From the category archives:

Economy

SubPrime Mortgages Explained

April 19, 2008

I have read a lot about the subprime mortgage crisis, and found most of the explanations a little hard to get my head around.
A friend e-mailed me a link to a presentation (hosted on Google Apps), that I feel, does the best job of explaining the whole subprime mess.
Warning: The presentation does contain adult language, [...]

Read the full article →

View Foreclosure Rates Visually

April 11, 2008

Real Estate site HotPads has an interesting (and frightening) display option that allows you to view heat maps of foreclosures, by neighborhood, in cities throughout the United States.
Here is a screen shot of the Atlanta metropolitan area:
 
And here is Phoenix:

The red colors indicate a higher foreclosure rate per household, while blue indicates a lower [...]

Read the full article →

Late Payments On Consumer Loans Reach 16 Year High

April 6, 2008

A recently released survey from the American Bankers Association shows consumer loan delinquencies have reached a 16 year high.
Loans at least 30 days past due in in the most recent quarter totaled 2.65%. This is the highest level of delinquency since 1992, when delinquencies totaled 2.75%.
Source: USA Today – Late payments on consumer loans [...]

Read the full article →

Raising A Child Born In 2007 Will Cost $269,040!

March 26, 2008

Interesting article from Yahoo News citing a US Department of Agriculture study:
Middle-income families can expect to spend $204,060 on feeding, housing and schooling a child born in 2007 until his or her 18th birthday, the U.S. government reported on Monday.
Housing will be the single largest cost for U.S. families — making up 33 to [...]

Read the full article →

Map of US States Compared to World Economies

February 29, 2008

I found this map on the Carpe Diem Blog comparing the economies all US States to  the GDP of various world economies.  For instance, the economic output of Texas is roughly equivalent to the GDP of Brazil.
It helps to put into perspective how truly rich this country is.

Read the full article →

New Home Sales Down 26% in 2007

January 29, 2008

The New York Times is reporting that sales of new homes fell by 26% last year.  This is the biggest drop since the US government began keeping records in 1963.
Prices are also declining.  The December median new home price declined 10.9% from a year ago, to $219,200.  For the full year, new homes did manage [...]

Read the full article →

Details of Proposed Economic Stimulus Bill

January 24, 2008

Photo: Susan Walsh, AP
UPDATE: The House and Senate have passed the final version of the Stimulus Bill. You can read the details in this post: Details on Final Stimulus Bill.
Congress and President Bush appear to have made a final agreement on the contents of the forthcoming economic stimulus bill.
Highlights:

Tax rebates of at least $300 [...]

Read the full article →

Home Prices Still Have Room to Fall

January 5, 2008

A study featured in the January 3, 2008 edition of The Wall Street Journal indicates that national housing prices would need to fall by 15% over the next five years, while rents would need to increase by 4% per year in order for the historical relationship between the two to return to a normal level.
The [...]

Read the full article →

Mortgage Demand Lowest of 2007

December 27, 2007

Interesting Reuters report featured in USA Today’s money section:
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted mortgage application index fell 7.6% in the week ended Dec. 21 to 603.8 — its lowest reading since falling to 575.6 in the Dec. 29, 2006 week.
Source: USA Today

Read the full article →

Next Entries →