Tag Archives: housing inventories

Why Lower Home Sales?

The Mortgage Corner November existing home sales in November tumbled 6.1 percent, the biggest drop since July 2010, down to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.93 million. New-home sales also fell slightly—probably for the same reason. Why? There were … Continue reading

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Pending Home Sales Up—A Better 2014?

The Mortgage Corner Is the housing market finally beginning to thaw from the polar winter? Pending home sales rose sharply in May, with lower mortgage rates and increased inventory accelerating the market, according to the National Association of Realtors’ Pending … Continue reading

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Will Housing Now Lead the Recovery?

The Mortgage Corner There is still hope that housing may help this economic recovery, as it has in past recoveries. But that is only if Fed Chairman Janet Yellen succeeds in keeping interest rates—mortgage rates in particular—at their current low, … Continue reading

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Where Is Housing Affordable Anymore?

Financial FAQs How much salary do you need in order to afford the principal and interest payments on a median-priced home in your metro area? To find out, HSH.com, a mortgage data service, took the National Association of Realtors’ first-quarter … Continue reading

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Home Price Strength To Boost Sales

The Mortgage Corner Data through February 2014, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, show that the annual rates of gain posted 13.1 (in 10-city index) and 12.9 percent (20-city index) in the twelve … Continue reading

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Rising Consumer Confidence To Boost Growth

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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Yellen’s Federal Reserve To Keep Rates Low

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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No Relief Yet With Pending Sales

The Mortgage Corner We can’t yet count on Pending Home Sales, a predictor of closings in 60 to 90 days, to predict a boost to this year’s sales. They have been falling since last July, and the last spike in … Continue reading

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What’s Happened to New-Home Sales?

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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Will Housing Starts Save Inventories?

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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