Inflation Pressures Are Easing but Rate Cut Forecast Remains Uncertain

The New Year is beginning where the old one ended -- with uncertainty about when – or whether – the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates.

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Get ready for more good housing news.  Sales volumes are higher than they have been since the downturn began, inventories are lower, the percentage of distressed sales has declined and prices have increased for 10 consecutive months.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has finalized the “ability to repay” regulations requiring lenders to verify that home buyers can afford the mortgages they receive. 

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It’s too soon to know if the Cliff (in fiscal cliff) will join the Chad (in ‘hanging chad’ from the Florida election recount) on the list of names no one chooses any more for their newborns. But ‘debt’ and ‘ceiling’ not being likely choices for girls or boys, the crisis-in-waiting over the national debt ceiling isn’t likely to expand the endangered names list.

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The skin-of-their-teeth Congressional action that avoided a national plunge over the fiscal cliff also rescued a measure that allows homeowners who participate in a short sale (selling their homes for less than they owe on the outstanding mortgage) or restructure their mortgages, to avoid tax liability on the debt forgiven under those transactions.