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Daily Archives: October 7, 2014

Community Credit Profiles: Mortgage Markets

New York Fed OverviewExplore Maps: “Community Credit Profiles provide local information on credit access and use to help inform community development policymakers and practitioners. Indicators are updated twice a year at the national, state, and county levels to enable peer comparisons and program and activity benchmarks. Homeownership is a widely acknowledged marker of economic well-being, especially for under-served communities. As such, monitoring and assessing the health of local mortgage markets is of continuing interest for a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Mortgages are only a partial indicator of community well-being, however. Other Community Credit Profiles will examine community credit more directly from the perspective of local borrowers and view mortgages as a component of the entire portfolio of credit products and services held by individuals.

The Mortgage Market Profiles view our communities through the lens of 1-4 family mortgages and address the following types of concerns:

  • To what extent have local home prices recovered relative to the national peak levels of April 2006? Under the Home Prices tab, if the measure is positive, then prices have fully recovered and homeowners are most likely once again building equity in their homes.
  • What percent of existing-home sales are due to distressed properties? This measure helps gauge the possible influence of distressed properties on local housing markets.
  • What percent of 1-4 family mortgages are 90 or more days past due? A high value for this measure indicates financial difficulties and distress for local homeowners.
  • What percent of 1-4 family mortgages are in foreclosure? The higher this measure, the more distressed homeowners and/or properties in that geography. (For locational comparisons, please note that these values are higher in the so-called ‘judicial’ states because of their legal process).”

Heroin overdose deaths increased in many states through 2012

CDC – “Heroin deaths increased sharply in many states, according to a report of death certificate data from 28 states published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Despite these findings, still more than twice as many people died from prescription opioid overdoses as died from heroin… Continue Reading

NSA Releases “12333” Report, Fails to Address Bulk Collection

EPIC: “The NSA released a privacy report on its surveillance activities under 12333, an Executive Order that provides broad authority for data collection. But the report only addresses a narrow aspect of the EO 12333 collection – protections for U.S. persons in the context of targeted signal intelligence activities. The report fails to address bulk collection or… Continue Reading

The Global Movement and Tracking of Chemical Manufacturing Equipment

“Dual-use applications for chemical manufacturing equipment have been recognized as a concern for many years, and export-control regulations worldwide are in place as a result. These regulations, in conjunction with the verification and inspection requirements of Article VI of the Chemical Weapons Convention, are designed to support non-proliferation of manufacturing equipment suitable for production of… Continue Reading

Which Employees Are Delaying Retirement and Why?

Those delaying retirement tend to fit a certain profile, By Steve Nyce. September 25, 2014. “34% of workers under 40 believe that retirement delays among older workers are restricting their career opportunities. Aside from retirement savings, health and stress have the strongest links to retirement timing. Offering employees greater retirement security can help employers cultivate a less… Continue Reading

Oral History Interviews – Association for Diplomatic Studies and Trainin

“The more than 1800 oral histories completed over the past quarter century stem from the contributions of many individuals who gladly provided their expertise and numerous insights regarding U.S. diplomatic history and several others who selflessly volunteered their time to help edit the interviews. If you would like to volunteer to be interviewed or help… Continue Reading

GAO – HOUSING FINANCE SYSTEM: A Framework for Assessing Potential Changes

A Framework for Assessing Potential Changes – GAO-15-131: Published: Oct 7, 2014. Publicly Released: Oct 7, 2014. “Developments in the single-family housing finance market from 2000-2013 led to changes in the federal government’s role in the housing finance system and ultimately to a significant increase in that role. For example: Before the 2007-2009 financial crisis, the market… Continue Reading

McKinsey – Realizing the power of talented women

Michelle Angier and Beth Axelrod – “During the summer of 2013—about two and a half years after the start of a major effort to increase the number and proportion of senior-leadership roles held by women at eBay Inc. —we conducted a global gender-diversity survey on the attitudes and experiences of our top 1,700 leaders. The survey revealed some… Continue Reading