Bellevue Real Estate, Mortgage, and Economy – 6/13/11
Posted on 13 June 2011
Here is the Bellevue Real Estate Report for June 13, 2011:
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE… There are those who think the housing market is in bad shape, with the start of a second dip in home prices. Then there are those who see something better — a bumpy bottoming of home prices, which will soon head back up. Those of us in the second camp were given more ammunition last week by real estate data company Altos Research. Their evidence shows prices bottomed out in March and achieved seasonal rises in April and May. Their VP of market analytics said in a recent webcast: “We’re pretty confident that means there is going to be a rebound…. There’s still plenty of movement upside and we’re going to probably move…back into positive ground.”
The researchers also reported that median list prices for single-family homes were up from March to May in all but two of the 20 cities they track. They further pointed out that, except for the last boom, the housing market historically has never seen constant price appreciation. There has always been some price volatility, so the latest dipping “…is really just the start of the next housing cycle.” Other industry data revealed that in real estate listings in 16 of the 20 largest U.S. metro areas, the average number of days on the market dropped from 150 in December to 140, while median listing prices went from $224,900 to $246,000. This is not yet a housing recovery, but it’s also not a double dip.
UNDER TWELVE THOUSAND…That’s not just a price range for used cars, it’s also where the Dow landed last week. Not surprising, as we’ve now had six down weeks in the stock market, matching the six weeks there’s been a negative mood on Wall Street. That mood of course has come from signs of a slowdown in the economic recovery, even though there have also been signs of economic progress. Speaking in Atlanta on Tuesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke admitted that our economic growth has been slower than expected this year. He also said the inflation triggered by higher energy prices was a passing thing and that the economy should get its mojo back in the second half of the year. But even then, Bernanke feels economic conditions will still justify keeping the federal funds rate at exceptionally low levels for the now familiar “extended period.” For the week, the Dow ended down 1.6%, at 11,952; the S&P 500 was down 2.2%, at 1,271; and the Nasdaq was down 3.3%, at 2,644.
More disappointing news came with new weekly jobless claims up by 1,000 and still above the 400,000 threshold. Better news was the fact that continuing claims dipped again, to 3.68 million. Best news of all, the trade deficit shrank $3.1 billion in April to $43.7 billion. And the March trade deficit was revised to be $1.4 billion less than originally reported. These smaller trade deficits will raise the reading for GDP growth.
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