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31 » VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM OCTOBER JOB GAINS PUSHING HOUSING TOWARD RECOVERY e labor market is helping to boost housing recovery despite a weak virtuous cycle between the jobs and housing recently, according to research released by Trulia. e percentage of employed 25- to 34-year- olds reported in October (76.2 percent) is still slightly below its pre-housing bubble rate (78 to 80 percent) but is still at its highest level since 2008, which bodes well for the housing market, since 25 to 34 is the prime age for household formation, according to Trulia. Having a job made a big difference in housing among that age group, according to 2014 Census data—only 12 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds with jobs lived with their parents, as opposed to 21 percent of those in that age group who don't have jobs. e Bureau of Labor Statistics recently announced that the overall U.S. unemployment rate hit a new six-year low in October. Another key to housing recovery is job growth in "clobbered metros" (areas affected the most by the housing bust), according to Trulia. Job growth was reported at a 2-percent year-over-year increase in September, which was slightly ahead of the national rate of 1.9 percent for that same period. e clobbered metros with the highest rate of job growth year-over- year in September were Orlando (3.7 percent), Miami (3.4 percent), Jacksonville (3.3 percent), and Las Vegas (2.8 percent). e highest rate of job growth among the top 100 metro areas (clobbered or no) was in Houston, at 4.3 percent. e lowest rate was in Columbus, Ohio, at 0.7 percent, according to Trulia. Residential construction employment, which is an indicator of whether or not jobs are helping the housing market, saw their lowest monthly gain in October (8,000 jobs) since May, according to Trulia. Year- over-year in October, however, residential construction job growth (6 percent) was way ahead of the overall national job growth rate for that period (1.9 percent). is may seem like a slow growth rate when compared to the 19.5 percent increase in the number of units under construction that was reported for September, but upon further examination, the rate of growth for employment in residential construction is high relative to construction activity, Trulia reported. FED: LENDING STANDARDS HOLD STEADY DESPITE WEAKENING DEMAND Credit standards remained largely unchanged over the past three months as demand weakened overall, according to a report from the Federal Reserve. e Fed's Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, which covers a three-month period ending in October, shows credit standards on prime mortgages remained basically steady at 83 percent of reporting banks over the last few months. Of the nearly 14 percent that reported easing their lending criteria somewhat, the vast majority were large banks with assets of $20 billion or more, with only one smaller institution dialing down its standards. Only about 3 percent of banks indicated tighter criteria compared to the last survey, all of which were classified as smaller companies. e numbers were largely the same for subprime and jumbo/nontraditional mortgages. Of the handful of banks that currently originate subprime loans, two-thirds said they kept credit standards unchanged, while the remainder were split between somewhat tighter and somewhat weaker criteria. e survey's results reinforce a frequently cited challenge in the current mortgage market, which analysts say caters mostly to borrowers with near-pristine credit and excludes those with fair or even good profiles. On net, demand for all mortgage types weakened, though changes were mixed in each category. For prime loans, 19.4 percent reported moderately stronger demand, while 20.8 percent saw demand weaken moderately. Notably, the majority of banks experiencing increased demand for mortgages were smaller institutions, leaving larger banks fighting over a smaller share of business. e remaining 59.7 percent of surveyed banks reported no significant change in demand. For subprime mortgages, 83.3 percent of banks said they saw no change in demand, while one reported a slight weakening. Likewise, more than a quarter of banks said demand for nontraditional mortgages weakened, with only about 6 percent saying demand was moderately stronger.

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