Home prices finally hit a bottom in 2012. So will 2013 be the year of recovery or relapse? Potential buyers now have something they haven’t had in a long time: urgency (save for a few months when the government was paying people to buy homes with a first-time home-buyer tax credit). This next year will
BEST MARKET FOR NEWLY BUILT HOMES SINCE THE BOOM
Confidence among U.S. homebuilders inched up this month, to the highest level in more than six and a half years, as builders reported the best market for newly built homes since the housing boom. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Tuesday increased 2 points to 47 from a revised 45
GEORGIA UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS TO 8.5% – 4 YEAR LOW
State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler says Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped due to more job growth and fewer layoffs. Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined to 8.5 percent in November, down two-tenths of a percentage point from 8.7 percent in October, according to a Georgia Department of Labor report released early Thursday. The rate was 9.5
HOUSING MOBILITY RATE REBOUNDS
The U.S. Census finds that a greater percentage of Americans moved residences this year compared to 2011’s record low. Slightly more Americans changed residences in 2012 compared to last year, according to data released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2012, 36.5 million Americans (age 1 year and older, to be precise) moved,
U.S. MORTGAGE APPLICATION VOLUME UP 5.9% LAST WEEK
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL MARKET WATCH BY Nathalie Tadena REPORTS…… The total number of mortgage applications filed in the U.S. last week rose 5.9% from the prior week as interest rates generally declined, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. The refinance index jumped 8% from the previous week, according to the MBA’s weekly survey, which
GEN Y: MEET THE NEXT 1 PERCENTERS
BUSINESS NEWS DAILY REPORTS THE …. THE High-rolling members of Gen Y will soon be the mainstay of marketers of luxury products and services, a new study shows. The affluent segment of these millennials (those ages 18-34, living in households that earn more than $100,000 in annual income) already has the largest current spending for
CONSUMER ATTITUDES ON HOUSING CONTINUE GRADUAL UPWARD TREND
Americans’ Overall Economic Sentiment Shows Marked Improvement, Some Areas Post Record Highs WASHINGTON, DC – Results from Fannie Mae’s September 2012 National Housing Survey show Americans’ optimism about the recovery of the housing market and with regard to homeownership continued its gradual climb, bolstered by a series of mortgage rate decreases experienced throughout the summer.
NEW HOME PRICES TURN THE CORNER BUT ITS ALL ABOUT LOCATION, LOCATION LOCATION
National Housing Market New Home prices have turned the corner and forces are driving rising prices in the foreseeable future. In this article, we discuss these forces and reveal the trends that are not evident to those who rely only on publicly-available data to form their views on home prices. The popular aggregate price indices
FORBES RANKS GEORGIA TOP 10 STATES FOR BUSINESS
FORBES REPORTS Atlanta Business Chronicle by Jacques Couret, Senior Online Editor Date: Wednesday, December 12, 2012, 3:44pm EST Georgia moved up three spots to No. 8 on Forbes’ annual “Best State for Business” list. Forbes compiled the list using six vital categories: costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of
ATLANTA HOUSING DEMAND RISES
ATLANTA HOUSING DEMAND ON THE RISE…. Atlanta Business Chronicle by Jacques Couret, Senior Online Editor Date: Thursday, November 1, 2012, 1:41pm EDT Housing demand now outpaces supply in metro Atlanta and demand is expected to continue to grow with unemployment waning, Metrostudy reported Thursday. Housing demand now outpaces supply in metro Atlanta and demand is