, as does Goldman Sachs. Other investors seem to be making the same bet. Shares of home builders are up 30% since the end of Q3 topping a nearly 10.5% gain for the S&P 500...
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