Thursday, January 03, 2008

The San Diego Union Tribune - "Three-month T-bill rate hits six-week high" (1-1-08)

"The Treasury Department auctioned $20 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 3.310 percent, up from 3.280 percent last week. An additional $19 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 3.390 percent, down from 3.490 percent last week."


The San Diego Union Tribune - "Existing home sales keep sluggish pace" (1-1-08)

"Sales of previously owned homes nudged up in November, but that didn't improve the broader picture of a feeble housing market hit by record-high foreclosures and harder-to-get credit. The National Association of Realtors reported yesterday that sales of existing single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses rose 0.4 percent in November from October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million units."

Seeking Alpha - "Bad Housing Predictions of 2007" (1-1-08)

"'Although residential construction continues to sag, some indications suggest that the rate of home purchase may be stabilizing, perhaps in response to modest declines in mortgage interest rates over the past few months and lower prices in some markets,' Bernanke said."

San Luis Obispo - "Homebuilding permits slump as sales decline" (1-1-08)

"Home sales aren’t the only thing that slowed this year. Fewer residential building permits — nearly 1,000 — were issued throughout the county in 2007 than in any year since 1995, according to the Home Builders Association of the Central Coast. That figure represents a 32 percent drop in permits from the same period last year when there were 1,461 permits issued."

CNBC - "
More Aid Needed for Housing Market: White House" (1-1-08)

"Early last month, President George W. Bush unveiled a plan to help some homeowners avoid foreclosures as some 1.8 million mortgages with low starter interest rates are due to reset to sharply higher rates this year. Ed Gillespie, counselor to Bush, pointed to efforts by the U.S. Congress to overhaul the Federal Housing Administration program developed in 1934 amid the Great Depression and designed to make home ownership more affordable. Members of the House of Representatives and Senate have been trying to work out a compromise plan."

No comments: