From the OC Register: On a roll: O.C. housing market wraps up a ‘fantastic’ 2015 (ht Ilya)
As the year draws to a close, the latest median home price hit $623,000 – just 3.4 percent below the $645,000 record high of June 2007. From January through November, the county’s median averaged about $604,000, up 4 percent from last year, according to data from real estate data firm Corelogic.
…
In the view of John Burns, a real estate consultant based in Irvine, it was for the most part a “fantastic year… Prices, rents and sales volumes rose at a steady, sustainable pace, and construction levels hit their highest levels in at least 12 years.”
I don’t think renters would think 2015 was a “fantastic year”. Also it has been almost 10 years since prices were close to this high, so inflation adjusted, prices aren’t close to the previous highs.
Weekend:
• Schedule for Week of December 27th
• Ten Economic Questions for 2016
Monday:
• At 10:30 AM ET, the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for December. This is the last of the regional manufacturing surveys for December.
From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: currently S&P futures are down 5 and DOW futures are down 55 (fair value).
Oil prices were up over the last week with WTI futures at $37.92 per barrel and Brent at $37.73 per barrel. A year ago, WTI was at $54, and Brent was at $58 – so prices are down over 30% year-over-year.
Here is a graph from Gasbuddy.com for nationwide gasoline prices. Nationally prices are at close to $2.00 per gallon (down about $0.30 per gallon from a year ago).