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| Florida |
| Home building on the increase in Florida
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Construction of single-family homes rose in July for the fifth straight month, edging up almost 2 percent to the highest level since last October. Building permits climbed nearly 6 percent. Each new home built creates about three jobs on average and generates about $90,000 in taxes paid to local and federal authorities.
Editor's Comment: This is a good read
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Housing slowdown prompted big changes
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Davis also noted that construction in Sarasota County was at a 20-year low in 2008, with $318 million worth compared to $2 billion worth just before the boom went bust in 2006. In Manatee County, building for the first seven months of this year was down 36 percent compared with the same time frame last year.
Editor's Comment: Lots of State wide facts.
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| @ | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Mortgage Loan Delinquency Rates Rise - But Pace Is Slowing
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| Mortgage loan delinquency (the ratio of borrowers 60 or more days past due) increased for the tenth straight quarter, hitting an all-time national average high of 5.81 percent for the second quarter of 2009. Traditionally seen as a precursor to foreclosures, this statistic is up 11.3 percent from the previous quarter's 5.22 percent average. For comparison purposes, fourth quarter 2008 to first quarter 2009 saw an increase of almost 16 percent, indicating a continuing deceleration in delinquencies for the second quarter. Year-over-year, mortgage loan delinquency is up approximately 65 percent (from 3.53 percent).
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| @ Transunion | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Florida population drops for 1st time since 1946
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| Florida’s population has declined for the first time in 63 years, state researchers said Monday as they blamed the recession for plunging tax revenues and a steep drop in new residents. The decline — 58,000 people over the past year — is the first since large numbers of military personnel left the state in 1946 after World War II.
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| @ Bradenton Herald | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Midwest |
| Bill would ban some felons from mortgage broker licenses in Wisconsin
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| Drug dealers, embezzlers and extortionists would be among the felons banned for life from obtaining a mortgage broker's license. The bill, which has 11 co-sponsors in the Assembly and Senate, also would slap the lifetime prohibition on those convicted of felonies involving theft, forgery, perjury or deceit. The Journal Sentinel reported that more than 340 admitted criminals - including drug dealers, burglars, thieves and a killer - held broker's licenses last year. Brokers take loan applications - documents that contain a person's detailed financial history - and arrange mortgage loans.
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| @ Milwaukee Journal | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Minnesota's top CEO packages
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| Median total pay of chief executive officers in recession-racked 2008 was down about 38 percent from 2007.
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| @ Minneapolis Star Tribune | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Nonperforming loans make M&I Bank vulnerable
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| M&I was named in the report as the largest U.S. bank with nonperforming loans making up 5 percent or more of its holdings. Regulators say that when the percentage of bad loans reaches that level it can wipe out a bank's equity and threaten its survival.
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| @ Wisconsin State Journal | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0415 EDST
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| National |
| Wholesale prices tumble 0.9% last month
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| The 6.8 percent decline in prices over the past year was the biggest since the government began keeping such records in 1947.
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| @ Chicago Tribune | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Family Housing Starts And Permits Rise In July
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| Fifth consecutive month of improvement in single-family housing starts and a fourth consecutive month of improvement in single-family permits
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| @ National Association of Home Builders | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Housing permits down 1.8% from June
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| Privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 581,000. This is 1.0 percent below the
revised June estimate of 587,000 and is 37.7 percent below the July 2008 rate of 933,000. Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 490,000; this is 1.7 percent above the revised June figure of 482,000
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| @ U.S. Department of Commerce | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Foreign investors continue buying Canadian securities
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| Non-resident investors acquired $10.5 billion in Canadian securities in June, with considerable investments in both federal government debt instruments and equities. And Statistics Canada reports Canadian investors purchased $1.4 billion of foreign securities, all equities.
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| @ Toronto Star | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0646 EDST
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| What do Chinese farmers have to do with the price of copper? Plenty
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| Forget the sluggish U.S. economy. The biggest threat to the stunning rebound in base metal prices could come from Chinese pig farmers. Easy access to credit from Chinese banks has apparently inspired hog producers in Guangzhou province, investing-astute citizens in Zhejiang province and residents of the northern scrap metal trading hub of Anxin county to speculate on the price of copper and nickel.
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| @ Globe and Mail - CA | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0652 EDST
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| U.S. 'cash-for-clunkers' stimulating Canada
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| The U.S. government's cash-for-clunkers scheme was devised in part to buck up the top lines of Detroit's fragile automakers and fuel the U.S. manufacturing sector. But it's turning into an equally big windfall for their Japanese-based competitors -- and boosting orders at auto factories outside the United States. Canada is feeling the positive effects, even if it has only a modest scrappage program of its own.
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| @ Financial Post - CA | Posted: 08/19/09 at 0655 EDST
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