Eye On Housing
“Most participants judged that if incoming data were consistent with economic growth picking up in the second quarter, labor market conditions continuing to strengthen, and inflation making progress toward the Committee’s 2 percent objective, then it likely would be appropriate for the Committee to increase the target range for the federal funds rate in June.” Interpreting the statement released at… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Federal Reserve’
Federal Open Market Committee April Meeting – Language Please
To no one’s surprise the FOMC left the federal funds rate unchanged; the language used to communicate the (non-)action hedged. The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting committee, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), concluded the April meeting and released the statement announcing no change in the federal funds rate, maintaining the current 0.25% to 0.50% target range. The statement went… Read More ›
Federal Open Market Committee March Meeting – Expect an April Freeze
The minutes from the March meeting of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting committee, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), provide details of the deliberations regarding assessments of the current state of the economy and the anticipated pace of future increases to the target range for federal funds rate. April is off the table, the funds rate will be frozen… Read More ›
Federal Open Market Committee March Meeting – Fed Funds Target Unchanged
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting committee, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), concluded the March meeting and in her post-meeting press conference Chair Janet Yellen announced no change in the target range for the federal funds rate. A second increase in March, following the initial increase in December, was widely expected by analysts after the December meeting, but expectations… Read More ›
Consumer Credit Grows on Student, Auto Loans
Consumer credit outstanding grew by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.6%, $126.5 billion, in the month of January 2016, 3.7 percentage points slower than the 7.3% rate of growth recorded in December 2015. Consumer credit outstanding now totals $3.544 trillion. According to the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Credit Report, the increase in total consumer credit outstanding reflected an expansion in the… Read More ›
Lending Standards on AD&C Financing Continue to Ease, but at a Moderately Slower Pace
Builders and developers continue to report easing credit standards for acquisition, development, and construction (AD&C) loans. However, the pace of easing has slowed somewhat from previous periods. According to NAHB’s Survey on Acquisition, Development & Construction Financing, 27.7% of survey respondents on net indicated that overall lending standards on AD&C loan availability had eased in the fourth quarter of 2015…. Read More ›
Federal Open Market Committee January Meeting – Who To Believe?
The minutes from the January meeting of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting committee, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), a more detailed account than the statement released immediately following the meeting, and traditionally released three weeks after the meeting, indicate an increase in the uncertainty surrounding current economic conditions and their implications for economic growth, labor market improvements and… Read More ›
Household Debt Outstanding Rises as Mortgage Debt Expands
Aggregate household debt outstanding totaled $12.116 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2015, 2.4%, $289 billion, greater than its level of one year ago. According to the report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, housing-related debt, mortgages and home equity lines of credit rose by a combined amount of 0.6%, $56 billion. The increase in housing-related debt outstanding reflected… Read More ›
Consumer Credit Expands in 2015
Consumer credit outstanding grew on a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.2% over the month of December and by 5.8% over the fourth quarter of 2015. Over the year of 2015, consumer credit outstanding expanded by 6.9%. There is now $3.55 trillion in outstanding consumer credit. Growth in the outstanding amount of consumer credit over the year partly reflected an… Read More ›
AD&C Credit Standards Tighten, Even as Outstanding Loan Amounts Rise
Credit standards on loan applications for construction and land development loans or credit lines tightened, on net, over the fourth quarter of 2015. According to the most recent iteration of the Federal Reserve Board’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, a net share of 12.7% said that lending standards at their respective commercial bank tightened. The net share represents the difference between… Read More ›