’she’ll lead a legion of “everyday people” to Capitol Hill to affirm the virtues of homeownership and urge Congress not to abandon federal support for low-cost mortgages…. “The middle working class is the bedrock of our country.”
‘Joining Thompson’s cause will be thousands of homebuilders, real estate agents, civil-rights leaders, and bankers who aim to deliver a similar message to Congress..’
‘Together, these groups represent what one might call…a real estate-industrial complex that transcends partisan politics, geography, and socio-economic divides.’
Bedrock of our country? Civil rights leaders? Transcending socio-economic divides? Here’s one of those homebuilding middle-class guys; except he has Picassos on his mansion walls:
‘With housing sales soaring, homebuilders are the toast of this year’s FORTUNE 500–and none is riding higher than luxury specialist Toll Brothers…Toll has rewarded himself for such spectacular returns with an extremely generous pay package…For fiscal 2004, Toll pocketed a bonus of $30 million–and it would have been $50 million if he hadn’t requested that the board adjust the over-the-top formula to something more reasonable. This year his bonus, with the formula adjusted downward again, is likely to hit $29 million. “I deserve it,” says Toll. “Look at all the value I’ve created for shareholders!”
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/04/18/8257004/index.htm
And here’s a couple for you Business Week:
‘Just when it looks like housing construction is finally going to cool off we get another number like today’s stat from the government. Construction began in November on 2.12 million privately owned homes (seasonally adjusted). That’s up from 5.3% from October and 17.5% from last November. And it doesn’t look like this is the end of it, either, because permits are up, too…’
‘It feels to me like the buyer’s market is flipping over into a seller’s market.’
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/archives/2005/12/an_overhang_of.html
‘Weakness in Housing? Forget It
The November numbers put to rest the pessimists’ claims that the market is popping or about to. If anything, it’s gaining steam…Residential construction in the quarterly GDP reports grew at a 10% rate through the first half of 2005 and is likely to post the same 10% rate in the third quarter once these figures are revised upward again in the final GDP report for the quarter. ..’
‘Virtually no evidence points to any wavering in this sector, despite pessimists’ efforts to keep finding signs of weakness.’
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/dec2005/pi20051220_1661_pi001.htm?chan=search
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