Households recovering from economic freefall
The net worth of American households increased slightly during the final three months of 2009, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.
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California Doing a Rendition of the Housing Industry on the Budget – $20 Billion Budget Deficit and Massive Amount of Distress Inventory. How Banks Raided the U.S. Treasury with the aid of the Federal Reserve and have Damaged Housing Further.
The banking system has captured our government and frustration is boiling over. Yet those in the housing and banking industry seem complacent and even self congratulatory that we “have avoided Great Depression 2.0.” Really? Now we’re taking advice from the same group of cronies that led the economy off the financial cliff. And the most [...]
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Fed sees ‘little change’ in West’s housing
The Fed’s San Francisco unit noted housing in the West is “appeared to be little changed on net” in its 2nd “Beige Book” of 2010. This is a Federal Reserve Board report on regional economic conditions that’s done eight times a year. In January, the Fed called Western housing “largely stable.” (Note: Note that 2009 [...]
Fed sees ‘little change’ in West’s housing is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate
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What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : March 8, 2010
Mortgage markets improved last week in low-volume trading.
Between Monday to Thursday, Wall Street focused on the upcoming jobs reports and mortgage markets gained while traders jockeyed for position. Mortgage rates drifted lower through Thursday afternoon. But, then, after a better-than-expected Non-Farm Payrolls report Friday morning, mortgage markets -- and mortgage rates -- reversed.
Overall, mortgage rates dropped last week, but only by a small margin. Rates were best Thursday afternoon.
It was the second consecutive week in which mortgage rates fell.
Last week was also interesting in that both stock markets and bond markets improved, proving that rates don't always rise when stock prices do. 455 of the S&P 500 companies posted gains last week.
If you're shopping for a home or a refinance, though, don't rest on your laurels. After Friday's big sell-off, this week opens into a major headwind and, plus, the Federal Reserve's support for mortgage markets ends in just 3 weeks.
This week, without much data to influence traders, the upward momentum in rates may have little cause to temper. We'll see the Consumer Confidence numbers on Tuesday and Retail Sales on Friday. Beyond that, there's not much else.
After last week’s performance, conforming mortgage rates may be poised to rise rather sharply. If you're waiting for the right time to lock your rate, it may have been this past Thursday. Consider locking your rate early this week to protect against further rate hikes.
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Feed : The Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter
