By Tony Stevenson/SWBC Mortgage
Economic News Week: January 24, 2011
The DOW continued its 8th straight week of gains last Friday closing at 11,871. As 4th quarter corporate earnings begin to roll in, most are beating expectations which in turn is helping stocks. Southwest Airlines reported a 13% increase in profits as a stronger economy led more people to fly. New York banking giant-Morgan Stanley earnings rose 60% in the last three months of the year on strong banking results. One recent report stated that Americans are starting to get their household finances in order. From the encouraging earnings reports, major banks say fewer mortgages are going bad, credit card defaults are down and more people are paying their bills on time. Personal spending accounts for about 70% of the U.S. economy and most economists agree that a fiscally fit consumer is critical to a strong economic recovery. Most economists would also agree that another way to a strong economy is through education. If so, then why cut education?
Local Economic News
San Antonio's December jobless rate fell to 7.6% from 7.8%. San Antonio's unemployment total is still stronger than Texas' and the nation's. The State's is 8.3% while the nation's is 9.4%. Austin's, however is even better as it boasts a 6.8% unemployment rate. The San Antonio/Austin areas are primed for more jobs. The announcement last week that San Antonio-alone will be producing some 27,300 jobs for 2011. This is progress in anyone's book.
Real Estate and Mortgage Industry News
San Antonio was the fourth most-popular real estate market in the country for online searches in 2010, according to Realtor.com. After San Antonio, Austin was in the top ten as well. The top 10 most searched real estate markets in 2010 were established based on the number of visitors that viewed properties in each city between January and December 2010 on Realtor.com. Mortgage rates remained about parr for the week. A flitter here and a flitter there caused rates to remain active, but not far from the 4.870% range of last week for the 30 year index.. Still, rates remain at very attractive levels which seems to be causing a stir in the purchase market.