About the Beverly Hills Real Estate Market...

Welcome to Monday Motivation and Economic Update. I'm sending this to you as you've requested information about the real estate market in Beverly Hills. The update will give you an overall feel for the economy and how it impacts our local market.

Economic update for the week ending September 7, 2019

130,000 new jobs added in August – The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. employers added 130,000 new jobs in August. That figure was below analysts expectations of 160,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%. Average hourly wages grew 3.2% from last August.

Stock markets higher this week – News that China and the U.S. scheduled trade negotiations in October in Washington helped stocks rally for a second straight week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 26,797.46, up 1.5% from 26,403.28 last week. It’s up 14.9% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,978.71, up 1.8% from 2,926.46 last week. It is up 18.8% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 8,103.07, up 1.8% from 7,962.88 last week. The NASDAQ is up 22.1% year to date.

U.S. Treasury bond yields slightly higher – The 10-year Treasury bond closed the week yielding 1.55%, up from 1.50% last week. The 30-year Treasury bond yield ended the week at 2.02%, up from 1.96% last week. We watch Treasury bond yields because mortgage rates often follow bond yields.

Mortgage rates near record lows – The September 5, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported mortgage rates for the most popular loan products as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 3.49%, down from 3.58% last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.0%, down from 3.06% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.30%, unchanged from 3.31% last week.

If you'd like to have a conversation about how this impacts your moving plans specifically, I'd enjoy having a conversation with you. You can text or call (310) 309-7304.