In the News
The Employment Situation for January – Moving In The Right Direction
Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:30:31 +0000
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Employment Situation report for January today. Annual revisions complicate the release, but the news is basically good. Payroll employment rose by 243 thousand in January, and the November and December figures were revised upward by a total of 60 thousand. The unemployment rate declined to 8.3 from [...]
Spending on Private Residential Construction Finishes Year on a High Note
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:52:20 +0000
According to the Census Bureau, total spending on private residential construction projects increased 0.8% during December. The initial estimate for November was revised measurably lower from an increase of 2% down to an outright decline of 0.3% (due primarily to a sizable downward revision to home improvement spending), while the reported growth rate for October [...]
Case-Shiller House Prices – A Little Perspective, Please
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:40:02 +0000
The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index was released with data through November, and the press release announced declines in the 10-city and 20-city composites, as well as most of the cities covered by the composites, on a monthly and annual basis. The problem is that these comparisons lack the perspective required to accurately describe current [...]
An Aging Housing Stock
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:08:06 +0000
The American owner-occupied housing stock is growing older. And this fact may signal future increased demand for both remodeling and new home construction over the long-term. Data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS) reveal that the median age of an owner-occupied home in the United States was 34 years old [...]
Fourth Quarter GDP Growth – Advance Estimate: Encouraging
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:17:58 +0000
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released the advance estimate of real GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2011. Real GDP grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.8 percent, up from 1.8 percent in the third quarter. The main contributors were private inventory investment and personal consumption expenditures (PCE). Declines in government [...]
