[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Utopian Visionaries Who Won’t Leave People Alone

No - no - no Ain'T going To get away with iT

Pete Buttplug's Butt Plugger Trying to Turn Kids into Faggots

Mark Levin: I'm sick and tired of these attacks

Questioning the Big Bang

James Webb Data Contradicts the Big Bang

Pssst! Don't tell the creationists, but scientists don't have a clue how life began

A fine romance: how humans and chimps just couldn't let go

Early humans had sex with chimps

O’Keefe dons bulletproof vest to extract undercover journalist from NGO camp.

Biblical Contradictions (Alleged)

Catholic Church Praising Lucifer

Raising the Knife

One Of The HARDEST Videos I Had To Make..

Houthi rebels' attack severely damages a Belize-flagged ship in key strait leading to the Red Sea (British Ship)

Chinese Illegal Alien. I'm here for the moneuy

Red Tides Plague Gulf Beaches

Tucker Carlson calls out Nikki Haley, Ben Shapiro, and every other person calling for war:

{Are there 7 Deadly Sins?} I’ve heard people refer to the “7 Deadly Sins,” but I haven’t been able to find that sort of list in Scripture.

Abomination of Desolation | THEORY, BIBLE STUDY

Bible Help

Libertysflame Database Updated

Crush EVERYONE with the Alien Gambit!

Vladimir Putin tells Tucker Carlson US should stop arming Ukraine to end war

Putin hints Moscow and Washington in back-channel talks in revealing Tucker Carlson interview

Trump accuses Fulton County DA Fani Willis of lying in court response to Roman's motion

Mandatory anti-white racism at Disney.

Iceland Volcano Erupts For Third Time In 2 Months, State Of Emergency Declared

Tucker Carlson Interview with Vladamir Putin

How will Ar Mageddon / WW III End?

What on EARTH is going on in Acts 16:11? New Discovery!

2023 Hottest in over 120 Million Years

2024 and beyond in prophecy

Questions

This Speech Just Broke the Internet

This AMAZING Math Formula Will Teach You About God!

The GOSPEL of the ALIENS | Fallen Angels | Giants | Anunnaki

The IMAGE of the BEAST Revealed (REV 13) - WARNING: Not for Everyone

WEF Calls for AI to Replace Voters: ‘Why Do We Need Elections?’

The OCCULT Burger king EXPOSED

PANERA BREAD Antichrist message EXPOSED

The OCCULT Cheesecake Factory EXPOSED

Satanist And Witches Encounter The Cross

History and Beliefs of the Waldensians

Rome’s Persecution of the Bible

Evolutionists, You’ve Been Caught Lying About Fossils

Raw Streets of NYC Migrant Crisis that they don't show on Tv

Meet DarkBERT - AI Model Trained On DARK WEB

[NEW!] Jaw-dropping 666 Discovery Utterly Proves the King James Bible is God's Preserved Word

ALERT!!! THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION WILL SOON BE POSTED HERE


Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Business
See other Business Articles

Title: Contracts to Buy U.S. Homes Hold Near 19-Month High
Source: Bloomberg
URL Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/20 ... ear-19-month-high-economy.html
Published: Jan 25, 2012
Author: By Alex Kowalski
Post Date: 2012-01-25 13:02:37 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 907
Comments: 1

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes in December held near a 19-month high, showing the stabilization in the market that began in late 2011 will extend into the new year.

The index of pending home sales decreased 3.5 percent last month after jumping a combined 18 percent in October and November, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. It was the best back-to-back reading since a buyer tax credit boosted demand in early 2010.

“We’ve had a clear turn toward positive momentum in the housing market,” Aaron Smith, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and the third most accurate forecaster of pending home sales. “Lower unemployment and higher confidence, coupled with record low mortgage rates, are coalescing to spur increased buying.”

The ability of the market to sustain gains in the absence of government incentives may mean housing has stopped weighing on growth. President Barack Obama yesterday proposed a plan aimed at reducing monthly mortgage payments, which would help combat a drop in home prices that Federal Reserve policy makers say is impeding the world’s largest economy.

The decrease in pending sales exceeded the median forecast of 40 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News that projected a 1 percent decline. Estimates ranged from a drop of 8.1 percent to an increase of 7 percent.

Sales increased 4.4 percent from December 2010.

