Here's the latest from good little REIC monkey Nicholas Retsinas at Harvard's REIC-corrupted Joint Center for Housing Studies

Home prices in have crashed by the biggest amount since the Great Depression.

There are millions of unsold, still overpriced, unwanted homes.

Foreclosures are rampant.

Congress is running around like monkeys trying to find a way out of the mess.

And yet here's the REIC's good little poodle Nicholas Retsinas, sent out by his REIC masters (i.e. Harvard JCHS sponsors) to pump housing to the all-too-gullible MSM, even after finally admitting to the crash.

Over the horizon, a housing recovery

The current housing market is bleak: home prices and sales are plummeting, foreclosure proceedings are skyrocketing and mortgage rates are on the rise.

When will things be better?

A new study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, "The State of the Nation's Housing 2008," finds the country poised to see an increase in housing demand over the next decade.

"The good news is that we still have a growing population," said Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies and one of the study's authors. "As long as you have more households, more people are going to need places to live."

Some background for HP newbies:

* Many of you will remember when Retsinas stupidly went after HP'ers after we called for his ouster. Retsinas did the classic REIC "blame the messenger" after housing crashed, exposing himself for the bought-and-paid-for REIC hack he is:

"HOUSING BUST AHEAD." The headline hints of catastrophe: a dot-com repeat, a bubble bursting, an economic apocalypse. Cassandra, though, can stop wailing: the expected price corrections mark a slowing in the rate of increase -- not a precipitous decline.

This will not spark a chain reaction that will devastate home owners, builders, and communities. Contradicting another gloomy seer, Chicken Little, the sky is not falling."

- Nicholas Retsinas, mocking HP'ers, September 2006

* Here's the Harvard JCHS's dirty list of REIC masters (since removed from their website)

* And this classic rant from Tim Iacono over at SeekingAlpha:

"Adding to the growing evidence that you can work at Harvard and still be a moron, Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies commented "The fundamental problem with housing is oversupply.''

No, the fundamental problem is that a speculative bubble just burst and now everyone is thinking rationally again - home prices are still too high, potential buyers realized home prices are still too high, lenders are now interested in the borrower actually paying back the home loan, and investors don't want to go near securitized debt."

Seeking Alpha columnist throws Harvard's idiot-in-residence housing-cheerleader Nicholas Retsinas under the bus

You all remember the laughable and discredited Nicholas Retsinas, head of the REIC-supported "Joint Center for Housing Studies" at Harvard. The guy who called all of you "chicken littles" and said there was no housing bubble or crash to come.

Well, nice to see someone besides HP calling this guy a moron. Why Harvard hasn't fired him is beyond me.

Here's Tim Iacono, who also does The Mess that Greenspan Made, writing at Seeking Alpha

Adding to the growing evidence that you can work at Harvard and still be a moron, Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies commented "The fundamental problem with housing is oversupply.''

No, the fundamental problem is that a speculative bubble just burst and now everyone is thinking rationally again - home prices are still too high, potential buyers realized home prices are still too high, lenders are now interested in the borrower actually paying back the home loan, and investors don't want to go near securitized debt.

Could someone aside from Robert Shiller and about a thousand people with blogs say this just once?

Discredited REIC hack Nicholas Retsinas of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies gets slapped with cold hard housing reality

I guess now that the checks (and cash?) he was receiving from his failing REIC masters (homebuilders, lenders, etc) are bouncing, he feels like he should try to gain back some credibility and admit to the crash underway. Nick - nice try. Too late.

But still good progress since just a few months ago, when this discredited hack was calling HP'ers "Chicken Littles" and "Cassandras", and telling anyone who'd listen that the housing market would be A-OK.

Here's the hack a few months ago, perhaps at REIC gunpoint:

The headline hints of catastrophe: a dot-com repeat, a bubble bursting, an economic apocalypse. Cassandra, though, can stop wailing: the expected price corrections mark a slowing in the rate of increase - not a precipitous decline. This will not spark a chain reaction that will devastate homeowners, builders and communities. Contradicting another gloomy seer, Chicken Little, the sky is not falling.

Idiot. Guess Econ 101 wasn't part of his education.

Now here's Retsinas and his new post-crash spin:

"The housing market faced a series of body blows over the past year: overbuilding, overappreciation, investors, tightening credit and the subprime-loan implosion," said Nicholas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. "No question, the last shoe to drop is going to be foreclosures."

Welcome to HP Retsinas. And oh, we're still waiting for an apology...

Suzanne and Nicholas Retsinas - the two biggest jokes of the housing bubble and crash

I'm not sure what I like looking back on more, now that we know what we know - the Suzanne video, or Nicholas Retsinas' (of the discredited and corrupt Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies) hilarious and mistimed diatribe against HP'ers and "Chicken Littles"

Suzanne and Nicholas, well done! HP'ers - any other nominees for biggest joke of the housing bubble & crash? List 'em here.

So here's Suzanne and Nicholas. What a nice couple! Enjoy!

The housing wail

by Nicolas P. Retsinas September 24, 2006

"HOUSING BUST AHEAD." The headline hints of catastrophe: a dot-com repeat, a bubble bursting, an economic apocalypse.

Cassandra, though, can stop wailing: the expected price corrections mark a slowing in the rate of increase -- not a precipitous decline. This will not spark a chain reaction that will devastate home owners, builders, and communities.

Contradicting another gloomy seer, Chicken Little, the sky is not falling. Let me alleviate some fears.


