In Case You Missed It

Here is a news recap from last week that impacts the U.S. residential housing industry.

The major headline? First-time buyers represent 35 percent of home-buyers overall, according to a recent survey from the National Association of Realtors.

-- The Federal Reserve voted not to raise policy rates at last week's meeting, but did signal that they may raise rates at December's meeting if economic improvement continues.

-- Jobless claims were up slightly, but layoffs were at a five-month low. A strong non-farm payroll report could fuel speculation that the Fed will raise rates in December.

-- Consumer spending is up and factory orders rose for the third straight month. As the economy slowly heats up, inflation could become an issue and bring higher rates. It also might not. We have been in an inflationary period for some time with the non-stop printing of money (evidenced by spikes in food prices at stores, etc.), though the way the government "officially recognizes" inflation, we official have had none. With rates held artificially low for so many years, in my opinion we are due for an increase soon.

-- Although construction spending was down slightly in September, most of the drop was non-residential. Spending on residential construction was up 0.5 percent for the month.

-- Mortgage purchase applications were down slightly from the previous week, but were up nine percent compared to the same week in 2015.