Shares Fall

Stocks declined as forecasts at Boeing Co. and Yahoo! Inc. trailed expectations. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.1 percent to 1,313.4 at 11:35 a.m. in New York. The S&P Supercomposite Homebuilding Index rose 1 percent.

Elsewhere today, the U.K. economy shrank 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter as factories reduced production and services stagnated, leaving Britain on the brink of another recession, data from the Office for National Statistics showed in London.

In Asia, Japan posted its first annual trade gap since 1980 as nuclear plant shutdowns following last year’s earthquake prompted companies to import energy. A third straight monthly deficit in December capped an annual shortfall of 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion), the finance ministry in Tokyo said.

Another report today showed U.S. home prices rose 1 percent in November from the prior month, the biggest increase in six years, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Nonetheless, values were down 1.8 percent over the past 12 months as foreclosures held back a recovery.

Among other recent housing figures, purchases of previously owned homes climbed 5 percent in December to a 4.61 million annual rate, the highest level since January 2011, the NAR reported last week.

Housing Starts

Also in December, builders broke ground on 470,000 single- family houses at an annual rate, the most since April 2010, according to figures from the Commerce Department.

“The economy is beginning to firm up,” Douglas Yearley Jr., chief executive officer of Toll Brothers Inc., said in a Jan. 11 interview with Bloomberg Television. “We see more people coming out to buy. The affordability has never been better.”

Three of four regions of the U.S. showed a decrease in contract signings from a month earlier, led by an 11 percent slump in the West. Pending sales also fell in the Northeast and South.

The report showed an index level for pending home sales of 96.6 on a seasonally adjusted basis, down from 100.1 in November. It was the highest two months since March and April 2010. A reading of 100 is consistent with the average level of contract activity in 2001 and coincides with “historically healthy” home-buying traffic, according to the NAR.

Buyer Credit

At the end of 2009, the Obama administration extended a tax credit for first-time buyers through April 2010 and expanded it to include some current owners. The government incentive, worth as much as $8,000, helped bolster sales of previously owned homes before they dropped off in the middle of 2010, at one point touching the lowest level in at least a decade.

Economists consider pending home sales a leading indicator because they track contract signings. Existing homes sales are tabulated when a contract closes, usually a month or two later.

Faster job creation may help push more people into the market for homeownership. The economy added 200,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate declined to an almost three- year low of 8.5 percent, Labor Department figures showed earlier this month.

Homebuyers are also enjoying cheaper borrowing costs. The average rate of a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to a record-low 3.88 percent as of Jan. 19, according to data by Freddie Mac.

More Affordable

Lower rates combined with prices that have slumped for four out of the five past years are making homes increasingly affordable. The median price of a previously-owned home declined to $166,100 in 2011, the lowest annual average since $165,000 in 2002, NAR data show.

The agents group’s affordability index was at 194.5 in November, second only to the prior month’s level as the highest on record. A reading of 100 means a household earning the median income can afford a median-priced home at current lending rates.

“Housing affordability conditions are too good to pass up,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement accompanying the release. “Our hope is lending conditions will gradually improve with sustained increases in closed existing- home sales.”

President Obama is proposing a plan to help reduce monthly mortgage payments. The program will give “every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low interest rates,” Obama said during last night’s State of the Union address. “No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks.”

Obama Plan

Costs would be covered by a fee on financial companies with more than $50 billion in assets, according to two senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the plan. Obama said “a small fee on the largest financial institutions will ensure that it won’t add to the deficit.”

The proposal follows Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s call for lawmakers and the Obama administration to offer more aid for housing. The Fed, which is holding short-term borrowing costs near zero and buying government-backed mortgage bonds, said in a paper sent to Congress this month that a previous Obama administration effort to make refinancing easier had failed to go far enough.

The central bank will issue its latest forecasts for the economy and interest rates later today.

--With assistance from Kristy Scheuble in Washington. Editors: Vince Golle, Carlos Torres Subscribe to *Obamanomics On Parade*

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

#1. To: Brian S (#0)

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes in December held near a 19-month high, showing the stabilization in the market that began in late 2011 will extend into the new year.

We are still averaging seven new foreclosures a week in the one percenter paradise and playground here.

Almost every country in the Middle East is awash in oil, and we have to side with the one that has nothing but joos. Goddamn, that was good thinkin'. Esso posted on 2012-01-13 7:37:56 ET

mininggold  posted on  2012-01-25   13:05:41 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Please report web page problems, questions and comments to webmaster@libertysflame.com