The American home market continued to offer low mortgage rates as home lenders await more news about how the Federal Reserve will handle fiscal policy going into 2014.
There also was anticipation about the unemployment report set to come out at the end of the first full week of January.
Low mortgage rates, kept there by the Fed’s bond buying program that has kept interest rates at historic lows, remained stable this week. According to Bloomberg, the 30-year fixed rate average for a mortgage is 4.51%, while the 15-year rate is 3.56%.
Millan Mulraine, a TD Securities economist, told Bloomberg that “we’re in a bit of a holding pattern.”
“We know what the Fed thinks about the economy and any change to this view will be dictated by the data. Friday’s employment report will be the first major test,” Mulraine said.
ADP, the payroll processing firm, also reported that private employers added 238,000 jobs in December. Additionally, most economists expect the unemployment rate to at least remain stable when the numbers come out from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics this week.
All of this is good news for those thinking of getting a degree in a business-related field. An improving housing market and employment picture typically indicates an economy that is on the rise.
However, not all the economic news is good, a sign the American economy still has far to travel to reach complete stability.
Some of the bad news was related to geography – the economy is worse for some American than others. For example, RealtyTrac reported that Nevada leads the nation in the number of homes underwater with their mortgages. Florida was second, with a full third of home owners in the Sunshine State owing more on their homes then they are worth.
RealtyTrac also ranked the metro areas with the most “deeply underwater” homes, defined as homes where the value is 25% less than the loans on the property. At the top of the list was Las Vegas, followed by Orlando, Detroit, Tampa, Miami and Chicago.
Perhaps the most unsettling business news came from the Family Dollar chain, where profits fell 2.8% to $78 million. According to a report from Family Dollar in 2012 that is quoted on Quartz, about 50% of its customers receive some kind of government assistance. More people are using the store to buy necessities such as food, which cuts into profit margins.
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