Bellevue Real Estate, Mortgage, and Economy 9/20/10
Posted on 20 September 2010
Here is the Bellevue Real Estate Report for Sept. 20, 2010:
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE Fannie Mae released a survey showing 70% of those polled in June and July feel now is a good time to buy a home. This is up from a 64% reading in January. At the same time, 83% of those surveyed think it’s a bad time to sell, which isn’t such a terrible thing, since there’s still plenty of inventory for buyers to choose from.
Another group of industry observers concluded that sales of existing homes hit bottom in July and will rebound in the fall. They based this on recent reports for purchase mortgage applications and pending home sales, which track signed purchase contracts for existing homes.
The fact remains, homes are now more affordable for more people than they’ve been in years. And today’s historically low mortgage rates make monthly payments much easier to work into the family budget. Prices may have bottomed out indeed. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes show that nationally, home prices are 3.6% above levels a year ago. For buyers who expect to live in their home a while, many observers feel this is clearly a very smart time to purchase.
UP YET AGAIN… For investors on Wall Street, positive feelings continue to prevail over negative vibes and uncertainties, as stocks closed higher for the third week in a row. All the major market indexes were up, with the extra strength of the tech sector pushing the Nasdaq up well over 3%. In addition, all three indexes are now UP for the year. For the week, the Dow ended UP 1.4%, to 10607.85; the S&P 500 was UP 1.4%, to 1125.59; and the Nasdaq was UP 3.3%, to 2315.61.
Worrying investors, and everyone, were things like Thursday’s report that the U.S. poverty rate was at a 16-year high. Other data showed that real median household income last year was essentially unchanged over 2008. No surprise then that Friday’s University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index came in at its lowest level since August a year ago. The day before, the Producer Price Index reported wholesale inflation a bit higher than anticipated, which got some analysts concerned that consumers might see price hikes next.
Those fears were quelled Friday with Consumer Price Index (CPI) readings that had inflation well under control at the retail level. And the 1.1% year-over-year gain in the CPI showed that those who feared deflation have nothing to worry about for now. Other encouraging signs included a rise in Industrial Production for August that met expectations and August Retail Sales that beat forecasts, evidence that consumers may be worried, but they’re still spending!
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