What is a bit concerning is that these are numbers when the Home Buyer Tax Credit Program was still going on in April and they were still weak. 1st time buyers still represent 43% of the market and all cash buyers are a staggering 27%! This is the breakdown of Existing Home across the region. Northeast was up 7.9%, Midwest was down 7.5%, South was down 6.5%, and the West was down 9.3%. Distressed sales are still 1/3 of all market transactions 32%. Foreclosure sales are falling as short sales are rising. 30 Year Fixed Rate National Average was down to 4.59% and the 15 Year was down 4.05%. June Building Permits were up 2.1% as June Housing Starts were down 5.0%. One step forward and two steps back.

1st Time Initial Jobless Claims rose more than expected up 37,000 to 464,000 week ended July 17. This number was alittle out of line from expected but continuing claims week ending July 10th were better than expected at 4.487 Million vs the prior week 4.710 Million.

The Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was on Capitol Hill to give his testimony on the condition of the US Economy on its Semi Annual Address. I felt most of the 2 day address was pretty positive. The fact is that most of this information is old and we already know most of these facts. Even though, the market sold off on Wednesday but rebounded on Thursday. Most of the concern of the testimony was about the exist strategy plan when the Fed eventually has to start raising rates. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing cause it means the worst is behind us and the economy is getting better. Some of the highlights was the following.

*Fed expects inflation to be subdued
*Unemployment is improving
*Expansion is proceeding at a moderate pace
*The Fed still has tools in its tool box if the economy does slow
*Financial Regulation Bill will enforce stronger standards which will minimize risk of another crisis

The one statement the markets didn’t like was that the Fed feels that the economic outlook remains unusually uncertain!

The way I see it is that the real problem is the Federal Government and their unwillingness to understand that it is small business that will help the economy with job growth. If you easy the burden on small businesses with lower tax rates it will help expansion and further growth. The Federal Government has only gotten bigger and they are now taking a bigger role in the private sector which is only going to create bigger problems, more regulation, and higher taxes. This is clearly not the way to prosperity. The good news is that even with this negative environment companies area coming out with big earnings and things look a recovery is coming!

Dow Jones Trading Floor

Greg Afarian’s Market Report Week of July 12th to the 16th. Not a ton of economic news this week and the Dow traded flat for the week. Producer Price Index came out this week, which measures inflation on the consumer’s side and it was down .5% for June. Excluding food and energy the core rate was up .1%. This was a better than expected number and shows that inflation at the current time is not an issue. Many people are questioning if deflation might be an issue but, at the current moment that is unlikely.

Jobless Claims for people that are filing for their 1st time week ending July 10th was down 31,000 to 429,000. That was also a better than expected number but the number that I thought was concerning was the continuing claims figure which was up to 4.681 Million vs. 4.4 Million the prior week.

Falling home prices, 24% of all sellers on the market say they have dropped prices at least once since 7/1. That is a 9% increase from June! 30 year fixed rates are stable at 4.69% and the 15 year fixed rate is at 4.12%

Interesting news, iphone 4 is it a lemon? Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner dies at the age of 80. Bought the Yankees in 1973 for $8.7 Million now worth more that 1 Billion plus 2 other companies work well over another Billion!China growth slows to 10.3% in Quarter 2 and better than expected inflation numbers for them makes it seem things are pretty well in check.

My final thoughts…. Deflation is the big risk even though it may be unlikely. The $64,000 question is with very little inflation and rates at record lows how is the Fed going to engineer a successful exit strategy with what we call a “Soft Landing”. What they will eventually have to do is start-raising rates and the question will be how the markets react when that happens. I still feel that we need to keep rates low to help businesses and consumers. You also need to keep taxes low so that Americans to help consumers to continue to spend. I wouldn’t want to repeat what happened in the early 2000’s and if history does repeat itself that could be a bad situation for everyone!

