Tag Archives: construction spending

Housing Is Definitely Recovering

The Mortgage Corner In spite of warnings from such as Robert Shiller of Irrational Exuberance fame that housing values could remain stagnant over the next ten years, housing prices are making a comeback, which is boosting economic growth. Some of … Continue reading

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Higher Home Prices Driving Construction

The Mortgage Corner CoreLogic just reported home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 10.2 percent on a year-over-year basis in February 2013 over February 2012. And it is boosting construction, as for sale inventories are barely increasing in the new … Continue reading

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The Fed Worried About Continued Growth

Popular Economics Weekly Fourth Quarter Gross Domestic Product growth was a bust. What does that say about 2013? Are consumers tapped out, and capital expenditures (capex) shrinking, the two main drivers of economic growth? It doesn’t seem so, as long … Continue reading

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Dr. Robert Shiller Says No Housing Boom

The Mortgage Corner Dr. Robert Shiller, Yale Econ Professor, and co-creator of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, has become very cautious in his latest articles. Don’t expect much in the way of a housing boom in 2013. He isn’t even … Continue reading

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Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.7 Percent

Popular Economics Weekly Economists are rubbing their eyes over the November jobs report. It seems stimulus spending works. Obama’s $830 Billion ARRA stimulus + the Federal Reserve’s QE efforts to hold down interest rates has now created almost 6 million … Continue reading

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Consumers In Holiday Mood

Popular Economics Weekly Consumers are going to celebrate the holidays in a much bigger way than in recent years. Not only have consumer confidence and expectations been rising since summer, but consumer borrowing is exploding, signaling that we will see … Continue reading

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Home Builder’s Confidence at High

The Mortgage Corner This is very big news. Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose for a fifth consecutive month in September to a level of 40 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing … Continue reading

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Real Estate Leading Recovery—Part II

The Mortgage Corner Further evidence that real estate is recovering is the drop in both vacancy rates and so-called Real Estate Owned (REO) properties—i.e., that banks have taken back in foreclosure. Several analysts, including Calculated Risk, believe this is absorbing … Continue reading

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Consumers Are Doing Fine

Financial FAQs Consumers seem to be doing fine, in spite of their worries about jobs in the latest University of Michigan sentiment survey, the economy and budget deficits (their own more than governments’). June average hourly earnings improved to a … Continue reading

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Why the Surprising Jobs Report?

Financial FAQs Why so much surprise in January’s employment report that added 243,000 payroll jobs and dropped the unemployment rate to 8.3 percent? The U.S. has now added an average of 183,000 jobs a month in the past five months, … Continue reading

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