Good morning...
I hope you had a nice weekend. I still can't believe we're having
mid-Fall weather but I'm not complaining! Hopefully this doesn't
mean February is going to be the ice age.
On today's call: Markets, Housing, Interest Rates
- The Dow is down as we begin the week, amid continuing turmoil
in Europe, and the pending debt-restructuring of Greece. This
uncertainty is creating more volatility (as usual) in the markets.
And we're seeing a positive effect on interest rates in general.
Watch out for some much-anticipated unemployment figures
as analysts are hoping for some big gains, but we'll see...
- Case-Shiller has projected that home prices nationwide will
decrease by approximately 1%. I've read other estimates as
high as 7%. Sales activity picked up in the 4th quarter of 2011
but the stabilization is still shaky due to foreclosures. The C-S
Index also projects home prices to increase by almost 4%
in 2013, so there's some good news! Now if the banks can
figure out a way to bring their homes back to market quickly,
with options to buy quickly, the recovery will be more swift. I
know I've said that before, but it's really the thorn in housing
and it's not going to go away unless this is figured out.
- Interest rates are looking just as good as the end of last week.
The 30 year fixed rate is back under 4%. The 30 year Jumbo
is around 4.375%. And ARM's dropped again, now hovering
in the 2.5%-3.375% range for both conventional and Jumbo.
Thanks and have a good week...
(Until further notice, if you need to contact me, you can do so at
jpmarzano3@gmail.com or at 312-623-8099 or 312-608-1555)
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