Malden Real Estate Market Updates

Unemplyment Figures Shows Small Gains

The US of Dept. Labor released the latest unemployment figures on December 7, showing that employers added around 146,000 jobs in November, dropping the unemployment rate to 7.7%. This is the lowest it has been since December 2009.

The Wall Street Journal noted 4 keys things from the report.

1. Hurricane Sandy had minimal impact on the latest numbers.
2. On a sector basis, retailers added around 53,000 positions; this
   may have been due to an early Thanksgiving, which made holiday hiring show up early. Healthcare, restaurants, hotels and professional services added positives gains as well. The construction trades lost positions, and
   manufacturing was flat.
3. Even though November numbers showed positive gains, September and
   October numbers had downward revisions.
4. Gains have been small, but somewhat consistent over the last year.

On the downside, the Journal also noted even though the unemployment numbers dropped overall for November, the labor force participation rate, which is the percentage of people either working or are looking for work, continues to drop. According to the Journal, about 3 million more workers were either working or looking for work in 2009 than in November 2012.

Mortgage Rates

According to the Freddie Mac survey, average mortgage rates increased for the week ending Thursday, December 6, 2012. The average 30 year mortgage increased from 3.32% to 3.34% and the average 15 year mortgage increased from 2.64% to 2.67%.

Mortgage rates one year ago were 3.99% and 3.27% for the 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgages.

Snapshot of the Malden Real Estate Market

Source: MLS Property Information Network

Paul Weston is Broker/Owner of Paul Weston Real Estate, a full service Real Estate Office serving Malden and the Greater Boston area.

Follow me on Twitter: @PH_Weston

Website, including contact information: www.liveinmalden.com