Economic growth is expected to climb to 2.9 percent this year, up from 2.4 percent in 2014, according to Fannie Mae's February 2015 Monthly Economic Outlook released on Thursday. Fannie Mae predicts this economic growth will boost the sluggish housing market into recovery.
Read More »Leading Economic Indicators Grow at Moderate Pace
Manufacturing growth slowed from December to January, according to an early February report from the Institute for Supply Management. Meanwhile, permits for future home construction dropped 0.7 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.05 million, the Commerce Department said.
Read More »Analyst Says Nation’s 5.6 Percent Unemployment Rate is Misleading
While the Obama Administration is touting monthly job gains consistently averaging more than 200,000 and a labor market that they say is at its healthiest level since the turn of the century, at least one analyst says that the recently reported national unemployment rate of 5.6 percent may not be telling the complete story.
Read More »Economists Predicting Good News for Job Market, Housing
A survey conducted among economists by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on economic growth in the United States released on Friday revealed that predictions have been revised upward for the labor market – which means good news for the economy and for housing recovery.
Read More »Treasury Secretary Lew Says More Wage Growth is Needed
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported last week that average hourly earnings increased by 12 cents from December to January ($24.63 to $24.75), but U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said on Monday more wage growth is needed.
Read More »Index Reports Modest Gains for Housing Markets in Q4
The latest National Association of Homebuilders/First American Leading Markets Index (NAHB/LMI) released Thursday found that markets in 63 out of 351 metropolitan areas nationwide (about 18 percent) matched or exceeded their normal levels of economic and housing activity in Q4 2014, according to an announcement from NAHB.
Read More »Unemployment Rate Falls, Payrolls Increase in Most Metro Areas
Continued labor market improvements may bode well for the housing market for the coming year, since housing relies on steady nationwide employment to flourish, according to some economists' predictions. The national unemployment rate continues to drop – December's rate of 5.4 percent is a decline of 1.1 percentage points from the same month a year earlier.
Read More »Economic Growth Slows as GDP Expansion for Q4 Falls Short of Economists’ Predictions
According to BEA, the slowdown mostly came from a rise in imports coupled with a decline in exports, a downturn in government spending, and decelerations in nonresidential fixed investment. Those weaknesses were offset by an upturn in private inventory investment and a pickup in consumer spending as falling gas prices left Americans with more discretionary income.
Read More »Obama Stresses Nation’s Economic Growth in State of the Union Address
"The shadow of crisis has passed, and the state of the union is strong," the president said early in his speech. The nation has experienced "the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled, and health care inflation at its lowest rate in fifty years," Obama said. Obama touted the past year as "a breakthrough year for America" as job growth outpaced any year since 1999 and unemployment fell below pre-crisis levels.
Read More »Freddie Mac: Households, Businesses Should Take Advantage of Positive Housing Opportunities While They Last
Freddie Mac cited a number of positive opportunities for housing to start 2015, but households and businesses should take advantage of them because those opportunities may be limited, according to the GSE's January 2015 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook released on Tuesday.
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