The Federal Reserve Board seems to have confidence in the US economy continuing to improve. Because of this, they voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged for the 16th time in a row.
In their press release, the Fed said that since it's meeting in November 2011, the U.S economy has been "expanding moderately" despite all the European issues of the past few weeks. So, for the time being, interest rates continue to hang around all time lows. It is still a great time to buy or refinance your house to capture these low rates!
The National Association of Realtors released data yesterday showing that existing home sales nationally were down 3% for the month of September. Even though sales were down, the numbers were still above the levels from September 2010. In the South, home sales for September were actually 10% above the levels from one year ago.
It is important to recognize the overall picture when looking at these numbers. While things could be better, they could also be much worse. It appears we are doing better than last year. Let's hope for a strong finish in the next few months as 2011 draws to a close.
According to the Alabama Center for Real Estate (ACRE), June residential home sales in Alabama experienced an 11.9% increase from the prior month. This is a move in the right direction for the local housing industry. The sales transactions were supported by displaced homeowners finding a place to live after the devastating storms that hit our state in April.
The big picture is that the Alabama market out gained the national numbers, where the overall US market showed a decline of 0.8% for June. We will see what happened in July in a few weeks and determine if this growth will continue.
In the first half of 2011, foreclosure rates have fallen in more than 84% of U.S. metro areas according to RealtyTrac. These numbers can be misleading though as most of these markets are not seeing the recovery they would like in the real estate sector.
What the numbers do tell us is that the foreclosure pipelines in these cities continue to be clogged as the banks follow all the proper protocols with foreclosure paperwork, delaying many foreclosure filings. This can help homeowners as they are getting a little more time to get their finances in order and hopefully figure out a plan to pay their mortgage.
The news concerning the June Employment Report released on Friday is not very positive. The economy continues to have issues creating enough jobs to lower unemployment figures. In fact, the unemployment rate increased in June to 9.2%, the highest level since December 2010.
The findings in the report cause red flags concerning the recovery of our economy. We seem to be in a stagnant position right now, not the growth and recovery position that many would like. It will take time to see where we go from here - slipping backwards into a slowdown or bouncing back to a healthy, growing economy.
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