Tag Archives: Jobs

In his speech Tuesday night, the president only directly mentioned housing twice: first to describe the market as "rebounding" and again to demand from Congress "legislation that protects the taxpayers from footing the bill for a housing crisis ever again." While the second might be seen as a nod toward legislative movements to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the topic wasn't explored any further. Instead, much of Obama's focus went toward addressing wage stagnation.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased again in January, continuing December's rebound from months of declines. According to the group, the index rose 3.2 points to a reading of 80.7 in January. December's original reading was revised down from the originally reported 78.1 to 77.5. January's increase puts the index just above the 80.2 reading reported before the government shutdown in October. "All in all, confidence appears to be back on track," said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board.

In its latest forecast, analytics firm Veros Real Estate Solutions predicts home prices will rise on average 5.1 percent for the nation's top 100 metro areas. The company's previous 2014 projections, released last quarter, called for 4.8 percent growth. "The future HPI [Home Price Index] forecast continues to show good appreciation, but the markets appear to be topping out for now," said Eric Fox, Veros' VP of statistical and economic modeling and author of the company's VeroFORECAST.

The housing market has made great strides in recovering from the problems that ail it, but there are still major improvements that have to occur before it's back up to full health, Freddie Mac says in its latest Economic and Housing Market Outlook. The GSE's outlook focuses on four things the market needs to see before it can say the crisis is well and truly behind it: a healthy jobs market, mortgage delinquencies back down to historical averages, home prices consistent with payment-to-income ratios, and home sales more in line with historical norms.

In a conversation Thursday hosted by the Brookings Institution, outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended the Fed's easy money policies, dismissing concerns of out of control inflation and capital losses. He also eased worries about the long-term effects of the financial crisis--including the impact of unemployment on labor supply and productivity--saying that while they are a problem, none of issues are "truly permanent."

The markets that were worst hit in the housing crisis remain among the top performers in the recovery, according to Trulia.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released Friday its Employment Situation Report, revealing job growth well below consensus forecasts. According to the government report, the U.S. economy added 74,000 jobs last month. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dropped 0.3 percentage points to 6.7 percent, reflecting a precipitous drop in the labor force. BLS' report shows the labor force participation rate falling 0.2 percentage points to 62.8 percent.

More than 35 percent of the more than 350 metro markets tracked in the NAHB's Leading Markets Index are performing at 90 percent or higher of their pre-housing crisis norms.

With investment activity diminishing and mortgage-dependent buyers returning, economists at Capital Economics say the housing market can look forward to a more moderate pace of price increases.

Consumer confidence saw a boost in December on heightened optimism for the job market, the Conference Board reported.