Financial Markets
The Dow dropped another 43 points this week as investors were slightly spooked by the European debt crisis that cropped up again this week. The Dow has performed well from a year-over-year perspective climbing nearly 15% in 12 months. If you dipped your toes into the stock market 3 years ago, you would have lost 3%...5 years ago a gain of 10% (2% per year) and 10 years ago 10% (1% per year). So, if you poured money into the stock market 10 years ago, you could have mimicked Jane and Michael Banks from Marry Poppins, and deposited your toppins and achieved roughly the same rate of return…
Bonds responded favorably to the consumer price index report that was released, which showed tame inflationary numbers, particularly when stripping out energy costs. Tame inflation numbers are always friendly to the bond market, and as a result, mortgage rates move in a consumer-friendly direction.
Local Real Estate and Economy
April home sales for Southern Nevada reached just over 3,900 sales, up 164 units from the same month 1 year ago. 23% were short sales, 47% were bank owned, and 30% were traditional sales. Nearly 52% of the home buyers paid cash! This can be a very depressing number for struggling loan officers. With 1,900 licensed loan officers and another several hundred employed by banks who don’t require licensing, it leaves less than 1 loan per loan officer, assuming the pie is divided equally. This indicates that we could continue to see consolidation in the mortgage industry or loan officers turning to other forms of employment, particularly as the job market continues to improve. Either way, it seems to be a healthy sales month for Southern Nevada.
Have a great week!
