Salient to Investors: The share of yet-to-be-built dwellings was 36 percent in May versus 26 percent a year ago and versus 14 percent in September 2008. Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro Research said there is clearly more housing starts activity in the pipeline, while the economic outlook is improving and there
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jeffrey Lacker at FRB of Richmond said Financial markets will remain volatile as policy makers debate tapering, part of the process of incorporating new information into financial asset prices. Reaction to Bernanke’s comments is evidence that they had built-in expectations of more asset purchases than I think the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Alexander Friedman at UBS says: What Fed has done is not unexpected and the market reacted because it was ahead of itself. All the Fed was saying was that the US is doing OK, that the data is trending as it should, and that it has confidence
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Freddie Mac said the average rate for a 30-yr fixed mortgage rose to 4.46 percent from 3.93 percent, the biggest one-week increase since 1987. The average 15-yr rate climbed to 3.5 percent from 3.04 percent. The average rate for a 30-yr mortgage in the 10 years through last
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Paul Willen at FRB of Boston said if people believe house prices are going up, credit availability will evolve because there is too much money to be made lending to homebuyers. Freddie Mac said the average rate for a 30-year fixed loan is at 3.93 percent versus 3.35 percent in May and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria writes: The great American housing market is back. The American economy has again shown its core character of flexibility and resilience. The US is the only rich country in the world whose population is growing – by 3 million a year, mostly legal immigration. Americans
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The economic expansion shows signs of lasting almost twice as long as average, with few of the excesses that often presage the start of contractions – inflation is slowing, not quickening, household debt is shrinking, not expanding, and the labor market is slack, not tight. Robert Gordon
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: RealtyTrac said foreclosure sales fell 22 percent in Q1 from a year earlier as rising prices reduced the incentive to sell for owners underwater Daren Blomquist at RealtyTrac said rising prices take away the urgency from banks and homeowners from having to do a short sale. Blomquist said for metropolitan
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Kevin Cummins at UBS Securities said we are moving in the right direction, and the data is consistent with an improvement in the labor market and income. The median selling price increased 14.9 percent in April from a year ago to a record $271,600, reflecting increases in sales of homes
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Dean Maki at Barclays said the housing recovery is intact and on a solid foundation. Lawrence Yun at NAR said the double-digit median price increase is unhealthy because incomes are rising at less than 2 percent – the only way to moderate price increases is more supply, which is 14
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