Archive for April, 2009
$1 billion a day for stimulus
$1 billion a day for stimulus
The federal government has made available more than $75 billion for stimulus projects in the 10 weeks since President Obama signed the $787 billion recovery package into law.
Source: $1 billion a day for stimulus
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Flu could derail fragile global economy
Flu could derail fragile global economy
A quick and extensive swine flu epidemic could derail a global economic recovery, and even prolong and deepen the worldwide recession, economists said Monday.
FDIC's Bair: No bank is too big to fail
FDIC’s Bair: No bank is too big to fail
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chief Sheila Bair reiterated calls for creating a system that would allow regulators to dismantle a large financial institution.
Hope In Declining Home Sales?
Hope In Declining Home Sales?
The National Association of Realtors announced last Thursday that sales of existing homes across the country sank by 3.0 percent during March, but the group still managed to find a silver lining to the downward movement. As much as I want to see a housing recovery, I’m not sure that their hopes are well founded.
According to the NAR, existing home sales fell in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million, a 3 percent decline from the previous month and a 7.1 percent drop from March 2008. The national median home price for existing homes-single family, condos, townhomes and co-ops- decreased 12.4 percent in the past year to its present $175,200. But the price was up 4.2 percent from February
Yet as the NAR sees a much larger percentage of business coming from first-time home buyers, they have hope that recent tax credit extensions and rock-bottom interest rates will keep things moving.
One the NAR website, President Charles McMillan said:
“The housing market always heals from the bottom up, and with large numbers of first-time buyers entering the market it will become a little easier for sellers to trade up or down, according to their needs.”
The NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yun had this to say:
“The share of lower priced home sales has trended up, indicating a return of many first-time buyers, which we also see in a parallel member survey. Sales in the upper price ranges remain stalled because of higher interest rates on jumbo loans.”
“Buyer traffic has been rising, and real estate offices are getting phone inquires about the tax credit,” he added. “By early summer we should be seeing a positive impact on home sales from record-low mortgage interest rates in addition to the stimulus provisions.”
As has been discussed before, those low interest rates are not available to everyone, and certainly not to all prospective first-time buyers. Whether or not the NAR sees the kind of summer uptick it is hoping for may depend more on credit standards and the availablility of mortgage credit for all buyers.
Source: Hope In Declining Home Sales?
Summers: 'Unremitting freefall' ended
Summers: ‘Unremitting freefall’ ended
Read full story for latest details.
Gas prices hold steady over past two weeks
Gas prices hold steady over past two weeks
Prices at the pump in the United States have held virtually still over the past two weeks, according to a survey published Sunday.
Covenants protect property values
Covenants protect property values
Covenants restrict land use, but building on raw land can pose its own set of financial obstacles.
HUD Secretary Donovan opens green roof at Washington DC Housing Authority's Regency House
HUD Secretary Donovan opens green roof at Washington DC Housing Authority’s Regency House
WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan yesterday joined Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty and other elected officials at the “Greening of Public Housing” event at the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA) property, Regency House in Northwest D.C. Secretary Donovan officially opened the building’s new “green” roof on Earth Day.
Source: http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr09-039.cfm
HUD awards nearly $28 million to public housing agencies across the country to promote self-sufficiency
HUD awards nearly $28 million to public housing agencies across the country to promote self-sufficiency
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded $27,960,860 million in grants to public housing agencies across the U.S. These agencies will use this funding to connect public housing residents with education, job training, employment services and homeownership counseling available in the local community to promote self-sufficiency.
Source: http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr09-037.cfm