Tag Archives: GDP

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) offered market projections into 2014 during a forum at the 2012 Realtors Conference and Expo. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun says he expects the market share of distressed sales to fall from about 25 percent in 2012 to 8 percent in 2014, according to a release on the forum. The housing recovery was expected to continue so long as credit does not further tighten and a fiscal cliff is avoided.

Led by increases in personal consumption, government spending and residential investment, the U.S. economy grew 2.0 percent in the third quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday, faster than economists expected and a strong rebound from the 1.3 percent growth rate in the second quarter. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected an increase of 1.9 percent.

Consumer spending rose $57.2 billion, 0.1 percent, in August but personal income improved just $15 billion, 0.5 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday. While the increase in spending matched economist expectations, the increase in incomes was half of what had been forecast.

Real gross domestic product - the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States - increased at an annual rate of 1.3 percent in the second quarter of 2012, down sharply from the 1.7 percent growth rate reported one month ago, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.0 percent.

Despite a $355 billion increase in the value of household real estate, household net worth fell $322 billion in the second quarter, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday in its quarterly Flow of Funds report. And, while the value of owner-occupied household real estate increased in the second quarter, total residential mortgage debt fell almost $51 billion. As a result, owners' equity increased just over $406 billion and owners' equity as percentage of the value of the real estate rose to 43.1 percent, the highest level since Q2 2008, according to the report.

The U.S. economy grew in the second quarter at 1.7 percent, slightly faster than the originally estimated 1.5 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday. At the same time, BEA reported the second quarter grew at a meager 0.5 percent from the first quarter, but an improvement from the 2.7 percent drop in corporate profits registered in the first quarter. Profits in the financial sector though fell more than 9 percent.

The U.S. economy grew at a disappointing 1.5 percent in the second quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday, down from an upwardly revised 2.0 percent growth rate in the first quarter but better than expected. The growth pace is below the 3.0 percent level needed to add jobs to make a dent in the nation’s unemployment rate. Indeed the GDP report covered the same quarter which saw the weakest job growth – 225,000 jobs – since the third quarter of 2010 when the economy grew at a relatively robust 2.5 percent.

In May, consumer spending fell less than 0.1, or by $4.7 billion, reversing the 0.15 percent increase in April, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday. Personal income meanwhile grew $25.4 billion or 0.18 percent, down from April's 0.22 percent growth.

The US economy grew at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the first quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday in its third estimate of economic performance in the first quarter. The BEA report was consistent with market expectations but emphasized a moribund economy.

As the employment situation continues to raise concerns, fixed rates fell even lower, slipping yet again to new record-lows, according to a survey from Freddie Mac released Thursday. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.67 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending June 7, falling from last week's average of 3.75 percent. The 15-year fixed rate declined even further below 3 percent to 2.94 percent (0.7 point), down from last week's 2.97 percent.