Mike Foster is associate editor at Financial News.
Real estate is the oldest asset class in the world, dating back to the days when Ug the caveman waved a club and told his friends: “This cave mine.” Is now the right time to invest in property?
Equity purchases made under duress produce a joyless stock market rally, where people are desperate to preserve their wealth, rather than cheer on recovery.
In years gone by, central banks were supposed to be the guardians of monetary discipline – vigilant in protecting citizens against inflation and currency debasement. They were rarely known to smile.
Seventeenth century mathematician Blaise Pascal once wrote: “People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.” And things haven’t changed much since. If anything, they’ve got worse. And things haven’t changed much since. If anything, they’ve got worse.
Two swallows do not necessarily make a summer, but US banks JP Morgan and Wells Fargo are chirpy over prospects for the US housing market. Both reported a surge in mortgage lending in the quarter to September. JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon said: “We believe the housing market has turned a corner.”