The ongoing supply shortages that are propping up home
\nprices in many metro areas caused pending home sales in
\nMay to slump for the third consecutive month, according
\nto the National Association of Realtors (NAR). None of
\nthe major regions saw an increase in contract activity
\nlast month. The Pending Home Sales Index, a
\nforward-looking indicator based on contract signings,
\ndecreased 0.8% to 108.5 in May from a downwardly
\nrevised 109.4 in April. The index is now 1.7% below a
\nyear ago, which marks the second straight annual
\ndecline and the most recent since November and December
\nof last year. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says
\nit’s clear the critically low inventory levels in much
\nof the country somewhat sidetracked the housing market
\nthis spring. “Monthly closings have recently been
\noscillating back and forth, but this thir d consecutive
\ndecline in contract activity implies a possible topping
\noff in sales,” he said. “Buyer interest is solid, but
\nthere is just not enough supply to satisfy demand.
\nProspective buyers are being sidelined by both limited
\nchoices and home prices that are climbing too fast.”
\nThe persistent housing shortages seen in several
\nmarkets are most severe, according to Yun, in the lower
\nprice ranges. That’s very apparent when looking at the%
\nchange in closings in May compared to a year ago. Sales
\nof homes under $100,000 last month were down 7.2% from
\nlast year and up only 2.0% for those between $100,000
\nand $250,000. In higher price brackets, sales expanded
\nincrementally all the way up to massive increases of
\n26.0% for homes priced between $750,000 and $1 million
\nand even more for those $1 million and up (29.1%).<\/p>\n
Weaker financial and economic confidence could also be
\nplaying a role in the slowdown in contract activity.
\nNAR’s quarterly Housing Opportunities and Market
\nExperience (HOME) survey, released earlier this week,
\nfound that fewer renters think it’s a good time to buy
\na home, and respondents overall are less confident
\nabout the economy and their financial situation than
\nearlier this year. “The lack of listings in the
\naffordable price range are creating lopsided conditions
\nin many areas where investors and repeat buyers with
\nlarger down payments are making up a bulk of the sales
\nactivity,” said Yun. “Meanwhile, many prospective
\nfirst-time buyers can’t catch a break. Prices are going
\nup and there’s intense competition for the homes
\nthey’re financially able to purchase.” Existing-home
\nsales are forecast to be around 5.63 million this year,
\nan increase of 3.2% from 2016 (5.45 million). The
\nnation al median existing-home price this year is
\nexpected to increase around 5%. In 2016, existing sales
\nincreased 3.8% and prices rose 5.1%.”A much higher
\nshare of homeowners compared to a year ago think now is
\na good time to sell1, but until they do, sales will
\nlikely stay flat and low inventory will keep price
\ngrowth moving swiftly,” said Yun.The PHSI in the
\nNortheast decreased 0.8% to 96.4 in May, but remains
\n3.1% above a year ago. In the Midwest the index was
\n104.5 in May (unchanged from April), and is 2.8% lower
\nthan May 2016. Pending home sales in the South declined
\n1.2% to an index of 123.4 in May and are now 1.4% below
\nlast May. The index in the West subsided 1.3% in May to
\n98.6, and is now 4.5% below a year ago.<\/p>\n
ABC News has settled a defamation lawsuit filed by the
\nmaker of a processed-meat product that critics dubbed
\n\u201cpink slime,\u201d bringing to a close a high-profile legal
\ntest of so-called food-libel laws intended to shield
\nthe food-production industry from bogus food-safety
\nscares. Terms of the settlement weren\u2019t announced. Beef
\nProducts Inc. sued ABC News, anchor Diane Sawyer and
\nreporter Jim Avila in 2012 for $1.9 billion, over a
\nseries of stories about its lean, finely textured beef
\nproduct\u2014what critics dubbed \u201cpink slime\u201d\u2014claiming it
\nwas the victim of journalistic hit job that harmed its
\nbusiness. A judge dismissed the claims against Ms.
\nSawyer before the start of the jury trial, which began
\nearlier this month in South Dakota. Due to a South
\nDakota food-libel law that triples damages against
\ntho se found to have knowingly lied about the safety of
\na food product, ABC News was facing, potentially, $6
\nbillion in damages. Beef Products, a family-owned South
\nDakota meat processor, said in a Wednesday statement
\nthe settlement validated that lean, finely textured
\nbeef, made from defatted beef trimmings in a process
\ninvolving ammonium hydroxide, was safe. \u201cWhile this has
\nnot been an easy road to travel, it was necessary to
\nbegin rectifying the harm we suffered as a result of
\nwhat we believed to be biased and baseless reporting in
\n2012,\u201d Beef Products said. \u201cThrough this process, we
\nhave again established what we all know to be true
\nabout Lean Finely Textured Beef: it is beef, and is
\nsafe, wholesome, and nutritious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mortgage applications decreased 6.2% from one week
\nearlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers
\nAssociation’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey
\nfor the week ending June 23, 2017. The Market Composite
\nIndex, a measure of mortgage loan application volume,
\ndecreased 6.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one
\nweek earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index
\ndecreased 7% compared with the previous week. The
\nRefinance Index decreased 9% from the previous week.
