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Written by Jonathan Dienhart
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12.04.2009 |
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News about the housing market has been fairly positive as of late. Pending home sales, existing home sales, and new home sales all recorded gains in October. Demand over the past several months has been driven in part by government incentives. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve purchases of long-term treasuries, agency debt and mortgage-back securities from government-sponsored enterprises have driven mortgage rates to record lows. Average 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hit its lowest levels this week since Freddie Mac started tracking the data in 1971. | | No comments for this item |
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Written by Jonathan Dienhart
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11.20.2009 |
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A sharp drop in housing starts and building permits raised further concerns about a recovery in the housing market, spurring a three day sell-off in equity markets. The plunge in building activity, however, was at least partially attributable to the anticipated expiration of the original federal homebuyer tax credit at the end of November. The tax credit has since been extended and expanded to include existing primary homeowners as well. Though financial markets viewed the figures with pessimism, starts and permits are a measure of supply only. While it may not be encouraging to see supply so low, it’s not an entirely bad thing to have these levels remain subdued until sales activity improves more substantially. Adding additional units to the market not supported by demand would only result in further price declines. | | No comments for this item |
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Written by Jonathan Dienhart
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11.17.2009 |
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Despite extremely low mortgage rates and an ongoing home buyer tax credit, the pace of mortgage applications slowed substantially in recent weeks. And while existing home sales seem to be improving, likely as a result of foreclosure and bank-owned property sales, new home sales have not shown quite the same hopeful signs of recovery. As a possible result, housing starts in October declined more than expected, suggesting home builders are being wisely cautious at adding additional supply to the fragile market. | | No comments for this item |
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Written by Jonathan Dienhart
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11.12.2009 |
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Last weekend, the G20 stated that they would continue to support global economies which caused stocks to jump earlier in the week. The G20 finance ministers said they would maintain their current plan to stimulate their respective economies with emergency support initiatives although many nations are already recovering. The plan to keep pumping money into the global system in order to spark growth is seen as a positive sign for businesses by most equity markets, and shows the commitment of the world’s largest economies to the current monetary policy strategy. | | No comments for this item |
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Written by Jonathan Dienhart
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11.06.2009 |
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The homebuyer tax credit extension and several key credit upgrades of blue chip stocks fueled investor optimism on Friday, but were countered by October employment figures that came in worse than most economists had forecasted. Continued job losses have pushed the U.S. unemployment rate to its highest levels in 26 years, presenting a challenging obstacle to broad economic recovery. The three major stock indices have been volatile in morning trading but are all trading roughly flat around noon. | | No comments for this item |
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