Posts with tag federal reserve

California has hit a record for buyers striking all cash deals for houses, particularly on the ultra-high end. Apparently, some 31 percent of all buyers in California paid cash -- and the higher up you go in the price category, the greater that percentage. For example, 62.2 percent of people buying homes worth at least $5... Continue Reading »

Looking back on 2010, the year in real estate was, in a word, terrible. Property values continued to fall, foreclosures rose, and even the lowest interest rates in 50 years seemed to have little positive effect on the property market. For U. S. real estate, 2010 was the year of failed government intervention where nothing... Continue Reading »

Interest rates can't stay low forever -- but mortgage watchers now expect rates under 5 percent for the next year, thanks in part to "quantitative easing," the latest scheme from the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was just 4.23 percent with a 0.8 percent... Continue Reading »

Now that the housing market is bottoming out in many areas of country and even showing some signs of recovery, is strategic default a passing phase or still worth considering? The San Francisco Federal Reserve concludes that the default point "depends on a borrower's expectations regarding future house price changes and... Continue Reading »

Just when you thought the housing market was out of the woods, a trusted financial sage delivered a scorched-earth assessment. Former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker abandoned a speech to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago at the last minute yesterday to deliver an impromptu rant on the sorry state of the economy.... Continue Reading »