New home sales reached their highest level in seven years in February, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, hitting an annual rate of 539,000. That's up from 500,000 in January and represents growth of nearly 25 percent over last February's figure of 432,000.
New home builders told The Wall Street Journal that the uptick was likely related to buyers who were increasingly financially secure as well as persisting low interest rates.
"There's evidence that buyers who had been forestalling or delaying their decision are now comfortable enough to buy," John Johnson, who heads David Weekley Homes, told WSJ. "And there's some awareness that interest rates aren't going to stay down forever."
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-new-home-sales-rise-to-highest-level-since-february-2008-1427205817
I think the market is now healthy enough that the federal government can sell off fannie mae and freddie mac.
rates were damn low in Feb. This makes sense.
Quote from: urbanlibertarian on March 25, 2015, 09:48:25 AM
I think the market is now healthy enough that the federal government can sell off fannie mae and freddie mac.
Those need to remain GSE's. The fact that they were / are still buying is pretty much the only reason the crash wasn't worse than it was.
The private wholesale market evaporated entirely for a couple years, they performed as they were intended to, notwithstanding all the complaining about the losses in congress on the right side of the aisle. These aren't really meant to be run as a fully private enterprise, their purpose is to provide a guaranteed secondary market, which they did.