\nThe seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4%
\nfrom one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index
\ndecreased 5% compared with the previous week and was 8%
\nhigher than the same week one year ago. The refinance
\nshare of mortgage activity decreased to 45.6% of total
\napplications from 46.6% the previous week. The
\nadjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of acti vity
\ndecreased to 7.0% of total applications. The FHA share
\nof total applications increased to 10.3% from 10.1% the
\nweek prior. The VA share of total applications
\ndecreased to 10.3% from 10.4% the week prior. The USDA
\nshare of total applications remained unchanged at 0.7%
\nfrom the week prior.<\/p>\n
US equities traded higher on Wednesday as bank stocks
\nled the charge. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped
\n137 points with Goldman Sachs and Disney contributing
\nthe most gains.The S&P 500 advanced 0.7% with
\nfinancials rising 1.3% to lead advancers. The SPDR S&P
\nBank exchange-traded fund (KBE), which tracks large
\nbanks, spiked 1.7% higher as investors braced for the
\nrelease of the Federal Reserve’s stress test results.
\nAnalysts expect several big banks to come out of the
\ntest with substantial increases in return to
\nshareholders \u2014 potentially using cash reserves to pay
\nout more than 100% of their profits. As a result,
\nhigher figures would also reflect banks’ confidence in
\ntheir own financial health. Shares of JPMorgan Chase
\nand Goldman Sachs both climbed about 1%. Stocks also
\njumped after the European Central Bank tried to walk\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 back remarks made by ECB President Mario Draghi a day
\nearlier. A source familiar with Draghi’s knowledge told
\nReuters that Draghi intended to signal tolerance for a
\nperiod of weaker inflation, not an imminent policy
\ntightening. Draghi said Tuesday “the threat of deflation
\nis gone and reflationary forces are at play,” sending
\nthe euro to a one-year high against the dollar. The
\ncurrency pulled back from those levels on Wednesday
\nfollowing Reuters’ report.<\/p>\n
About two-thirds of the contractors who are struggling
\nwith the labor shortages gripping the construction
\nindustry say it has become a challenge to finish jobs
\non time, according to a new survey. More than one-third
\nof contractors said they are being forced to turn work
\ndown and 58% said they are putting in higher bids, said
\nthe survey sponsored by USG Corp. USG 2.80% and the US
\nChamber of Commerce. Three-quarters of those who said
\nthey are having difficulty finding skilled labor said
\nthey are simply asking their employees to work harder.
\n\u201cBasically they\u2019re just making people work harder as a
\nway to cope,\u201d said Steve Jones, senior director of
\nDodge Data & Analytics, which was the research partner
\nof USG and the Chamber on the project. The survey was
\nconducted as part of the development of a new economic
\nindicator launche d earlier this month named the USG +
\nUS Chamber of Commerce Commercial Construction Index.
\nIt was designed to gauge such trends as backlogs,
\nrevenue projections, access to financing and labor
\nissues. Two-thirds of the contractors surveyed
\npredicted there would be more workers in the next six
\nmonths. But 61% of the respondents reported problems
\nfinding skilled laborers in such trades as concrete,
\ninterior finishes, masonry, electrical and plumbing.
\n\u201cThere is reason for concern in the lack of qualified
\ntalent,\u201d said Tom Donohue, chief executive of the
\nChamber in a written statement.<\/p>\n
Industry officials are warning that labor shortages
\nwill become more acute if the Trump administration
\nmoves ahead with its plan to spend $1 trillion on
\ninfrastructure. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t absorb $1 trillion worth
\nof brand new work,\u201d said Mr. Jones. \u201cWe\u2019re already
\nstrapped just dealing with the work we already
\nhave.\u201dLabor shortages are partly due to the increasing
\nnumber of construction projects moving forward. During
\nthe first four months of this year, construction
\nspending amounted to $359.5 billion, 5.8% more than the
\nsame period in 2016, according to the US Census Bureau.
\nAlso, tens of thousands of workers left the building
\ntrades during the economic downturn. Even before it
\nhit, the construction workforce was aging, Mr. Jones
\nsaid. \u201cYou had an aging workforce in an industry that
\ndoesn\u2019t lend itself to long careers because it\u2019s hard,
\nphysical w ork and then you lose a whole bunch of
\npeople,\u201d he said. The USG and Chamber survey asked four
\nquestions on coping strategies to the 61% of
\nrespondents who said they\u2019re having difficulty finding
\nskilled labor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAR – pending home sales tumble in May for third straight month The ongoing supply shortages that are propping up home prices in many metro areas caused pending home sales in May to slump for the third consecutive month, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). None of the major regions saw an increase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39],"tags":[197,200,203,196,199,45,198,204,202,201,41],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/team.simplyfreedom.ws\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/team.simplyfreedom.ws\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/team.simplyfreedom.ws\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/team.simplyfreedom.ws\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/team.simplyfreedom.ws\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/team.simplyfreedom.ws\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836,"href":"http:\/\/team.simplyfreedom.ws\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835\/revisions\/836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/team.simplyfreedom.ws\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/team.simplyfreedom.ws\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/team.simplyfreedom.ws\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}