_Economy and Finance

Related News: Economy, Real Estate, U.S. U.S. Existing Home Sales Unexpectedly Decreased in July By Alex Kowalski - Aug 18, 2011 06:25 AM Sales of U.S. previously owned homes unexpectedly dropped in July, reflecting an increase in contract cancellations due to strict lending rules and low appraisals.

U.S. Consumer Defaults Fall In March. Existing Home Sales Rise (00:18:36 min) The Standard & Poor's/Experian consumer default composite index fell to 2.43% in March from 2.54% in February. All the major sectors, such as bank cards, auto loans, and first and second mortgages, reported declines. As for U.S. housing, sales of existing homes increased 3.7% in March following a significant decline of 8.9% February. In this podcast, Standard & Poor's Senior Director Erkan Erturk discusses the significance of these statistics and how they could affect the structured finance and housing sectors. Listen