St Casimirs Mortgage Minute

From ABA Daily Newsbytes--


Home Price Growth Moderates

Home prices in 20 major metro areas rose 1.1 percent in May, according to yesterday’s Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index release. Home prices in the Case-Shiller 20-city composite were up 9.3 percent year-on-year, a slower annual growth rate than in April. All 20 cities saw price growth in May, with the biggest year-on-year growth in Las Vegas, San Francisco and Miami.


Consumer Confidence Improves

The Consumer Confidence Index rose from 86.4 in June to 90.9 in July -- reaching its highest level since October 2007 -- the Conference Board reported yesterday.

“Strong job growth helped boost consumers’ assessment of current conditions, while brighter short-term outlooks for the economy and jobs, and to a lesser extent personal income, drove the gain in expectations,” said the Conference Board’s Lynn Franco. “Recent improvements in consumer confidence, in particular expectations, suggest the recent strengthening in growth is likely to continue into the second half of this year.”