Monthly Archives: July 2006

From the Herald News: North Jersey feels housing market chill By HEATHER HADDON During the past several years of record-low mortgage interest rates, many homeowners secured disposable income to cover their bills or make purchases by refinancing or taking home-equity … Continue reading →

GDP for Q2 came in at 2.5%, significantly lower than Q1 and consensus estimates. Core inflation up 2.3% YOY, an 11 year high, core PCE up 2.9%, a 12 year high. From Bloomberg: U.S. Second-Quarter Gross Domestic Product Grew at … Continue reading →

From the Trentonian: Town lowers boom on aliens The southern New Jersey community of Riverside has banned the hiring and housing of undocumented immigrants. The Township Council unanimously approved the “Illegal Immigration Relief Act,’’ making renting or leasing property to … Continue reading →

Up for discussion today is: New Home Sales May: 1,234K May Revised: 1,166K June Estimate: 1,164K June Actual: 1,131K New home sales fall more than expected in June Sales of new U.S. homes fell more than expected in June to … Continue reading →

From the Daily Record: Waiting for Corzine: Property tax speech is talk of the town State senators and assembly members won’t be the only ones interested in what Gov. Jon Corzine has to say about property taxes when he addresses … Continue reading →

From Reuters: Mortgage lenders grapple with deflating housing bubble Downward momentum in the U.S. housing market is leading some of America’s biggest mortgage lenders to adapt business plans for even softer demand. The lenders are launching new cost cuts and … Continue reading →

From the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco: July Beige Book Real Estate and Construction (National) With only scattered exceptions, Districts reported slower activity in residential real estate markets. For new and existing homes, available reports indicated that the pace … Continue reading →

From CNN/Money: Most overpriced home markets After years of local home markets getting more and more overvalued, the trend has reversed, according to an analyis published this week. Each quarter, Local Market Monitor, which provides research to the real estate … Continue reading →

A bit out of the target area of this blog, but a good piece nonetheless. From the Washington Post: After 5 Years of Growth, Home Prices Drop In what may be the most telling sign yet that the real estate … Continue reading →

From Reuters: US home loan demand eases for 2nd straight week U.S. mortgage applications fell for a second consecutive week, reflecting a drop in demand for home purchase loans, an industry trade group said on Wednesday, adding evidence of softening … Continue reading →

From the Home News Tribune: Slow home sales aid buyers By KEN TARBOUS With sales of existing homes falling last month for the eighth time in the past 10 months and home prices nationwide edging up at the slowest pace … Continue reading →

From the Record: 44 acres and a vision By SHAWN BOBURG A national real estate development company is moving to buy 44 acres of underused industrial land along Overpeck Creek in a bid to carry out the borough’s plan for … Continue reading →

From the FDIC: FDIC Summer Outlook 2006(PDF) The U.S. mortgage market, which for decades was dominated by fixed-rate mortgages, now includes innovations such as nontraditional mortgages, simultaneous secondlien (or piggyback) mortgages, and no-documentation or low-documentation loans.10 Nontraditional mortgages allow borrowers … Continue reading →

This commentary on appraisal inflation comes to us from Jonathan Miller at Matrix. For those who are not familiar with Mr. Miller, he is the President/CEO of the Manhattan-based real estate appraisal firm, Miller Samuel. No Smoking Gun: Appraisal Inflation … Continue reading →

From the National Association of Realtors: Existing-Home Sales Flattening, Prices Cooling – NAR Existing-home sales were down modestly in June, and home prices were up slightly from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Total existing-home sales … Continue reading →