The Labor Department reports the economy created 156,000 new jobs in August, that was short of the 170,000 jobs expected by economists. The unemployment rate rose 0.1% to 4.4% from 4.3%. Last month it fell to a 16-year low. The average hourly wage rose 3 cents to $26.39 an hour. Wages have risen 2.5% in the past 12 months, unchanged from July.
Hurricane Harvey could have a more destructive impact on the mortgage market in Texas than Katrina did on the Gulf Coast, according to a Black Knight Financial Services. It says there are twice as many mortgaged properties in Harvey’s disaster area, with nearly four times the unpaid principal balance as in the parts of Louisiana and Mississippi declared a disaster area in 2005. Of the almost 1 million mortgaged homes in the Texas disaster area, about 56% have mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. If Harvey has an impact on the Texas market similar to Katrina’s, it will mean over 75,000 borrowers will be unable to make a mortgage payment in the next two months, and 45,000 will become seriously delinquent or even face foreclosure in the next four months.
Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK.
