WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that Jemine Bryon has been appointed as HUD’s new Chief Procurement Officer. Bryon brings 20 years experience to the agency in the areas of public housing planning, management, development, resident services, and procurement. She will be responsible for the oversight and management of all Departmental procurement activities.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it has charged Sunrise Villas, LLC, with housing discrimination for allegedly refusing to allow residents at its Long Island, NY, age 55-and-over housing complex to have service animals that assist persons with disabilities.
Housing data was positive this morning but markets are reeling from mixed earnings reports and weak consumer confidence. Ninety minutes into the session, all three major indexes are trading lower, following 11 days of rapid gains.
As of 11:00, the S&P 500 is the worst of the bunch, down 0.52% at 977, while the Dow is trading 0.28% lower at 9083, and the Nasdaq has fallen 0.29% to 1962….(read more)
Home prices across the nation improved for their fourth consecutive month in May but remain about 17% lower than one year ago, according to the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index.
The 10-City and 20-City Composites are 16.8% and 17.1% lower, respectively, compared to May 2008. Historically, those are major declines, but in the current context they represent the slowest annual price drops in close to a year. Just one month before, the figures were -18.0% and -18.1%….(read more)
Markets jumped in the minutes after the New Home Sales report posted its biggest one-month leap in eight year, as of noon in Monday’s session all three markets have dipped back into the red. However, markets shot up more 11% over the past two weeks, so the minor decline isn’t too worrying yet….(read more)
The morning began with great news for the housing market. Sales of new single-family homes shot up 11% in June ― the biggest one-month jump in eight years ― bringing the annual pace of sales to 384,000, well above the market consensus of just 350,000.
“This report along with recent data on housing starts and existing home sales tells us the housing sector is finally in recovery mode,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief US economist at Deutsche Bank. “This will go a long way to eventually helping to stabilize the economy in the second half of this year and to provide us with much better overall economic growth prospects next year.”…(read more)
Housing data and Treasury auctions totaling $115 billion dominate the calendar between Monday and Thursday, but the big news this week will be the first official estimate of second-quarter GDP, which comes out Friday. Analysts look for a quarterly drop of 0.7%, a significant improvement following a -5.5% drop in Q1….(read more)
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that Shelley Poticha has been appointed Senior Advisor for Sustainable Housing and Communities.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke made it clear earlier in the week that the central bank wouldn’t be taking the punch bowl away any time soon, but more talk of increased regulation from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner appears to be scaring off investors from drinking the punch anyway following a nine-day rally….(read more)
The goal of the Federal Reserve's agency MBS program is to provide support to mortgage and housing markets and to foster improved conditions in financial markets more generally. Only fixed-rate agency MBS securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae are eligible assets for the program. The program includes, but is not limited to, 30-year, 20-year and 15-year securities of these issuers….(read more)