Will the Economic Recovery Shut Down? October 2013 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook MCLEAN, VA--(Marketwired - Oct 22, 2013) - Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) released today its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for October showing that the federal government shutdown, debt ceiling issues, and the slowing economy -- including the severely depressed level of new home construction -- are slowing the housing recovery heading into the fourth quarter of the year. A short preview video and the complete October 2013 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook are available here. Outlook Highlights By the end of the year, expect mortgage rates to be around the 4.3 percent level, and head higher in 2014. Due to the government shutdown, weve revised down fourth quarter growth projections by 0.5 percent. Inventories remain tight at a 5 months supply as of September due to negative equity, a declining supply of distressed sales, and a severely depressed level of new construction. Expect the U.S. economy to add less than 1 million housing units in 2013 and around 1.15 million in 2014, significantly below normal levels. Construction employment is 1 to 2 million jobs below trend levels, which is roughly 1 year of non-farm payroll growth at current levels. Expect the ramping up of residential construction to take a while, and while economic growth will improve over the next year, the economy wont be operating at full potential until sometime after 2015. Quote Attributed to Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. The housing recovery keeps chugging along despite a constant barrage of disruptions to the broader economy. Were likely going to see the housing recovery slow down, but not shut down, as we close out the rest of this year due to tight inventories in many markets, rising mortgage rates and slumping consumer confidence. Fortunately, the housing recovery should continue to absorb the economic shocks in stride and improve next year. Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nations residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Today Freddie Mac is making home possible for one in four home borrowers and is one of the largest sources of financing for multifamily housing. For more information please visit FreddieMac. Twitter: @FreddieMac The financial and other information contained in the documents that may be accessed on this page speaks only as of the date of those documents. The information could be out of date and no longer accurate. Freddie Mac does not undertake an obligation, and disclaims any duty, to update any of the information in those documents. Freddie Macs future performance, including financial performance, is subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect the companys future results are discussed more fully in our reports filed with the SEC.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 22:23:33 +0000
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