by Calculated Risk on 3/24/2010 04:11:00 PM
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
New Home Sales, Modifications, and Other News
1) New Home sales. New Home sales were at a record low in February. The weather might be partially to blame for the February record, but the reality is there are just too many existing home units available - so new home sales and single family housing starts will be under pressure for some time - and also housing related employment.
New home sales will probably get a boost in March and April from the homebuyer tax credit. To qualify, homebuyers must sign a contract by the end of April and close by the end of June. Since new home sales are counted when the contract is signed, any boost will happen in March or April. For existing home sales, the boost will come when the deal closes, so the boost to sales will come in May or June.
2) Modification Programs
The reason this program is so important though is because we know something is in the works over at Treasury to do something like it. We may even get news of that later this week, according to some of my sources.
3) And in other news today:
4) And on the Consumer financial protection agency from Jodi Kantor at the NY Times: Behind Consumer Agency Idea, a Fiery Advocate
Ask Elizabeth Warren, scourge of Wall Street bankers, how they treat consumers, and her no-nonsense bob will shake with indignation. She will talk about morality, about fairness, about what she calls their “let them eat cake” attitude towards taxpayers. If she is riled enough, she might even spit out the Warren version of an expletive.
“Dang gummit, somebody has got to stand up on behalf of middle-class families!” she exclaimed in a recent interview in her office here.