Bellevue Real Estate, Mortgage, and Economy 7/18/11
Posted on 18 July 2011
Here is the Bellevue Real Estate Report for July 18, 2011:
QUOTE OF THE WEEK…”There is no right way to do the wrong thing.”–Anonymous
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE…Increasingly, the wrong thing for consumers to do is to stay out of the housing market. In many locales, owning a home is now less expensive than renting. Rents are rising and vacancies falling, according to a report that tracked leasing data across the country. For the second quarter, rents rose in all but two of 82 markets, while vacancies dropped in 72 of them, sending the vacancy rate to 6%, its lowest level since 2008. Another report showed rental listing prices up 6.7% nationally in June versus a year ago.
Meanwhile, national average mortgage rates got pushed down some more, thanks to the prior week’s disappointing jobs report. And the Mortgage Bankers Association reported demand for purchase loans was at about the same level as a year ago, although down a tad from the week before.
DEBT WORRIES WOBBLE STOCKS…The word of the week was “debt” as investors worried about both Italy’s sovereign debt problems and the inability of the politicians in Washington to get to agreement on raising the U.S. debt ceiling. With these uncertainties, stocks wobbled off their high perch and all three indexes sank for the week, the broad-based S&P 500 down 2%.
For the week, the Dow ended down 1.4%, to 12480; the S&P 500 was down 2.1%, to 1316; and the Nasdaq was down 2.4%, to 2790.
The FOMC Minutes from the Fed’s last meeting revealed a divided committee. Some officials feel the central bank “might have to consider providing additional monetary stimulus” if the recovery remains slow. Others think inflation threats could cause them “to begin removing policy accommodation sooner.” Tracking inflation, the June Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up a little more than expected, but consumers weren’t that put off, as June Retail Sales were up a tick for the month and up 8.1% from a year ago.
Bellevue Real Estate Report
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