Chicago's Mortgage - January 20, 2015 Real Estate Trends - Wild January

In the past two weeks we have gone over a review of 2014 and also presented some predictions from economists for 2015. However, no one could have predicted the wild ride the markets would have in January. In early January, after just a few days, we looked like we were headed into the long-awaited stock market correction. It took only a few more days of strong rallies to ease those thoughts for a few days, and then the markets reversed course again. Oil prices are down substantially. And while that may hurt some foreign countries, some stocks and certainly the oil industry, it helps the average consumer. If you consider the peak of oil in 2014, the cost to fill up your car has been almost cut in half. That is a lot of savings. Long-term interest rates are also down which translates into more savings for the consumer. For example, by mid-January rates on home loans were the lowest in more than 18 months. More and more consumers are refinancing home loans and garnering major savings. Lower oil prices and lower rates? The economy must be really hurting. Yet, the December jobs gains tell us that the opposite is true. We just finished a year in which the economy added almost three million jobs, the best year since 1999. On the face of it, rates should be increasing when economic growth picks up. There are many factors holding rates down and most of them are international. The economies in Europe, Russia and in many other countries are not strong. One must remember that we are now in a world economy. Even our growth is uneven with certain states faring better than others and the world is the same way. For our citizens in general, it is a win-win situation. Keith Stewart 773-529-7000