Home Sales Up, Prices Down Sales of existing homes rose in September, but prices continued to drop, according to the latest reading on the battered housing market by the National Association of Realtors. The report shows sales by homeowners jumped in September to an annual pace of 5.18 million, up 1.4% from a year ago. […]

Financial Meltdown: Who’s Really to Blame? If you watch a lot of cable TV, you’ve no doubt been hearing all the nonsense about unqualified borrowers who got loans as a form of economic affirmative action. They claim that the entire weight of the global financial collapse rests on the shoulders of unqualified poor, minority borrowers […]

Housing Recovery: Greenspan Speaks Out According to an article he wrote recently for Emerging Markets magazine, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says he sees the U.S. housing market will begin to recover in the first half of 2009. Greenspan wrote that the recent slowing in the rate of decline in U.S. home prices is […]

Bailout: Will it Work?   The $700 billion bailout plan that has now been signed into law may get banks to start lending to each other again. But it remains to be seen how long that will take to jumpstart an ailing economy.   The goal is to unfreeze the credit markets. Financial institutions have […]

New Home Builds at a 17-Year Low   Construction of new homes and apartments fell to its lowest level in 17 years in August, showing the country is still gripped by a severe housing downturn that has triggered billions of dollars of losses and is reshaping the structure of U.S. finance.   Housing construction dropped […]

Housing Woes Won’t End With Bailout   The federal government’s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may save the battered real estate market from a complete meltdown. But financial experts say the bailout won’t lead to a housing recovery just yet.   There is still a large supply of unsold homes on the market […]

Existing Home Sales Hit 5 Month High   The National Association of Realtors announced recently that Existing Home Sales, after falling to 10-year low in June, rebounded in July to a 5-month high. The report, which measures the month-over-month sale of previously owned homes, indicated sales of such homes increased 3.1 percent.   Bob Walters, […]

New Home Sales Rise: A Welcomed Sign for Housing   The sale of newly constructed homes in the month of July rose 2.4%, according to a report issued recently by the United States Census Bureau. This follows another report issued by the National Association of Realtors indicating that July sales of previously owned homes hit […]

Interest Rates: Will the Fed Hike Rates?   Even as they grappled with inflation worries, most Federal Reserve officials at their August meeting didn’t believe the Fed’s key interest rate was too low given harder-to-get credit conditions straining consumers and businesses alike.   The Fed, at its Aug. 5th meeting, decided to hold its key […]

Home Prices Down 7.6%   The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported recently that ‘Nationwide, the median existing single family home price plunged 7.6% to $206,500 in the second quarter, down from $223,500 in the same period of 2007. The median price represents the point at which half of all homes sold for more and […]