by John Evans | Jan 12, 2015 | Market Outlook
Last week’s economic news was dominated by labor reports and FHA’s announcement that it will lower its mortgage insurance premiums in an effort to make homes more affordable for first-time and moderate income home buyers. Mortgage rates fell last week as...
by John Evans | Jan 8, 2015 | Market Outlook
The minutes of the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) indicate that Fed policymakers aren’t concerned about low inflation rates as an obstacle to raising the target federal funds rate. The national inflation rate was 1.50 percent for the 13 months...
by John Evans | Jan 5, 2015 | Market Outlook
Case-Shiller reported that home prices hit their lowest pace in two years. According to the Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index for October, home prices fell in 10 cities, rose in eight cities and were unchanged in two cities. In other news, pending home sales...
by John Evans | Dec 29, 2014 | Market Outlook
Last week’s economic news included several housing related reports. Housing markets continue to cool as November reports on existing and new home sales fell below expectations. New Jobless claims were lower than expected by 10,000 claims. The details: Existing...
by John Evans | Dec 24, 2014 | Market Outlook
The National Association of Realtors® reported that sales of existing homes dropped to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.93 million as compared to expectations of a 5.18 million existing homes sold. Projections were based on October’s reading of 5.25...
by John Evans | Dec 22, 2014 | Market Outlook
Last week’s scheduled economic events were few but informative. Housing related reports included the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index for December, which stayed close to a nine-year high reading of 59 in September....