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QUOTE OF THE WEEK... "It ain't over 'til it's over."
--In memoriam, Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (1925-2015), American
baseball great
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE... Sadly, Yogi's time with us is now over, but beyond the baseball memories he leaves are his humorous, often wise, "Yogi-isms." The one quoted here is a pithy comment on why persistence makes sense. And persistence makes perfect sense if we're going to weather the twists and turns of today's housing market. August, for example, gave us Existing Home Sales twisting down 4.8%, while New Home Sales turned solidly up. But a closer look at the data shows existing home sales are still up 6.2% over a year ago and came in at a decent 5.31 million unit annual rate. Plus, the August dip follows three months in a row of sales gains.
It was also nice to see that non-cash existing home sales, where the buyer takes out a mortgage, are up 7.6% versus a year ago. The main sales problem seems to be tight inventories, but with the median price of an existing home up 4.7% from a year ago, more sellers should be enticed onto the market. Meanwhile, New Home Sales were up 5.7% in August, hitting a 552,000 unit annual rate. In fact, last month Americans bought new homes at the fastest pace in 7 years. Finally, the FHFA index of prices for homes financed with conforming mortgages was up 0.6% in July and is 5.8% ahead of a year ago. The upward trend in housing is clearly telling us, "It ain't over."
BUSINESS TIP OF THE WEEK... Schedule meeting time with yourself for the tasks you need to accomplish. Then silence your phone, close your email program, work away from your desk if you need to. This guarantees you distraction-free blocks of time.
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE... Sadly, Yogi's time with us is now over, but beyond the baseball memories he leaves are his humorous, often wise, "Yogi-isms." The one quoted here is a pithy comment on why persistence makes sense. And persistence makes perfect sense if we're going to weather the twists and turns of today's housing market. August, for example, gave us Existing Home Sales twisting down 4.8%, while New Home Sales turned solidly up. But a closer look at the data shows existing home sales are still up 6.2% over a year ago and came in at a decent 5.31 million unit annual rate. Plus, the August dip follows three months in a row of sales gains.
It was also nice to see that non-cash existing home sales, where the buyer takes out a mortgage, are up 7.6% versus a year ago. The main sales problem seems to be tight inventories, but with the median price of an existing home up 4.7% from a year ago, more sellers should be enticed onto the market. Meanwhile, New Home Sales were up 5.7% in August, hitting a 552,000 unit annual rate. In fact, last month Americans bought new homes at the fastest pace in 7 years. Finally, the FHFA index of prices for homes financed with conforming mortgages was up 0.6% in July and is 5.8% ahead of a year ago. The upward trend in housing is clearly telling us, "It ain't over."
BUSINESS TIP OF THE WEEK... Schedule meeting time with yourself for the tasks you need to accomplish. Then silence your phone, close your email program, work away from your desk if you need to. This guarantees you distraction-free blocks of time.
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