And now here's Suzanne, in all her glory:

I am so digging CNBC's Diana Olick these days... And so counting the days until Harvard's Nicholas Retsinas is fired

Here's Diana picking up HP's flame of the corrupted and laughable Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, and its discredited REIC poodle Nicholas Retsinas

Yes, folks, blogs can make a difference. Thanks HP'ers for fighting the good fight. Now do the right thing - contact Harvard's president here and ask for the immediate firing of Nicholas Retsinas

Here's Realty Check:

Housing Crisis Solution For U.S.: More Immigration?

An interesting op-ed in the Boston Globe last week from Nicholas P. Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. The premise: baby boomers had better embrace immigrants, because they’re the ones who are going to buy their homes.

Retsinas makes a strong supply and demand argument, citing that “the cornerstone of housing robustness is strong demand, and the foreign-born constitute a major segment of that demand.” He throws out some strong numbers; like that 40% of net new household formation in the first five years of this century was foreign-born, up from only 15% in the 1980s.

I get it, but is this really the argument we want to be making as a solution to the nationwide downturn in housing sales and prices? I don’t know that I want to jump into the immigration debate, but here goes: this feels something like the outsourcing argument. If we can’t support our own housing industry, then should we just bring in more foreigners to save it?

Harvard's corrupted and discredited Nicholas Retsinas calls on Americans to embrace illegal immigrants so baby boomers can unload their homes

This is it folks, the straw that broke the camel's back. The REIC's poodle, Nicholas Retsinas of the laughable and corrupted REIC-sponsored Joint Center of Housing Studies, published this piece last week calling on Americans to embrace ILLEGAL immigrants, since they'll buy the homes from desperate baby boomers and his homebuilder masters can get back to making money.

This is wrong.

This is sick.

This is corrupt.

And this is another reason for Harvard to FINALLY fire this embarrassment to their fine institution. This man is not an educator or a scholar. He is the paid poodle of the Real Estate Industrial Complex, using his Harvard platform to promote the financial interests of his masters.

You can contact Harvard's president here. And for the mainstream media readers of HP - please do your job and report on this. Follow the money.

The new homeowners
By Nicholas P. Retsinas July 8, 2007

CONGRESS, presidential candidates, and lots of Americans may be giving a tepid welcome to the immigrants settling into America's neighborhoods -- some illegally, most legally. But the housing industry should be sending a welcome wagon. And every baby boomer hoping to sell his home in the next decade should be embracing these newcomers, for they will constitute an increasing segment of the home-buying, apartment-renting market. According to University of Southern California demographer Dowell Myers, immigrants and baby boomers must "forge a new social contract."

The Garcias and Nguyens are buoying the housing industry.

In many respects, that industry undergirds the economy. Including new construction, remodeling, and the purchase of furniture and appliances, housing accounts for 23 percent of the total US economy. Millions of people make their living in this industry.

The cornerstone of housing robustness is strong demand, and the foreign-born constitute a major segment of that demand. From 2000 to 2005, 40 percent of net new household formation was foreign-born, up from 30 percent in the 1990s. In the 1980s only 15 percent of net new households were foreign-born. The United States, a nation founded by immigrants, is very obviously a nation of immigrants today.

Those families need housing. Although they may rent for decades, saving up for a down payment, ultimately they want what many of their native-born counterparts want: a tangible, if mortgaged, asset. For immigrants, home ownership is the quintessential American Dream.

If immigrants want, eventually, to buy, the baby boomers want, eventually, to sell. As baby boom homeowners look to downsize, perhaps to find their dream home in a retirement mecca or a gentrified downtown, they will be putting their houses on the market. The 2004 film satire "A Day Without a Mexican" showed a California that came to a stop without immigrants. A re make of the movie, focusing on housing, would show neighborhoods with permanent for-sale signs.

Forecasting the impact of immigration does not require a crystal ball -- merely an actuarial table. The current statistics are compelling. The nation's sharp increase in immigration over the last decade will shape and define the housing market for the next decade -- and beyond. Welcome to my open house.

Nicolas P. Retsinas is director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.

FLASH: Nicholas Retsinas, HP hater and discredited head of the corrupted Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, comes clean. Kinda.

HP'ers are familiar with the laughable and discredited Retsinas, and his list of REIC puppetmasters.

You may also remember being called "pollyannas" and "chicken littles" as Retsinas belittled HP'ers and anyone who challenged his REIC masters and their housing cheerleading during the bubble. From September 2006, this direct attack on HP'ers (remember we had called for his firing) from Retsinas:

The headline hints of catastrophe: a dot-com repeat, a bubble bursting, an economic apocalypse. Cassandra, though, can stop wailing: the expected price corrections mark a slowing in the rate of increase - not a precipitous decline.

This will not spark a chain reaction that will devastate homeowners, builders and communities. Contradicting another gloomy seer, Chicken Little, the sky is not falling.

Well, even a discredited REIC hack has to come clean at one point, after the data shout "you're a fool". So here's Retsinas now:

"The air went out of the inflated housing market as higher home prices and interest rates finally tempered demand," center Director Nicolas Retsinas said. "Many buyers are now waiting on the sidelines hoping prices will fall."

"We're going to be in for a prolonged slump," said Nicolas Retsinas, director of the center.

Hmmm... I guess Chicken Little was right. Or maybe Retsinas' over-extended REIC masters didn't pay their annual dues this year... Whatever the case, Retsinas and his bogus JCHS are a stain on the good reputation of Harvard. The REIC has bought our Congress, it's a real shame when they can buy our higher learning institutions.

HP renews it's call for Harvard to fire Retsinas immediately, and to no longer accept REIC bribes.

Retsinas - you can leave your apology to HP'ers here. It's too late to apologize to America though. They're screwed.