26 Mar 2004 Employment Is Improving

If the majority of Americans feel uneasy about their employment status as the media and certain politicians claim, they don’t show it when it comes to buying homes and taking on larger mortgages.  New home sales for February surprised to the upside while mortgage applications were down only .2% from historic highs.  Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation’s two largest purchasers of mortgages, are forecasting another record year for home sales amid low interest rates.  The 30-year fixed mortgage is within a half a percent of the all-time low.