FHFA: House Price Index Up 0.6 Percent in August 2023; Up 5.6 Percent from Last Year
U.S. house prices rose in August, up 0.6 percent from July, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) seasonally adjusted monthly House Price Index (HPI®). House prices rose 5.6 percent from August 2022 to August 2023. The previously reported 0.8 percent price increase in July remained unchanged. For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from…
Census Bureau: New Data on Minority-Owned, Veteran-Owned and Women-Owned Businesses Released
The U.S. Census Bureau today released new estimates on the characteristics of employer businesses. According to the 2022 Annual Business Survey (ABS), which covers reference year 2021, there were approximately 5.9 million employer firms in total, of which, 1.2 million (21%) were minority-owned, 304,823 (5.2%) were veteran-owned, and around 1.3 million (22%) were owned by women. This release also…
ABA: National Survey Finds Bank Customers Use Mobile Apps More Than Any Other Channel to Manage Their Accounts
For the fourth year in a row, U.S. consumers are conducting their banking via mobile apps more often than any other method, according to a new survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the American Bankers Association. The national survey found that consumers continue to embrace digital banking channels, with 48% of bank customers…
HUD and Census Bureau: New Residential Sales Report Released for September 2023
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for September 2023: New Home Sales Sales of new single‐family houses in September 2023 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 795,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census…
SBA: Anniversary of Women’s Business Ownership Act Celebrated and FY Lending to Women-Owned Businesses Announced
SBA-Backed Loans to Women-Owned Small Businesses are Up 70% Under Biden-Harris Administration Today, Administrator Isabel Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, celebrated the 35th anniversary of Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988 (H.R. 5050) by announcing new data showing SBA-backed…
CFPB: Report Finds Credit Card Companies Charged Consumers Record-High $130 Billion in Interest and Fees in 2022
Consumers with revolving debts on average pay far more in interest and fees than get back in rewards The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today released its biennial report to Congress on the consumer credit card market. The report found that in 2022 credit card companies charged consumers more than $105 billion in interest and…
Census Bureau: Current Population Survey Modernization Efforts Set to Launch
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are launching a joint effort to modernize the Current Population Survey (CPS) and announce proposed plans to implement changes to ensure sustainability. Developed in the 1930s to meet the increased needs for unemployment, the CPS has been conducted in its present form since 1948. It…
SBA: Significant Increase in Lending to Black-Owned Small Businesses Announced
Total Number and Dollar Amount of SBA-backed Loans to Black-Owned Small Businesses See 2.5x Increase Under Biden-Harris Administration Today, Administrator Isabel Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, announced new SBA data showing that SBA-backed loans to Black-owned small businesses…
ABA: New National Survey Finds Majority of U.S. Consumers Think Congress Should Examine Whether Credit Unions Provide Enough Community Benefit to Warrant Existing Tax Exemption
U.S. consumers are generally unaware of the differences between banks and credit unions and believe credit unions should be held to the same standards as the banks they compete with for customers every day, according to a new survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the American Bankers Association. A wide majority of respondents…
FHFA: New Uniform Appraisal Dataset Appraisal-Level Public Use File Published
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today published its new Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) Appraisal-Level Public Use File (PUF). “As accurate home valuations are vital to the mortgage market, publishing transparent data on appraisals while protecting borrowers’ personally identifiable information provides useful information to the public in a responsible manner,” said FHFA Director Sandra L. Thompson. “Today’s announcement…