FEMA: Public Assistance Available for Five More Counties in North Carolina
Five more North Carolina counties affected by Hurricane Florence are now eligible to apply for federal assistance to help pay for the cost of debris removal, emergency protective measures and permanent repair work to damaged infrastructure. FEMA announced that state and local government agencies in Alamance, Madison, Polk, Rowan and Tyrrell counties may be eligible…
FHFA: Indices Show Little Movement in Mortgage Rates in September 2018
Nationally, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages were nearly flat from August to September, according to several indices of new mortgage contracts. The National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders Index was 4.62 percent for loans closed in late September, down 1 basis point from 4.63 percent in August….
ABA: Report Shows Credit Card Market Expanded in Second Quarter 2018
Credit card use picked up in the second quarter of 2018, according to the American Bankers Association’s latest quarterly Credit Card Market Monitor. Compared to a year ago, super-prime accounts increased 9.2 percent and prime accounts rose 6.6 percent, both record highs. Meanwhile, subprime purchase volumes expanded at a much slower pace (+3.0 percent) on…
HUD and Census Bureau: New Residential Sales Report for September 2018
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for September 2018: New Home Sales Sales of new single-family houses in September 2018 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 553,000. This is 5.5 percent (±12.1 percent)* below the revised August…
FHFA: House Price Index Up 0.3 Percent in August 2018
U.S. house prices rose in August, up 0.3 percent from the previous month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) seasonally adjusted monthly House Price Index (HPI). The previously reported 0.2 percent increase in July was revised upward to 0.4 percent. The FHFA monthly HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages…
SBA: Shawn Pensoneau Appointed to Office of Native American Affairs
Administrator Linda McMahon of the U.S. Small Business Administration announced the appointment of Shawn Pensoneau as the Assistant Administrator for the SBA’s Office of Native American Affairs. In this role, he will oversees the office’s collaboration with American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians who seek to create, develop and expand small businesses and ensure…
FDIC: Share of U.S. Households without a Bank Account Continues to Drop
Unbanked Rate Declines to 6.5 Percent in 2017 For the third consecutive survey period, the number of U.S. households without a bank account fell, according to the results of the 2017 biennial National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households released today by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). “The good news is that our nation’s…