A week ago the Federal Open Market Committee stated an intent to keep interest rates low through late 2014 due to “low rates of resource utilization” amongst other economic conditions. Today, payrolls in the U.S. increased 243,000, the unemployment rate dropped to 8.3%, and the markets are currently happy.
∙ Expect An Exceptionally Low Federal Funds Rate Through Late 2014 [SocketSite]
∙ Unemployment Drops to 8.3%; Payrolls in U.S. Jump 243,000 [Bloomberg]
I hope 2012 will be remembered like 1995 or 1996 when we were coming out of a jobless recovery towards a great expansion.
What it means for SF RE is everybody’s guess. It looks like RE might lag behind GDP growth and lower unemployment, due to the RE crash hangover. I wouldn’t discount a very cautious return to positive years.
Non seasonally adjusted there were 2.9 million fewer jobs over the past two months.