Root Cause
THE BE YOUR OWN ECONOMIST ® BLOG On June 25 The San Francisco Chronicle carried an op-ed article on the root causes of the housing crisis: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/25/EDPC11EELA.DTL&hw=Michael+Lehmann&sn=004&sc=184. Here’s a slightly longer version that includes a chart that did not appear in the online piece. On June 25 the Census Bureau reported 512,000 new-home sales in May. Update the chart below with that data, and two observations strike you. First, there’s the enormity of the unfolding 2007 – 2008 real-estate debacle. Second, there’s the unprecedented nature of the 2000 – 2005 real-estate build-up. Home sales rose 50 percent beyond their earlier Continue reading