ECONOMIC UPDATES

Last Week in the News
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New home sales rose 5.7% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 313,000 units from a revised rate of 296,000 units in August. Compared to a year ago, new home sales were down 0.9%.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index - on a non-seasonally adjusted basis - rose 0.2% in August after a 0.9% increase in July. On a year-over-year basis, prices fell 3.8% compared with August 2010.

The consumer confidence index fell to 39.8 in October from 46.4 in September. The index was benchmarked at 100 in 1985, a year chosen because it was neither a peak nor a trough in consumer confidence.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications for the week ending October 21 rose 4.9%. Refinancing applications increased 4.4%. Purchase volume rose 6.4%.

Orders for durable goods - items expected to last three or more years - fell 0.8% in September after a 0.1% decrease in August. Excluding volatile transportation-related goods, orders posted a monthly increase of 1.7%.

The Commerce Department announced that gross domestic product - the total output of goods and services produced in the U.S. - increased at an annual rate of 2.5% in the third quarter of 2011.

Pending home sales, a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts, fell 4.6% in September after a 1.2% decrease in August. On a year-over-year basis, pending sales are up 6.4%.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 2,000 to 402,000 for the week ending October 22. Continuing claims for the week ending October 15 fell by 96,000 to 3.645 million, the lowest level since September 2008.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on construction spending on November 1 and factory orders on November 3.

Provided by:
Judy Haller
Prospect Mortgage
3985 Prince William Co. Pkwy., Suite 104
Woodbridge, VA 22192
Office: (703) 590-7132