Steve Reed Benchmark Home Loans

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RECENT BLOG POSTS
The Commerce Department reported on Friday that New Home Sales in February edged lower by 0.6% from January to an annualized rate of 618,000, just below the 620,000 expected. This was the third straight monthly decline. However, New Home Sales were up 0.5% from February 2017 to February 2018. Sal...
03/23/2018
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As expected, yesterday the Federal Reserve raised the short-term Fed Funds Rate by 0.25% bringing it to a range of 1.50 to 1.75%. The statement and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's first press conference offered no surprises. The Fed is forecasting at least two more rate hikes in 2018, with three mor...
03/22/2018
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) reported on Wednesday that Existing Home Sales rose 3 percent in February from January to an annual rate of 5.54 million annualized units, above the 5.42 million expected. The NAR said that despite low inventories of homes for sales on the market and fa...
03/21/2018
In D.C. news, the Washington Post reports that the Trump Administration is getting ready to announce a $60B tariff plan for Chinese imports. In addition, there is now talk out of Capitol Hill of "Phase Two" of the U.S. tax plan, which may look to make individual cuts permanent. Newly appointed Fe...
03/20/2018
Economic data had little impact on the U.S. markets earlier this morning with a better-than-expected Empire Manufacturing Index, Philadelphia Fed Index was in line with estimates and Weekly Initial Jobless Claims hovering near lows seen in 1970. The NAHB Housing Market Index came in at 70 this mo...
03/15/2018
Spending at U.S. retail stores fell for the third straight month in February, which could signal an economic slowdown in the first quarter. February Retail Sales fell 0.1% last month versus the gain of 0.3% expected after declines in December and January. The three straight months of decline in R...
03/14/2018
Low supplies of homes for sale on the market, especially entry-level homes, continues to push home prices higher across the nation. CoreLogic reports that home prices, including distressed sales, rose 6.6% from January 2017 to January 2018. On a month-over-month basis, home prices were up 0.5%. L...
03/06/2018
Rising mortgage rates and an increase in home prices pushed affordability to its lowest point since 2009. Since the beginning of 2018, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased 48 basis points while the cost to purchase a median priced home rose by $67. The average cost to purchase a median-price...
03/05/2018
U.S. Stocks suffered another blow yesterday after President Trump announced the U.S. will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports coming into the country. There will be a 25% tariff on steel and 10% on aluminum imports. The news sent Stocks sharply lower with the Dow Jones Industrial Average...
03/02/2018
Despite the recent chatter regarding inflation pressures, a key inflation gauge was unchanged in January, laying to rest the fears of increased interest rate hikes in 2018. The Fed's favorite inflation gauge, the Core Personal Consumption Expenditure, remained at 1.5% year over year, below the ta...
03/01/2018
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Steve Reed

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