THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

But probably not for the reasons you might think. According to a report in Bloomberg:

Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to revive housing are making real estate bulls even more bullish.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) more than doubled its forecast for U.S. home price gains in 2013 to 7 percent this week, and predicts a more than 14 percent increase through 2015. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) said last week property values will jump 8 percent this year, up from a prior estimate of 4.7 percent in a report titled “Someone say house party?”

The two biggest U.S. banks are predicting an accelerating rebound as homebuyers and investors rush to acquire a dwindling supply of properties and the Federal Reserve pushes down borrowing costs by buying mortgage bonds. That’s strengthening the economy and sustaining a rally in homebuilder shares after the stocks more than doubled since the end of 2011.

Got that? They are running out of foreclosed homes to buy after they ruined the lives of millions of Americans to be able to steal those homes.

Growth last year was driven by a lack of housing stock coupled with rising demand from institutional investors, including private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, which has purchased 20,000 single-family homes to rent. The number of homes for sale fell 5 percent to 1.74 million in January from the year-earlier period, the fewest since December 1999, according to the National Association of Realtors...

Fed Chairman Bernanke has sought to bolster the economy with bond purchases each month. While the most recent round has “not done much for mortgage rates” the “resulting reach for yield is now firmly grounded in the housing market,” they wrote.

But that nice Mr Bernancke is still working to insure they will make a healthy profit when they fence the goods. And well he should, as they are running low on new properties to steal what with being forced to re-negotiate and all that.

One issue that’s propelled prices has been shrinking supply from foreclosed homes. In 2012, 1.3 million liquidations occurred, about 30 percent less than the bank expected, in part because of loan modifications that let distressed borrowers stay in their houses.

Foreclosures plunged 29 percent last month from a year earlier to the lowest level since 2007 amid increased efforts by state lawmakers and courts to delay property seizures, according to RealtyTrac.

JPMorgan estimates that by the end of the year, 10 percent of borrowers will be underwater, or owe more on their mortgages than the home is worth, compared with 25 percent two years ago. As distressed sales continue to decline and the inventory of homes remains tight, demand for non-performing assets will probably increase, according to the report.

It's nice to know the Banksters will be allowed to continue profiting from the misery of millions of Americans that they created.