Category Archives: housing market

New Home Sales Surge, Existing Sales Not So Much

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner New home sales shot 6.1 percent higher in February to a 592,000-annualized rate and is near the 600,000 top estimate of economists. Sales appeared to have gotten a boost from builder concessions as the median price fell … Continue reading →

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New Home Sales Surge

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner New home sales shot 6.1 percent higher in February to a 592,000 annualized rate that easily beats the Econoday consensus for 565,000 and is near the top estimate of 600,000. Sales seemed to have a boost from … Continue reading →

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Single-Family Construction Exploding

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly Starts on new houses climbed 3 percent in February to the second-highest level since 2007, reflecting pent-up demand in a steadily growing economy that builders are aiming to address. And builder optimism continues to rise to new … Continue reading →

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Home Ownership Is Rising

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner An improving economy, multiple years of strong job growth and the notable increase in home values in most markets fueled a greater share of purchases from Generation X households over the past year, says the National Association … Continue reading →

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Strong Jobs Report = Rising Interest Rates

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly Economists are almost unanimous that the Fed will raise their short term rates at next week’s FOMC meeting. This is because total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 235,000 in February, and the unemployment rate fell slightly to … Continue reading →

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Higher New Home Sales, Mortgage Lending

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner We wrote last week about unusually restrictive mortgage standards for conforming stalwarts Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that are still wards of the US Treasury. Now we’ve learned that they are still doing almost record loan volumes. … Continue reading →

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Home Sales Reach 10-year High

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs Existing-home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 5.69 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That was 3.3 percent above an upwardly-revised 5.51 million in December and 3.8 percent higher than a year ago. … Continue reading →

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Mortgage Market Still Obstructs Lower Income Borrowers

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner Earlier this month, researchers at the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center published some of their research on lending standards. Drawing on data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, they found that lower-credit applicants accounted for only … Continue reading →

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Housing Construction Boosted By Low Rates

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner Housing starts returned to trend, reports the National Association of Home Builders, dropping 2.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.246 million units, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and … Continue reading →

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Surging Construction Sector Aids Home Sales

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner Construction payrolls were a positive surprise of the January employment report, rising 36,000 for the best gain since March. Construction was soft through most of last year though it did pick up at year end. And this … Continue reading →

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