Hanley Wood Market Alert for January

Hanley Wood just released their housing alert newsletter for January. They do an excellent job of reporting the current state of the residential housing market. The writers of the Beige Book at the Fed should take notice of quality reporting.

Here are a few statistics from their report.

S & P 500 Index – down 6.7% since end of 2008

Crude Oil – $35.40 per Barrel

Mortgage Rate Fixed 30 year – 4.9% though I’ve heard other reports of 4.8%. Recent cut was 11th in a row. You might remember that the Fed raised rates 17 times which put the market in the current tailspin.

Unemployment - increased to 7.2% and likely heading higher

Purchase Index (single family homes) down from 344- 295, a 35% drop from last year.

Sales volume down 8.6 %. last year.

Hanley Wood hosts and owns numerous trade shows including World Of Concrete and International Builders show in addition to others and numerous magazines. To view their research alerts click here Hanley Wood

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