Current Mortgage Rates and Home Sale Prices

Current Mortgage Rates

What is the date today?

Is this August 27, 2009 or August 27, 2005? Maybe this is back to the future.

I thought we were in the middle of a recession yet if you read a lot of the headlines, you may not know it,  if we haven’t been living through what was one of the worst economic down cycles since the great depression of the 20′s and 30′s

Today the Commerce Department reported new home sales for July 2009 hit a 10 month high and while the numbers were down 13.4 % from July of 2008, it was the largest one month increase (9.6%) since February 2005. It was stated the sales pace was the highest since September 2008 and higher than the experts predicted it would be.

Yesterday the national S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index reported home prices increased for the 2nd quarter ending June 30, 2009.  After 3 years of quarterly declines in home prices, this was the first quarter over quarter improvement.

Prices were still down 14.9% compared to the 2nd quarter of 2008 yet The Case-Shiller 20-city index rose quarter-over-quarter by 1.4%. This lead says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. to state “We’re seeing some positive signs” and Pat Newport, a real estate analyst for IHS Global Insight to proclaim”
This is great news; prices may be starting to grow again, Three independent sources, the National Association of Realtors, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Case Shiller are showing price improvement.”

ABC News reported on Tuesday that its U.S. consumer confidence index edged up to a three month high in the latest week, although it still stands at historically low levels.

So, today August 27, 2009,

New home sales are up which bodes well for builders, contractors, skilled laborers. Existing home sales are up which bodes well for, realtors, mortgage companies, home improvement stores, appliance makers, furniture stores. 

Case Shiller index reports home prices are up and increasing in 13 out of the 20 cities it uses in the survey which bodes well for home sellers.

Consumer confidence is up which bodes well for retailers, restaurants entertainment industry, current mortgage rates are still at historically low levels which bodes well for home buyers, also home sellers, realtors.

The stock market is at or near it’s high for 2009 which bodes well for anyone who still has a 401k, IRA or other form of pensions tied to the market, investors in general and the economy on the whole.

First Time Home Buyer Credit

There is still 3 months, 3 days left to take advantage of the Federal governments 8k first time home buyer credit.  

I have a strong inclination this credit is one of the major driving forces behind this recovery and all that is mentioned above. Let’s all hope and pray (although I wouldn’t count on it) The federal Government will decide to extend and possible hopefully expand on the credit before it is set to expire
and the recent events of the past few weeks, the last month is a preview of back to the future.