Bernanke Shaken, Not Stirred, On Housing Recovery (Existing Home Sales Climb To 2002 Levels)

Confounded Interest ^ | 09/19/2013 | Anthony B. Sanders

[whitedog57]

Clearly, The Fed is worried about the moribund housing recovery and lack of mortgage purchase applications. The Fed held firm and fooled many investors by NOT beginning the taper yesterday.

Borrowing costs for U.S. homebuyers are poised to extend declines from the highest level in two years after the Federal Reserve unexpectedly refrained from slowing its debt buying and bolstered expectations for how long it will keep short-term interest rates at about zero percent.

A Bloomberg index of Fannie Mae securities that guide 30-year loan rates dropped about 0.2 percentage point yesterday, the most since last September, to 3.39 percent, the least since Aug. 9. Yields soared as high as 3.81 percent on Sept. 5 from 2.28 percent in May as speculation mounted that the central bank would pare its $85 billion of monthly bond buying including $40 billion of government-backed mortgage securities.

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After signaling his faith that real estate could weather increasing home-loan rates in June, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke opted to exercise caution in reducing support for the economy. He said yesterday at a news conference in Washington that policymakers are seeking more information on how higher borrowing costs are affecting the housing recovery.

Apparently, Bernanke is shaken by declining mortgage purchase applications.

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Mortgage purchase applications remain in the doldrums after the housing bubble burst.

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Auguest’s single unit housing starts rose 7%,

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but remain far below the bubble years.

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Existing home sales for August rose to 5.48 million units, up 1.7% from July. This means that existing home sales are back to 2002 levels.

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Not bad, considering the trend in real median household income.

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So, Bernanke is shaken by the morose housing market, but was not stirred to do anything.

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[whitedog57]

No expense spared for banks and their cronies.

[Flick Lives]

Apparently, Bernanke is shaken by declining mortgage purchase applications.

Mortgage applications? The average person is trying to pay for the ever increasing price of food. You know; the stuff along with fuel that doesn't count in the Fed's inflation index.

[lurk]

Forgive me for going off topic. The headline caught my attention.

In my 52 yrs I’ve not tasted alcohol. Could someone explain the significance of shaken v. stirred, and why it is even a topic of conversation? I understand that it has to do with martinis, but what is the deal with that?

[Uri’el-2012]

Insanity: doing the same thing over
and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

[headstamp 2]

A Vodka Martini is Shaken (James Bond) and a Gin Martini is stirred.

I think.

[faithhopecharity]

California: almost all purchases consist of two groups —
immigrants (mostly from China, consisting of 75% of sales in some upscale neighborhoods), and the now-mostly-slowed-up mass purchases by a few large “vulture type” investment banks (seeking large rental farms in the less expensive districts).

Very, very few “average American workers” able to buy houses.

[xzins]

James Bond is the only reason it’s significant.