FILE-In this Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, a home with a room for rent is seen in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012. Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages have risen for a fourth straight week, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012, remaining slightly above record lows. Cheap mortgages have helped fuel a modest housing recovery this year. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Paul Sakuma, AP
For most, a poor jobless report is a bad thing, including President Obama. But, homebuyers can look on the bright side as mortgages rates drop.
U.S. employers only added 96,000 jobs last month, according to Friday’s report from the Labor Department. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent, but only because many of the unemployed have stopped looking for work.
“We still see some areas where we need more improvement,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis told Bloomberg. “That’s why we need to have cooperation with the Congress. They’ve got a proposal up there, the American Jobs Act, that would help create a million jobs.”
But, the jobless report isn’t bad for everyone.
Despite the jobs report, yields on Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage securities fell to their lowest point in five years, according to Bloomberg. The drop in yields has staved off the effects of the European debt crisis on mortgage rates, lowering them from 3.66 percent to 3.55 percent.
EMAIL: jferguson@desnews.com
TWITTER: @joeyferguson
DeseretNews.com encourages a civil dialogue among its readers. We welcome your thoughtful comments.
— About comments
Joey Ferguson is a business reporter for the Deseret News who focuses on public finance. He joined Deseret News after graduating from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a bachelor's degree in journalism in May 2011. He more ..
- Writers offer personal finance advice to Obama
- IRS probe ignored most influential groups on...
- Former middle-class moms choose new identity...
- New app helps consumers purchase products...
- Dick Harmon: Utah analytics company breaks...
- Is the Wii U already becoming outdated?
- West Davis Corridor project unveiled amid...
- Two new hotels announced for downtown Salt...
Subscribe
Mobile
RSS
- Writers offer personal finance advice...
25 - New app helps consumers purchase... 8
- Obama: 'Our focus cannot drift' from... 7
- Two new hotels announced for downtown... 6
- West Davis Corridor project unveiled... 6
- Tea party tax returns show small... 5
- IRS probe ignored most influential... 4
- Ty Kiisel: Small-town businesses across... 4
I agree that first time home buyers who are in stable and reasonably well-paid employment, and have earned good credit ratings have a strong potential advantage.
Those who have bought a new home or are seeking to do so, but cannot sell More..
A good point, buyer and sellers the same party as offsetting manipulated polls. I think governmemt is trying to push people into homes again as if its our responsibility to sustain an indebted nation. They don't get it, buying a home is More..