Tag Archives: Confidence

Job growth, appreciating home prices, and fewer scuttled single-family housing permits helped improve 76 housing markets over the last six months, according to an index released Monday. The National Association of Home Builders and First American Title Insurance Company released a joint index to measure improving markets against these criteria. Cities that made the index included Dallas, Des Moines, and Jacksonville, with Florida, Michigan, Tennessee, and Texas garnering the most of any states in improving markets.

Consumer sentiment climbed higher last month despite historically low conditions, with Americans by and large feeling more optimistic about housing, according to Fannie Mae. In conducting its December National Housing Survey, the GSE polled 1,000 respondents with questions about the economy and housing conditions at large. The big picture? More Americans expect a better New Year for their financial circumstances, higher home prices and mortgage rates, and steadily improving conditions for the housing market. Sixty-four percent reported wanting to buy their next home.

Uncertainty in the markets helped ring in the New Year with record lows for mortgage rates, as concerns over debt crises and job growth lingered for wary investors. Finance Web site Bankrate.com and mortgage company Freddie Mac released their findings for mortgage rates Thursday in two separate weekly surveys. Bankrate.com reported interest rates for the 30-year loan hitting a record 4.18 percent this week, down from 4.21 percent last week. Freddie likewise found rates for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage sliding from 3.95 percent last week to 3.91 percent this week.

Ed Delgado, CEO of our parent company, the Five Star Institute, reflects on 2011 as we enter a New Year. He takes into account events from around the economy over the last year to forecast a period of hoped-for renewal in 2012.

Inching forward by the largest margin since May 2010, homebuilder confidence ticked up two points from a downwardly revised 21 for single-family homes, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Current sales conditions climbed two points to 22, according to the NAHB, while sales expectations for the next six months moved up to 26, reflecting a one-point increase. The index recorded a three-point gain in prospective buyer traffic that accelerated the measure to 18, the highest seen since May 2008.

Results from Fannie Mae's November National Housing Survey revealed that consumer sentiment is not rising alongside recent positive economic news. Fannie's study showed that most borrowers are adopting a wait and see approach to 2012, despite accompanying findings that indicated consumers anticipate a future rise in home pricing for the first time in six months. Generally, Fannie's survey demonstrated that consumer sentiment is stabilizing.

In good economic news, payrolls picked up 120,000 jobs in Nov., helping shrink employment to 8.6 percent ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô the lowest in more than two years, according to The Labor Department.

A bold move to shore up global financial liquidity by the Federal Reserve and central banks from five other countries created a surge in confidence for investors Wednesday, inspiring a pickup in stocks and shares for the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós four biggest U.S. lenders. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 500 points to crest at 12,045.68 by end of day in response, with shares climbing for Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. Central banks agreed to lower prices for U.S. dollar liquidity swaps by 50 basis points.

All-time highs for housing affordability helped elevate pending-home sales for October 9.2 percent above figures seen over the same month last year, with fewer bad appraisals scuttling deals across the country. The National Association of Realtors measured contract signings for homes last month against numbers from the month before and last year, which it released with the Pending Home Sales Index. The trade group recorded 93.3 for pending-home sales in October, up from 84.5 in September ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô 10.4 percent above figures seen during that month.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac tied weak homebuyer demand to a drop in consumer expenditures in an outlook it released Monday. The GSE captured a look at the financial mood of consumers by releasing the U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook, which makes forecasts according to key economic indicators that it uses. The outlook indexed overall economic health for the nation, finding a small uptick by domestic aggregate demand as it climbed to 3.6 percent ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô the second largest gain over the last five years.