Update #2/ Week of December 28, 2009

Good Afternoon Everyone and Happy Tuesday!

Well, there’s not much to talk about, really. The market is as flat as the turtle sticker on the back window of my wife’s car. We have been hovering around the unchanged levels in equity and credit markets all morning. Volumes are low, as would be expected for this week, so don’t expect any major movements in either direction.

The S&P/Case Schiller Home Price Index for October reported a 146.6 figure, which is pretty close to the 147 anticipated. The number from the month previous was 146.7. The Composite for the 20 major metropolitan cities in America for October dropped 7.3% from the same month last year, in line with the 7.2% forecasted by the experts. The September reading for this report showed a loss of 9.3% year-over-year, so that is a slight improvement. Obviously the market had little reaction to this report. Yet . . . we in the real estate and financial industry would sure love to see some “bottoming out” in 2010 in home prices (from my keyboard to His ears). That would sure help with all the foreclosures and begin to alleviate the restrictions that we have in our industry at this time.

The Conference Board released their official Consumer Confidence Index for December this morning with a reading of 52.9 – in line with expectations of 53. It is a slight improvement, though, from the month previous which was 50.6 . . . and up from the 20’s that we saw earlier this year. This report continues to have no affect on the market. Later today we will have the results from the 5 year Treasury auction. Hopefully a healthy appetite for these securities will help rates.
I will be in the office all day today, working my way through the applications we have for today and tomorrow. Call me here or better yet email me if I can help you, and have a terrific Tuesday.