Real Estate Latest Trends

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The most trend followed today is that National banks are already operating and trying to find a spot in the insurance and securities industries and they are continuing their push to enter into real estate transactions.”? In a 5-3 decision today the Supreme Court ruled that mortgage lending subsidiaries of federally chartered banks are subject to federal oversight but it is not considered as a state regulation. Michigan regulators had sought to block the operations of Wachovia Mortgage Co., a subsidiary of Wachovia Bank, after the subsidiary surrendered its registration in Michigan. State law required bank subsidiaries to register with a state regulatory agency and submit to state supervision. The Court’s ruling gives a tremendous competitive advantage to federally chartered banks over financial and non-financial competitors as it increases the value of the federal charter at the expense of state licensing, marketplace competition and potentially even consumer protection measures.

Since mid-October 2007, interest rates have continued to drop with the average 30-yr fixed rate mortgage recently dancing just around 6%.

Analysis
It’s a mix-No way can the negative impact that cutbacks in construction of new homes, flat home prices, and the continuous decrease in consumer spending continue to make on the overall economy. Manufacturers experienced increases in overseas orders, but this is mostly because of weakened value of the dollar. Some positive things have happened though.

Service companies that have become part of the majority of U.S. jobs continue to report some growth., treasury notes fell and and the S&P stock index rose which signalled optimism on interest rates holding before the Fed convened. Any increase in growth seen in the third quarter could just stop because of the troubled financial markets, the cosnstruction’s downturn, the continuous increase in cost of fuel and food and declining values of homes.

It is foreseen that most probably the Feds will cut the Federal Funds Rate when it convened the next month.