One dream that, happily, doesn't seem to be going away is the one we Americans have of owning our own home. In fact, in spite of all the negative news we hear about housing, the percentage of Americans who own their home is still the second highest on record, according to the Census Bureau. Even better, new research reveals that up to two million people are planning to jump into the housing market in the next two years.
The study from a business-to-business media company confirmed that Americans place a high value on homeownership across demographic groups, across the country, even where there have been larger declines in home values. Given today's prices and super low mortgage rates, 72% of homeowners and 59% of renters polled said that right now is a "good" or "very good" time to buy! Another study found that 80% of homeowners plan to buy another home and most view homeownership as one of the best long-term investments.
>> This Week’s Forecast
BUILDING NEW HOMES, SELLING EXISTING ONES, CHECKING UP ON INFLATION...
This week gets us back to a look at the housing market. September Housing Starts are expected to be up a tad, just shy of 600,000 new homes a year. But analysts are predicting a slight dip in Existing Home Sales for September, although that figure should still hover near 5 million per year.With the Fed's easy money policies, we have to keep an eye on inflation. For businesses, prices are forecast up slightly for the month, as measured by the Producer Price Index (PPI). The Fed's big focus is always on the Core Consumer Price Index (Core CPI). This excludes volatile food and energy prices and is projected to be up a little, but well within the Fed's target range.
>> The Week’s Economic Indicator Calendar
Weaker than expected economic data tends to send bond prices up and interest rates down, while positive data points to lower bond prices and rising loan rates.
Economic Calendar for the Week of Oct 17 – Oct 21
>> This Week’s Forecast
BUILDING NEW HOMES, SELLING EXISTING ONES, CHECKING UP ON INFLATION...
This week gets us back to a look at the housing market. September Housing Starts are expected to be up a tad, just shy of 600,000 new homes a year. But analysts are predicting a slight dip in Existing Home Sales for September, although that figure should still hover near 5 million per year.With the Fed's easy money policies, we have to keep an eye on inflation. For businesses, prices are forecast up slightly for the month, as measured by the Producer Price Index (PPI). The Fed's big focus is always on the Core Consumer Price Index (Core CPI). This excludes volatile food and energy prices and is projected to be up a little, but well within the Fed's target range.
>> The Week’s Economic Indicator Calendar
Weaker than expected economic data tends to send bond prices up and interest rates down, while positive data points to lower bond prices and rising loan rates.Economic Calendar for the Week of Oct 17 – Oct 21
| Date | Time (ET) | Release | For | Consensus | Prior | Impact |
| M Oct 17 | 08:30 | Empire State Manufacturing Index | Oct | –4.0 | –8.82 | Moderate |
| M Oct 17 | 09:15 | Industrial Production | Sep | 0.2% | 0.2% | Moderate |
| M Oct 17 | 09:15 | Capacity Utilization | Sep | 77.5% | 77.4% | Moderate |
| Tu Oct 18 | 08:30 | Producer Price Index (PPI) | Sep | 0.2% | 0.0% | Moderate |
| Tu Oct 18 | 08:30 | Core PPI | Sep | 0.1% | 0.1% | Moderate |
| W Oct 19 | 08:30 | Consumer Price Index (CPI) | Sep | 0.3% | 0.4% | HIGH |
| W Oct 19 | 08:30 | Core CPI | Sep | 0.2% | 0.2% | HIGH |
| W Oct 19 | 08:30 | Housing Starts | Sep | 595K | 571K | Moderate |
| W Oct 19 | 08:30 | Building Permits | Sep | 610K | 620K | Moderate |
| W Oct 19 | 10:30 | Crude Inventories | 10/15 | NA | 1.344M | Moderate |
| W Oct 19 | 14:00 | Fed's Beige Book | Oct | NA | NA | Moderate |
| Th Oct 20 | 08:30 | Initial Unemployment Claims | 10/15 | 404K | 404K | Moderate |
| Th Oct 20 | 08:30 | Continuing Unemployment Claims | 10/8 | 3.690M | 3.670M | Moderate |
| Th Oct 20 | 08:30 | Existing Home Sales | Sep | 4.94M | 5.03M | Moderate |
| Th Oct 20 | 10:00 | Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index | Oct | –9.6 | –17.5 | HIGH |
| Th Oct 20 | 10:00 | Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) | Sep | 0.3% | 0.3% | Moderate |
