Home Prices Up Again In Most Markets

 

 

Home prices in the September Case Shiller 20-city composite increased 3.0% from September 2011. From August to September, the 20-city composite was also up, posting a gain of 0.3%. The national composite was up 3.6% in the third quarter from 2011 and was up 2.2% from the second quarter of 2012. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are published on the last Tuesday of each month at 9:00 am ET. They are constructed to accurately track the price path of typical single-family homes located in each metropolitan area provided. Each index combines matched price pairs for thousands of individual houses from the available universe of arms-length sales data.

October Unemployment State By State

 

         
                               
For October, 37 states and the District of Columbia saw unemployment rate declines, 7 states had increases, while 6 had no change. Year-over-year, 42 states plus the District of Columbia recorded unemployment decreases. Because Housing and ...

Jobs are so closely related, it is important to watch for changing trends in the Unemployment level. The chart below displays current levels of Unemployment by state. This information will be updated monthly.

Huge Jump In Unemployment Claims

For the week ending Novemeber 10, Initial Jobless Claims jumped 78,000 to an 18-month high of 439,000. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the one-week increase in jobless claims was the largest since 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

Initial jobless claims measure the number of people (non industry-specific) filing first-time claims for state unemployment insurance. This report provides a timely, but often misleading, indicator of the direction of the economy, with changes in claims potentially signaling changes in job growth. It is assumed the stronger the job market, the greater the spending power, the healthier the economy. Weekly claims are volatile and data can be skewed by holidays; therefore, many analysts track a four week moving average of data to get a better sense of the underlying trend in claims.

September JOLTS

 

The September Job Openings and Labor Turnover report (JOLTS) came in at 3561K, down from the upwardly revised number of 3661K for August. This was also below the expectations of 3653K and marks the lowest reading since April.

The data for the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey are collected and compiled monthly from a sample of business establishments by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In a monthly survey of business establishments, data are collected for total employment, job openings, hires, quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. The JOLTS program covers all private nonfarm establishments such as factories, offices, and stores, as well as federal, state, and local government entities in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

New Home Sales September

 

 

September new home sales jumped 5.7% to 389,000, up from the August level of 368,000. This marks the highest pace for new home sales since April 2010, during the first-time homebuyer tax credit. The new home supply dropped from 4.7 months i...

n August to 4.5 months for September.

The New Home Sales report shows the number of newly constructed homes with a committed sale during the month. It is compiled through nationwide survey of 10,000 builders/owners of 15,000 building projects and through sampling of permit-issuing offices, as well as land not covered by building permits. The data is timely and is used in conjunction with the existing home sales release from the National Association of Realtors. The level of new home sales indicates housing market trends, and economic momentum signaling consumer purchases of furniture and appliances. Simply, the volume of sales indicates housing demand.

September State By State Unemployment Rate

 

 

 

For September, 41 states plus the District of Columbia saw unemployment rate decreases. Year-over-year, 44 states plus the District of Columbia had decreases. Nevada reported the highest level of unemployment at 11.8%, with Rhode Island and California also in the top 3. Meanwhile, North Dakota posted the lowest rate at 3.0%.

Unemployment Sees Unexplained Big Drop?

Well, since it is election time, let's get your political juices flowing. How did the latest unemployment number drop SIGNIFICANTLY from 8.1% to 7.8%? So, there could be two answers to the question one of which is factual and one that has a flavor of conspiracy as stated by Jack Welsh, probably the greatest CEO in history. Welsh says that the numbers have been cooked by the administration prior to the election. If a minimum of 150K jobs must be created to keep pace with new people just entering the workforce how can a report indicating only 114K jobs created make the unemployment number go down? The factual answer is that the participation rate is the lowest it has been in 31 years and means more people have given up and stopped looking for work and then are no longer counted in the unemployment report. So, when you see that the unemployment rate dropped, keep in mind that it dropped for a VERY bad reason!

 

Former CEO Jack Welsh says white house manipulates jobs data.