Team Thayer Property Servicing

Home prices rose in almost all metro areas in the U.S. mostly due to the increase in home sales during Q2, according to the  latest quarterly report by the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR). Despite low inventory levels, the median existing single-family home price increased in 93 percent of measured markets, with 163 out of 176 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) showing gains based on closings in the second quarter compared with the second quarter of 2014. Meanwhile, only 13 areas recorded lower median prices from the previous year. "Steady rent increases, the slow rise in mortgage rates, and stronger local job markets fueled demand throughout most of the country this spring," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. "While this led to a boost in sales paces not seen since before the downturn, overall supply failed to keep up and pushed prices higher in a majority of metro areas." According to the NAR, price gains were recorded in 85 percen...

The GDP growth rate in the first quarter, which was reported to be an annual rate of minus 0.2 percent in the  BEA's third and final estimate released in late June , was revised upwardly and reported on Thursday to be 0.6 percent. "These results are in line with years past when we have had a very weak first quarters followed by more normal second quarters," said Mark Fleming, Chief Economist with First American. "The quarter-over-quarter jump isn't a signal of rebounding, but is simply a return to more normal rates of growth. The 2.3 percent rate for the second quarter is probably in line with where we will land at the end of the year—2.3 percent for 2015." The Q2 increase in real GDP reflected "positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, state and local government spending, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from federal government spending, private inventory in...

Stronge r-than-expected economic activity for the second quarter will drive accelerated economic growth for the second half of 2015, according to the July 2015 Economic Outlook released Thursday by Fannie Mae 's  Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) Group . The U.S. economy  contracted at an annualized rate of 0.2 percent  in the third and final Q1 estimate from the  Bureau of Economic Analysis  released in late June. Improved conditions in Q2 were driven by increases in consumer spending and residential and nonresidential investments, combined with a waning drag from net exports, according to Fannie Mae. In the July Economic Outlook, Fannie Mae expects the economy to pick up to an annualized rate of 2.8 percent in Q2, which is 0.4 percentage points higher than the June estimate. Despite volatile economic conditions overseas that could pose headwinds to the U.S. economy, the ESR Group's estimate for full-year economic growth in July is an annualized ...