Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Sales of Central Texas homes fell 10 percent in January, the seventh month in a row that year-over-year sales dropped. But prices rose, and Austin’s market is in better shape than the nation overall.
The 1,321 sales last month were a two-year low, based on data from the Austin Board of Realtors. […]

 
Mortgage Rates Rise on Inflation Concerns
Fed Chief Bernanke told politicians that the Fed stands ready to cut rates as needed to stimulate the economy. The politicians approved of faster economic growth, but mortgage investors worried that the stimulus could lead to higher inflation and pushed mortgage rates to the highest levels since January 2. According […]

Fed Officials Highlight Divergent Risks
With a light schedule of economic events, investors focused on a stream of Fed officials making appearances last week, and two conflicting themes emerged. Thursday, the Fed’s Fisher emphasized that the risk of higher future inflation remains a concern, and mortgage rates rose after his comments. Friday, however, the Fed’s Yellen […]

With mortgage defaults surging and politicians urging the industry to do more, six lenders agreed to widen their effort to help borrowers of all loans — not just subprime.
The plan, called Project Lifeline, is to be announced Tuesday by the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a person familiar with the […]

Existing home sales dropped 8 percent in ‘07 - 1/23/2008
(Austin-Round Rock: Housing)

(Austin) - Austin area existing home sales fell 8 percent last year as the market continues to struggle with the decline in the U.S. housing sector. A total of 25,151 existing homes were sold in the market last year, down 8 percent from 2006, […]

Mortgage Rates Hit Lows but End Higher
Returning from a long weekend, investors were greeted on Tuesday with the surprising news that the Fed had lowered the Fed Funds rate by a huge three quarters of a point. What followed was two days of extreme swings in financial markets as investors tried to figure out how […]

 Market Statistics

Report Shows Slower Pace for Home Sales in Central Texas as Prices Continue to Rise
January 23, 2008 - According to the latest Multiple Listing Service (MLS) report, single-family home sales in December were lower than during the same period in 2006. The median sales price for homes in Central Texas grew 8 percent.
“Austin area […]

What’s in store
for 2008?
The outlook for the residential real estate market.
It’s common knowledge that economists were put on earth to make the weatherman look good. Even so, the Federal Reserve rarely admits just how challenging economic forecasts are. But in a meeting last December, they acknowledged that “the situation is quite fluid and the economic outlook is […]

  
Economic Data Moves Rates Lower
Weaker than expected economic data moved mortgage rates modestly lower during the week. Slower economic growth reduces concerns for future inflation, which generally leads to lower mortgage rates. Indications of decreased economic growth were found in Friday’s Employment report. While the consensus was for a gain of 75K new jobs in […]