Category Archives: Housing

Consumers Earn and Spend More This Year

Financial FAQs The consumer came to life in May, boosted by a 0.5 percent rise in personal income and helping to support a 0.9 percent surge in personal outlays that reflects heavy spending on autos and retail goods. The spending … Continue reading

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Housing Beginning to Bloom

The Mortgage Corner Ultra-low interest rates are finally beginning to pay off.  The housing season is beginning to bloom—for first-time homebuyers, in particular. The National Association of Realtors reports total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, … Continue reading

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Why Lower Growth, Higher Corporate Profits?

Popular Economics Weekly First-quarter economic growth wasn’t as bad as expected, yet corporate profits were much better than expected. So what are corporations doing with their profits, rather than investing in future growth? The second revision to first-quarter GDP came … Continue reading

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Housing Construction Soars

The Mortgage Corner Housing construction is taking off, as I predicted two weeks ago. The numbers show actual construction starts accelerating as well as building permits for future construction. It is also boosting builder confidence to a level that signals … Continue reading

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Big Surge In Vehicle Sales, Service Sector, ADP Employment

Popular Economics Weekly Why start with motor vehicle sales? “Consumers weren’t holding back in May when it came to buying cars and trucks which sold at a 17.8 million annual rate for a whopping 7.9 percent gain from April,” said … Continue reading

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Pending Home Sales In Record Territory

The Mortgage Corner Pending home sales hit a 9-year high in April, according to data released last Friday by the National Association of Realtors. This is an early sign that housing construction and sales will come out of their winter … Continue reading

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New-Home Sales, Case Shiller Index On the Rise

The Mortgage Corner–II As if to confirm U.S. housing starts and building permits’ jump to their highest levels in nearly 7-1/2 years, the sales rate of new single-family houses in April 2015 rose even higher at a seasonally adjusted annual … Continue reading

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Housing Construction Surge—Sign of Better Times?

The Mortgage Corner U.S. housing starts jumped to their highest level in nearly 7-1/2 years in April and permits soared, hopeful signs for an economy that is struggling to regain strong momentum after a dismal first quarter. And that is … Continue reading

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Fannie and Freddie Didn’t Do It!

Financial FAQs As if further confirmation was needed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not even a minor cause of the housing bubble and consequent bust, the latest judgment against Nomura Securities for selling fraudulent mortgages to Fannie and … Continue reading

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2015 Housing Construction Will Surge

The Mortgage Corner We believe housing construction is about to bloom this spring, due to growing employment. For starters, an additional 45,000 construction jobs were added to nonfarm payrolls in April. This is even though construction spending to date has … Continue reading

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