Powell Succeeds Yellen as Fed Reserve Chair “In Friday pre-trading, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.854%, the highest intraday level since January 2014.” –“Dow Set for Its Biggest Weekly Fall in Two Years“; The Wall Street Journal (2/2/18). It had to happen. With the stock market making record highs, and...Read More
Plentiful Jobs + Affordable Housing “Minneapolis-St. Paul is awash in economic plenty. The area has added more than 200,000 new jobs since 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The area’s unemployment rate in December was just 3.1 percent (not seasonally adjusted), compared with 4.8 percent nationwide. The median household income is well above the national...Read More
Affordability’s Three “Ingredients”: Housing Prices, Mortgage Rates, & Employment Don’t rising home prices make homes less affordable? In general, yes. The exception is when interest rates are falling faster than home prices are rising — the case right now — and wages and employment are improving (also true). From 4.6% to ???? So, from a...Read More
