April 2012

Home Ownership & Vacancy Rates for Q1 2012 - Lowest Home Ownership Since Q4 1996

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The Census Bureau released the Q4 home ownership, rental and vacancy rates for Q1 2012. Home ownership dropped 1.0% from Q1 2011 to 65.4%, a 0.6% drop from last quarter. This is the lowest home ownership rate since the end of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997.

 

Real Consumer Spending Increased 0.1% for March 2012, Real Disposable Personal Income Up 0.2%

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Consumer spending increased 0.3% from last month, but after taking price increases into account, showed only a 0.1% increase. Personal consumption expenditures are often called consumer spending. Real Personal Consumption Expenditures, or PCE, are about 71% of GDP. Real means chained to 2005 dollars, thus adjusted for inflation. Below is a graph of real PCE.

 

Saturday Reads Around the Internets - Over Half of New College Grads Can't Find a Job in 2011

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shocknews Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

 

53.6% of New College Grads are Jobless or Underemployed in 2011

Dr. Andrew Sum crunched the numbers and for those graduating from college with a Bachelors we have some startling news. A whopping 53.6% of those under the age of 25 who have a college degree are either unemployed or unable to land a job in a field associated with their college major. Associated Press:

Q1 2012 GDP 2.2%

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Q1 2012 real GDP showed 2.2% annualized growth.. This article overviews and graphs the BEA statistical release for first quarter gross domestic product.

 

 

Q1 GDP saw much less of an increase in private inventories build up, part of investment, an increase in personal consumption and a not to be believed increase in exports.

As a reminder, GDP is made up of: Y=C+I+G+{\left(X-M\right)} where Y=GDP, C=Consumption, I=Investment, G=Government Spending, (X-M)=Net Exports, X=Exports, M=Imports*.

The below table shows the percentage point breakdown of individual GDP components contribution to overall GDP. The difference, or spread, between Q4 and Q1 components is by percentage points.

 

Comparison of Q4 2011 and Q1 2012 GDP Components

Component
Q4 2011
Q1 2012
Spread
GDP +2.96 +2.20 -0.76
C +1.47 +2.04 +0.57
I +2.59 +0.77 -1.82
G –0.84 –0.60 +0.24
X +0.37 +0.73 +0.36
M –0.63 –0.74 -0.11

Foreclosures Increased in Q1 2012

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Realtytrac reports foreclosures are up in 54% of metro areas for Q1 2012.

First quarter foreclosure activity increased from the previous quarter in 114 out of the nation’s 212 metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more.

First quarter foreclosure activity increased from the previous quarter in 26 out of the nation’s 50 largest metro areas, led by Pittsburgh (up 49 percent), Indianapolis (up 37 percent), Philadelphia (up 30 percent), New York (up 24 percent), Raleigh, N.C. (up 23 percent), and Virginia Beach, Va. (up 22 percent).

The biggest quarterly decreases in foreclosure activity among the 50 largest metro areas were in Portland, Ore. (down 28 percent), Las Vegas (down 26 percent), Providence, R.I. (down 24 percent), Salt Lake City (down 22 percent), Boston (down 21 percent), and San Jose, Calif. (down 21 percent).

Lender Processing also reported mortgage deliquencies are down -6.8% from February and are currently 7.09% of all mortgages. Since March 2011 delinquencies have declined -​8.8%. That said, foreclosure inventory is up 0.1% and stands at 2,060,000. That is a hell of a lot of foreclosures that need to be sold.

For the year, foreclosure activity is down in 64% of metro areas.

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