Interest Rates, Employment, & Building Permits in Des Moines

Here are a couple real estate related data points I like to track on a monthly basis.

The most important of these is employment, which rose 0.6% from last year.  This number, while not great, is encouraging since it is the only the second month of positive growth we have seen in the last year.  We are finally gaining jobs instead of losing them.  Let’s hope this growth continues!

While employment is the BEST leading indicator of the housing market, another one is housing permits.  The number of permits issued grew at a 9% annual pace last month.  We haven’t see the seasonal drop in permits this year, which is very interesting.  Either we’ve hit a bottom, or the bottom will fall out over the coming months.  Looking forward to finding out.

Finally, interest rates continued their decline in December, down from 3.99% in November to 3.96%.

Think looking at data and leading indicators is beneficial to your house buying endeavor?  Me too.  Call or e-mail me to set up an appointment and we can discuss all the information available to make a great housing decision!