News
FATTEN UP
January 20, 2011
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| Stewart Title chief economist Ted Jones says now is “the time tooverweight your portfolio in real estate, both residential and commercial.” Our Houston reporter ran into Ted at an IREM meeting where the rest of his comments weren’t as positive. After a 1.37% loss in jobs over the past decade, the US will have to create 14M jobs to return to 2000 levels. The silver lining: Texas gained 10.7%in that span. That and our status as the 13th best business tax environment in the US should be attractive to companies. Ted’s eye is also on federal debt: If one-year rates rise to 1%, annual interestpayments on federal debt will triple to $1.23T. If debt doubles as projected, annual interest payments rise to $2.46T. Going forward? He believes mortgage rates are the lowest they’ll be in his life and gas will hit $5 a gallon in the next 36 to 48 months because the value of money is decreasing as we borrow to fund the deficit. |
