A couple of quotes from Kathleen Pender at the San Francisco Chronicle: Little support for new home-buyer tax credit “We are not advocating another one. We think it’s important for the market to have time to recover on its own,” says Walter Molony, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors.…
Hotel occupancy is one of several industry specific indicators I follow … From HotelNewsNow.com: STR: Chain scales report weekly increases Overall, the industry’s occupancy increased 10.6% to 60.1%, ADR rose 2.4% to US$96.50, and revenue per available room increased 13.2% to US$57.98. The following graph shows the four week moving…
Here is a graph from the Council of Foreign Relations blog: Greek Debt Crisis – Apocalypse Later Click on graph for larger image in new window. This graph from Paul Swartz at the CFR shows the default probabilities on three different dates: On April 30th, no European plan was yet…
The summertime swoon in U.S. mortgage rates continues this week, with averages for home loans falling to yet another record low. Click to enlarge Rates began to inch downwards in June, falling 0.37 of a percentage point in 11 weeks in which the 30-year average either set or met…
From the NAR: Pending Home Sales Rise The Pending Home Sales Index … rose 5.2 percent to 79.4 based on contracts signed in July from a downwardly revised 75.5 in June, but remains 19.1 percent below July 2009 when it was 98.1. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which…
Note: Sales in August 2009 were boosted by “Cash-for-clunkers”. From MarketWatch: GM August U.S. sales down 24.9% to 185,176 units General Motors Co. said Wednesday that U.S. sales in August slumped 24.9% to 185,176 vehicles from 246,479 in August 2009. Note: in August 2009 U.S. light vehicle sales were 14.1…
Note: the ISM PMI increased to 56.3 from 55.5 in July (I’ll have more later). Overall construction spending decreased in July. Click on graph for larger image in new window. This graph shows private residential and nonresidential construction spending since 1993. Note: nominal dollars, not inflation adjusted. From the Census…
ADP reports : Private sector employment decreased by 10,000 from July to August on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report® released today. The estimated change of employment from June to July was revised down slightly, from the previously reported increase of 42,000 to an…
The MBA reports: Mortgage Applications Increase as Rates Hit New Low in MBA Weekly Survey The Refinance Index increased 2.8 percent from the previous week and is at its highest level since May 1, 2009. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1.8 percent from one week earlier. … “Refinancing activity…
Tom Lawler reports that at the end of August, listings on Realtor.com totaled 4,007,860, down 0.7% from 4,038,133 at the end of July. This is 2.5% above August 2009. The NAR reported inventory at 3.98 million at the end of July, and at 3.924 million in August 2009. So they…