Category Archives: housing market

Rising Consumer Confidence To Boost Growth

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly Consumers seem to finally be consuming their normal share of economic growth—which is currently 68.2 percent of GDP, or overall economic activity. We know this because they are spending more, and their confidence numbers are returning to … Continue reading →

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New-Home Sales Answer to RE Recovery?

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner Privately-owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 946,000. This is 2.8 percent above the revised February estimate of 920,000, but is 5.9 percent below the March 2013 rate of 1,005,000. Single-family … Continue reading →

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Yellen’s Federal Reserve To Keep Rates Low

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner The Fed’s FOMC minutes of their last meeting were just released, and they show the Fed intends to keep interest rates low for as long as possible, until the unemployment rate drops substantially. And the Fed’s maintenance … Continue reading →

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Jobs Recession Finally Over?

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs Is the jobs recession finally over? It’s taken this long to bring employment back to pre-Great Recession levels. Overall employment is still slightly below the pre-recession peak (437 thousand fewer total jobs).  But private employment is now above … Continue reading →

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What’s Happened to New-Home Sales?

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Financial FAQs Sales of new single-family houses in February 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 440,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates. This is 3.3 percent below the … Continue reading →

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So Fannie and Freddie Weren’t the Problem…

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly We are learning just how much mortgage fraud was committed by 17 national and international banks and other financial entities that the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) originally sued to recover some $200 billion in losses to … Continue reading →

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Will Housing Starts Save Inventories?

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner Will new housing construction improve the very low inventory levels that are restricting housing sales? It is hard to know at present if this slowdown is due more to the severe winter weather, lack of inventory, or … Continue reading →

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Losing Fannie and Freddie—A Terrible Idea

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs There was a reason Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddy Mac (Federal Home loan Mortgage Corporation) were government created entities, before they became private corporations in the 1970s.  They encouraged homeownership at a time when owning … Continue reading →

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2014 Mortgage Volumes (and Delinquencies) Lower

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner It looks like the housing market still has to play catch up in 2014. Both mortgage volume and existing-home sales have declined drastically. But new-home sales and housing construction have picked up, even with the Polar weather, … Continue reading →

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January New-Home Sales Soar

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs The Polar Vortexes haven’t stopped everything.  It looks like new-home sales are picking up in midwinter, a sign that existing-home inventories are too low. Sales of new single-family houses in January 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual … Continue reading →

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