News & Commentary: Economy Articles
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11/01/2006
Once property prices come down to more suitable levels, households and investors should get back into the real estate game. That might not be too much longer.
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10/01/2006
Certainly no one wants to see price adjustments dipping into negative territory—as they already are for condos in many markets that were seeing boom times a year ago—but we need cooling prices today to give buyers a chance to get back into the market.
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09/01/2006
It’s a scenario that seems to defy economic rules, yet we’re seeing it in many real estate markets around the country: Sales prices are rising even as home demand slows.
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08/01/2006
The Federal Reserve faces a daunting task over the next several months as it tries to keep inflation at bay without pulling the rug out from under our economy’s pillar of strength over the last several years, home ownership.
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07/01/2006
While economists appear to have breathed a sigh of relief at the Federal Reserve's possible pause in raising short term interest rates, inflation could reignite with an uptick in jobs. But don’t panic — a strong job market is a good thing for housing.
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07/01/2006
Faced with the prospect of home sales cooling through the end of this year, it’s tempting to pine for the boom of the last five years, when we saw home sales volume and price appreciation jump 33 percent and 42 percent, respectively, over the period on a nationwide basis. Resist the temptation.
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06/01/2006
The housing boom is certainly cooling, but it’s also spawning a mini boom in markets that had been on the margins.
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05/01/2006
The latest housing and business indicators for the real estate market.
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05/01/2006
In case you missed it in the national media, the Chicago Board Options Exchange in March announced the launch of housing futures contracts using NAR’s monthly existing-home sales data.
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04/01/2006
Is real estate brokerage a financial or a commercial activity? The importance of this question was highlighted once again when the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released its letters permitting Bank of America to build a hotel, PNC Bank to build a mixed-use project, and Union Bank to take an equity position in a wind energy facility.
