and another sign! Consumer spending rose in December, the sixth straight monthly increase, the Commerce Department reported Monday. Households saw their incomes rise 0.4 percent, the same as November.
The number of signed contracts to buy previously owned homes rose in December for a third month.
The index of pending home resales climbed 2 percent, more than forecast, after a revised 3.1 percent gain the prior month, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey called for a 1 percent increase.
todays news that Consumer Confidence Index hits 8-month high, but Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index fell 1 percent in November. 40% of those sold were distressed properties, ie: bank or FNMA owned.
The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index climbed to 60.6 this month, up from 53.3 in December.
FSBO.com feels as the banks drop their prices and consumer/investor confidence increases the end is near. As mentioned before, you won’t know it until the 2nd or 3rd inning.
The percentage of businesses expecting to increase payrolls in the next six months exceeded the share projecting more firings by 35 points, the most since the question was first asked in 1998, according to a survey by the National Association for Business Economics issued today in Washington. Sixty-two percent of respondents planned to boost spending on new equipment this year, up from 48 percent in the October survey.
Foreclosures and employment have been the road blocks to a real estate recovery, little by little more good news comes out.
This week major banks report on 4th qtr 2010 earnings and business news. So far most report improvement in loan loss & defaults.
Wells Fargo, said “29 percent fewer loans went bad in the last three months of 2010 than the year before. And late payments on loans considered likely to default declined for the first time since 2008.”
This is a huge step towards lower inventories by the end of 2011.
real estate problems are in the 7th inning and you won’t know the game is over until the 2nd or 3rd inning of the next game. 2010 saw over 1 million foreclosed properties and projections are 1.2 million in 2011. What you won’t see are the statistics of how fast the banks are reselling these properties. The pace has picked up quickly as buyers gain confidence and prices are extremely low. The first states (Michigan & California) to have problems are definitely seeing improvement. The rest of the country is soon to follow.