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Celebrity power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie reduced the asking price of their New Orleans home, slashing the price by $850,000, bringing it to $5.65 million. Per Zillow:
Originally, the French Quarter mansion was listed in May of this year for $6.5 million.
But this isn’t last the city will see of the couple. According to the article, the two aren’t walking away from New Orleans and will look for “something off the beaten path down the road.”
The article said the home has five bedrooms and five baths, along with other ornate details, including Venetian plastered walls, marble mantles and fireplaces, crown moldings and a grand spiral staircase.
Read more: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie slash price of their NOLA mansion
While Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen did not refer to the possibility of a rate hike during the upcoming Fed meeting, she said the current outlook and the flow of data since the central bank's last meeting in October are "consistent" with the rate hike criteria spelled out by U.S. policymakers, an article in Reuters said.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen opened a Congressional committee hearing on the U.S. economy on Thursday with an upbeat assessment of where the country stands as the Fed marches towards its first interest rate hike in a decade.
"I currently judge that U.S. economic growth is likely to be sufficient over the next year or two to result in further improvement in the labor market," Yellen told lawmakers. "Ongoing gains in the labor market, coupled with my judgment that longer-term inflation expectations remain reasonably well anchored, serve to bolster my confidence in a return of inflation to 2 percent."
Back in November, in a speech before the House Financial Services Committee, Yellen formalized the possibility of a rate hike in December, telling the Committee that December’s meeting is a “live possibility” for a rate increase.
From the Wall Street Journal recap of Yellen’s testimony:
The Fed expects “the economy will continue to grow at a pace that’s sufficient to generate further improvements in the labor market and to return inflation to our 2% target over the medium term, and if the incoming information supports that expectation, then our...
Read more: Yellen: Economy still on track for December interest rate hike
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased again, marking the third consecutive week of declines, the most recent results from Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Survey reported.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.93% for the week ending Dec. 3, 2015, down from last week when it averaged 3.95%. Last year, it averaged 3.89%.
Also falling, the 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.16%, down from last week when it averaged 3.18%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.10%.
The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.99% this week, down from last week when it averaged 3.01%. In 2014, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.94 percent.
The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.61% this week, up from 2.59% last week and 2.41% a year ago.
Click to enlarge
(Source: Freddie Mac)
"Treasury yields ticked down 3 basis points after weak manufacturing data. In response, the 30-year mortgage rate dropped 2 basis points to 3.93%,” said Sean Becketti, chief economist with Freddie Mac.
“After the survey closed, Yellen implied that the economy is ready for a rate hike in December. However, all eyes remain on this Friday's jobs report, the last significant release prior to the FOMC's meeting,” he added.
Read more: Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates drop further below 4%
Seven years after the mortgage crisis, and the placing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship under the independent federal agency, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Obama administration still must address the issues that are of great importance to consumers seeking to buy a home, lenders who seek to finance those purchases and the future viability of the U.S. mortgage market.
The independent FHFA has failed to advance the policies required by the Housing and Recovery Act of 2008 and the administration continues to stand pat, waiting for Congress to act legislatively. Treasury Secretary Lew and Michael Stegman, Senior Housing Policy Advisor to President Obama recently articulated this approach.
While the regulatory and safety and soundness authorities included in HERA meant the GSEs may not have actually required government support in the first place, these authorities have not been implemented due to the government control of the companies.
As a result, rather than holding more than the inadequate amounts of capital they held before the crisis, the GSEs have no capital at all. Their earnings are sent to the Treasury rather than retained to build capital and the GSEs are forced to rely on government support.
As Washington wrings its hands over the Federal Housing Administration’s 2% reserve number (it is backstopped by the federal government), Fannie Mae’s reserve capital is .06%. That’s not a typo: the FHA has 33 times the reserves of Fannie Mae, a...
Read more: Exclusive: Josh Rosner and Glen Corso on why it's time for true GSE reform