Buyers and the News!

Last week included a few interesting takes on where things are at in the housing market. We first got the news that purchase mortgage applications last week were at their highest level since May, UP 6.3% over the week before. It's nice to see buying interest starting to rebound after the tax credit expiration. But we do have a bit of a way to go, as last week's number was still 38.8% below where it was a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.




One source of new buyers for sure is the huge number of people for whom homes are now way more affordable. For families making the national median income, the share of homes they can afford stayed above 70% for the sixth quarter in a row as tracked by the Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). The National Association of Home Builders, which co-sponsors the HOI, said this affordability was the result of low home prices and favorable mortgage rates. The NAHB chairman commented, "Homeownership is within reach of more households than it has been for almost a generation...with house prices starting to stabilize, conditions are beginning to draw homebuyers back into the market..."

>> Review of Last Week

SQUEAKING UP... We had just four days of trading last week for investors to show us how they feel about the economic prospects going forward. Coming back from Labor Day, stocks sank on Tuesday, with the Dow 147 points down. But during the next three days, traders slowly pushed prices back up enough that all three major stock indexes squeaked into positive territory for the second week in a row. And the Dow remains UP for the year.