Eye On Housing
The Federal Reserve Board recently released its Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households. The report provided results from the responses to the 2019 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), as well as from responses to a follow-up survey conducted in April 2020. Surveyed items included income, employment, dealing with expenses, banking and credit, housing, education, and retirement…. Read More ›
Due to the spreading economic damage caused by mitigation efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the Federal Reserve provided an immediate round of monetary policy stimulus. The policy announcement included: A cut in the federal funds rate to a top rate of 0.25% The discount rate was effectively lowered from 1.25% to 0.25% as a means of ensuring… Read More ›
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Application Survey shows a weekly increase in the Market Composite Index by 15.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis. The Refinance Index soared 26.0% from the previous week and the Purchase index decreased 2.7%. Looking at the Refinance series since its inception, the latest 10-week sprint of over 160% is the largest since January 2009 when… Read More ›
The third quarter 2019 Financial Accounts of the United States, the Federal Reserve’s flow of funds data, show the aggregate values of households’ assets and liabilities in the nation. Households’ real estate assets totaled $29.2 trillion and liabilities totaled $10.5 trillion, making homeowners’ equity $18.7 trillion or 64% of total household real estate. The data show a continuation of the… Read More ›
The Federal Reserve reduced the target range for the key, short-term federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a top rate of 1.75% at the conclusion of its October Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. This was the third cut in 2019, almost fully reversing a set of increases enacted in 2018. The FOMC views these enacted reductions as… Read More ›
The Federal Reserve’s latest G.19 Consumer Credit Report shows rising trends in consumer credit, excluding loans secured by real estate, through June 2019. As of June 30, 2019, consumer credit totaled $4.1 trillion on a seasonally adjusted basis, with $1.1 trillion in revolving debt1 and $3.0 trillion in nonrevolving debt2. This is an increase of $15 billion from the previous… Read More ›
At the conclusion of its May meeting, the Federal Reserve held the key, short-term federal funds rate steady, with a top rate of 2.5%. The decision was unanimous and widely expected, with members of the Federal Open Market Committee agreeing that while economic growth conditions remain “solid,” inflation pressures remain anchored. In fact, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the core… Read More ›
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed’s monetary policymaking body, held the federal funds rate steady at a top rate of 2.5% at the conclusion of its March meeting. This was no surprise for financial markets, as this approach had been telegraphed by the Fed in January. However, the Fed communicated two other elements that indicate that the central… Read More ›
The fourth quarter of 2018 Federal Reserve’s Flow of Funds report shows the market value of all owner-occupied residential real estate. A previous post referred to banks bracing for a tight lending environment in 2019, per the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, with banks expecting to tighten standards for all borrowers, including homeowners. However, homeowners can draw from their equity built… Read More ›
The latest data from the Federal Reserve Board’s G.19 Consumer Credit report show that all non-mortgage consumer credit, i.e., excluding loans secured by real estate, increased 5.0% in December, with revolving and nonrevolving credit increasing 2.0% and 6.0%, respectively. The current outstanding levels of debt, on a seasonally adjusted basis, are $1.04 trillion for revolving debt and $2.97 trillion for… Read More ›