This week was a short week of trading due to the observance of the 4th of July. Not alot of key economic news this week. June Same Store Sales was weak as the consumer is slowing their spending and it seems a pattern of selective spending could be a trend.

The 30 Year hit an all time low / record as the 30 YR Fixed Rate dips to 4.57% and the 15 YR Fixed Rate is at 4.07%. Mortgage Apps this past week for Refi’s were up 9.2% and purchase apps were down 2.2%. Purchase apps are down 30% since April which seems as though the ending of the Home Buyer Tax Program is really effecting the market.

Oil is at $76.39 a barrel and Gold is at $1,212 an ounce. Weekly Jobless Claims were better than expected for the week ending of 7/3 with 1st time claims falling 21,000 to 454,000. Stocks in the news, Google is back in China and Zillow & Yahoo make a partnership for online real estate advertising.

About the Me: The above Real Estate information was provided by Greg Afarian, l can be reached via email or send me a message on Twiter Have a home to sell on the NorthShore in Mass? I’ll help you with my social media skills for a quick transaction to help save you time and money. I service the following towns in Boston and the Greater Boston Area. Andover, North Andover, Lawrence, Methuen, Haverhill, Boxford, Bradford, Dracut, Reading, North Reading, and beyond.

Apple was in the news again this week as it had the most successful product launch with its new iphone. It sold 1.7 Million Units in the 1st 3 days. Apple is 2nd to Exxon Mobil as the largest / most valuable company in US! Consumer Confidence falls in June to 52.9% which pushed the market lower. Gold was stable this week at $1,212 an OZ and Oil is at $72.41 a barrel.

Pending Home Sales fell off a cliff in May 30% and was down 16% year over year. It was down 32.6% in the Northeast, 32.1% in the MidWest, 33.3% in the South, and 20.9% in the West. 30 year fixed rates are at 50 year lows! 30 year average is at 4.67% and the 15 year fixed is at 4.06%.

The popular Home Buyer Tax Credit Program was extended for those people that were under contract to 9/30. Many people are questioning if the $800 Billion Stimulus worked? I would look at it as putting a band aid on a gushing wound. It may help at the beginning but won’t last long. I feel that we need to be helping all the other people that pay taxes. We need to cut taxes across the board to stimulate business growth. It’s when business owners feel confident is when the rest of the economy will follow.

Existing Home Sales fell 2.2% in May and inventories rose to a 8.3 month supply. Sales were down 18.3% in the Northeast, unchanged in the Midwest, up 4.9% in the West, and up .5% in the South.
May New Home Sales (contracts signed in May for New Construction) was down a whopping 32.7%. It was the weakest new home sales figure ever! The ending of the home buyer tax credit program is really affected the housing market in a negative way (if you ask me). Now the $64,000 question is what happens to existing home sales going forward? Will we have a double dip in the housing sector? It’s anyone’s guess. One thing is for certain its a great time for buyers!

The Fed left the Fed Funds Rate Unchanged and the FOMC said they are keeping the Fed Funds target rate at 0 to .25%. They also said inflation will most likely remain at subdued level.

May New orders for Durable Goods falls to a 6 month low down 1.1% excluding transportation it was up .9%

Gold is at $1,256 an ounce and Oil is at $78.88 a barrel

Rates are at historic lows, 30 Year Fixed Rates at 4.69% and the 15 Year Fixed Rate is at 4.19%

Its anyone’s guess what happens with the economy and the markets. There are many things that are factors. The jobs situation is clearly a huge deal, without employment figures changing we are probably dead in the water. The Oil Spill Disaster is a huge issue, it is unclear what the long term affects will be but many people think it could affect the Gulf Region for decades! I sure hope not. The other problem I see is the housing market, I don’t see how this home buyer tax credit program really helped things at all? However, its a great time for buyers! Rates are at historic lows. I think we might go sideways for alittle bit until some of these issues get resolved but, we’ll have to wait and see.