Random Economic News

There are a couple of positive economic notes in today’s news. RealtyTrac reports that nationwide foreclosures dropped 9 percent in March and an additional 2 percent in April compared to the previous month. Now that we are a good three years into the housing crisis, it would appear that foreclosures may have finally reached their peak and we will see foreclosure numbers continue to decline.
The negative effect of foreclosed properties on all surrounding properties is well documented. While this negative impact should begin to slowly mitigate as foreclosure numbers drop, it is still far too early to declare victory over the housing crisis. An estimated 25 percent of all homeowners still owe more on their homes than they are worth. It will likely take years before the housing market gets back to some semblance of normalcy — and before homeowners can once again feel their home is a valuable asset and not a net negative to their financial well being.
On the employment side, first time unemployment filings declined again for the fourth straight week. This news comes on the heels of a solid April job growth number of 290,000.
These are not giant leaps ahead for the economy, but they can be looked at as baby steps in the right direction.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/13/real_estate/april_foreclosures/index.htm?hpt=T2
http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/13/news/economy/initial_claims/index.htm