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by: Dave.Macklin on May 16, 2008 @ 3:17 pm Leave a comment »
Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey®. Virginia Beach interest rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.01 percent, down from last week when it averaged 6.05 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.15 percent.
"Recent remarks by Federal Reserve (Fed) officials, which partly bolstered optimism that financial markets will recover later this year, helped mortgage rates ease up a little this week," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "Fed Chairman Bernanke indicated in a speech on May 13th that the Fed stands ready to continue to add liquidity to the markets. On the same day, San Francisco Fed bank president Janet Yellen added that she anticipates inflation will slow as commodity prices level off in the second half of the year. "Despite the bleak housing market, there was positive news on the overall state of the economy. Retail sales (excluding automobiles) rose 0.5 percent in April, over twice that of market forecasts, and there was a significant upward revision in March's figures as well. Also, the consumer price index for April rose less than expected, allaying some market concerns of inflation taking hold." 
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by: Dave.Macklin on May 09, 2008 @ 12:23 am Leave a comment »
Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey®in which Virginia Beach interest rates remained steady. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.05 percent for the week ending May 8, 2008, down very slightly from last week when it averaged 6.06 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.21 percent.
“Despite a weak housing market, mortgage rates remained almost unchanged this week based on better-than-expected economic data releases that indicated the economy still has some staying power,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Job losses lessened in April and conditions in both the manufacturing and service industry outperformed market forecasts. Worker productivity also rose in the first quarter as increases in labor costs diminished. “The housing market is still struggling amid falling house prices and stricter lending standards. Coupled with higher delinquency and foreclosure rates, a smaller share of families own their homes this year. The national homeownership rate held at 67.8 percent in the first quarter of 2008, down from its recent peak of 69.0 percent in the third quarter of 2006 and was the lowest rate since 67.6 percent in the second quarter of 2002, according to the Census Bureau.” Experts predict the Feds cut in interest rates last week is the last cut we will see for awhile due to a fear of inflation. With Virginia Beach interest rates holding steady and no additonal cut anticipated, this is a great time to buy a home in Virginia Beach. Interest rates are near historical lows, prices are flat and sellers are negotiable. Search Virginia Beach homes for sale or get New Listing Alerts and recieve email notification of new homes for sale as they hit the market.
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by: Dave.Macklin on May 08, 2008 @ 8:00 am Leave a comment »
Sounds unlikely, but it is very true! As this article in the Wall Street Journal explains, designers and architects are catering more and more toward this fast-growing segment of the population. New innovations include:
Redesigning products for aging consumers seems to make good business sense. There are 78 million U.S. baby boomers, and roughly one-third will be 62 years old or older by 2013, says AARP.
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We know that the Baby Boomers account for a large part of the Virginia Beach home owning population. But did you know that they may be the latest trend-setters in Virginia Beach real estate also? |
by: Dave.Macklin on May 05, 2008 @ 4:13 pm Leave a comment »
The expected happened last week: the Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 2%. Immediately afterwards, many commentators started wondering aloud if this was the end of a series of rate cuts that began last August. The growing consensus is that it could be. Markets are already betting that further cuts in the fed funds rate are unlikely, and more economists are warning of the unintended consequences of taking the rate down too far and keeping it there for too long. The chief unintended consequence is inflation, which continues to push higher. Consumer price inflation is running at an annual rate of 2.6%, while the core inflation rate, which excludes food and energy prices, is running at 2.2%. With oil prices rising to unprecedented levels and food prices surging, its only a matter of time before inflation challenges economic growth for top spot on the Feds priority list. On the day the Fed cut the fed funds rate, first quarter numbers for U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) were released. Contrary to widespread expectations for contraction, GDP actually grew during the quarter, albeit at a snail-like annual rate of 0.6%. Lest we get too excited, it should be noted that growth was almost entirely due to a build-up in inventories, which added 0.8 percentage points to the growth rate. Since such a build-up occurs when producers overestimate sales, the normal course of action is to cut production, which could mean slower growth in coming months.
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by: Dave.Macklin on Apr 30, 2008 @ 3:32 pm Leave a comment »
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