30-year mortgage rates decline to near-record lows
WASHINGTON >> The average rate on the U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage last week dipped closer to the lowest on record, a trend that is making home buying more affordable and also enabling more Americans to refinance their loans.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate on a 30-year loan declined to 3.35 percent from 3.37 percent last week. That’s not far from the 3.31 percent rate of about a month ago, the lowest on record dating to 1971. The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage was unchanged at 2.65 percent. The record low is 2.63 percent.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 3.66 percent this year, the lowest annual average in 65 years. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac, said the average 30-year rate has fallen 0.6 percentage points this year. That would save a homeowner $98,000 in interest payments over the life of a $200,000 loan, he said.
Silicon Valley light rail among least efficient
SAN JOSE, Calif. » A $2 billion light-rail system built to serve San Jose and some surrounding cities in Silicon Valley has become among the least efficient in the country and suffers from low ridership and high operating costs.
As the Valley Transportation Authority rail line marked 25 years of service this month, the San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday that less than 1 percent of all Santa Clara County residents ride the trains daily, and taxpayers subsidize 85 percent of the service, the second-worst rate in the nation. Critics are calling the system a failure, and even some optimistic supporters say it has not lived up to expectations.
Kevin Connolly, VTA transportation planning manager, told the newspaper that the transit line is a work in progress and is still burgeoning, as it was built along onion fields with expectations that new homes and businesses would grow along the train route.
"I believe we are ultimately going to realize the (original) vision," Connolly said. "But I think what’s happened is that it wasn’t quite as easy or quick as originally conceived of 30 years ago."
The light rail line costs about $66 million to operate per year. It’s 30 percent more expensive to operate and carries 30 percent fewer riders compared with other light rail operations in the United States, the Mercury News reported.
The cost to carry one passenger round-trip, $11.74, is 83 percent more than the national average and the third worst in the nation, ahead of only train services in Pittsburgh and Dallas.
Apple CEO’s pay drops to $4.2 million
NEW YORK » Apple CEO Tim Cook got $4.2 million in pay for the latest fiscal year, a modest sum compared with last year, when the company’s board set him up with stock now worth $510 million for taking the reins in 2011.
Cook’s pay for fiscal 2012, which ended in September, consisted of $1.4 million in salary, a bonus of $2.8 million, and $17,000 in company contributions to his 401(k) account and life insurance premiums, according to a filing.
Apple Inc.’s board saw no need to give Cook additional shares in 2012 after the sign-on grant of 1 million shares in 2011. Half of those shares vest in 2016 and the other half in 2021. A lot could happen to the value of the shares before Cook can cash them out, but the sign-on grant made him — at least on paper — the highest-paid U.S. CEO in 2011.
Cook did vest into shares worth $140 million in 2012. Those shares were granted earlier, when he was chief operating officer. He had been acting CEO for a while before the death of company co-founder Steve Jobs in October 2011.
Jobless aid applications near 5-year low
WASHINGTON » The average number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits over the past month fell to the lowest level since March 2008, a sign that the job market is healing. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 350,000 in the week ended Dec. 22. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell to a nearly five-year low of 356,750.
Still, the Christmas holiday may have distorted the figures. A department spokesman said many state unemployment offices were closed and could not provide exact data. That forced the government to rely on estimates. Normally the government might estimate application data for one or two states. Last week it had to use estimates for 19.
New-home sales surged 4.4% in November
WASHINGTON » Americans bought new homes last month at the fastest pace in more than 21⁄2 years, further evidence of a sustained housing recovery.
Sales of new homes rose 4.4 percent in November from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 377,000, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That’s the fastest pace since April 2010, when a federal tax credit boosted sales.
New-home sales have also increased 15.3 percent over the past year, although the improvement comes from depressed levels. Sales remain below the 700,000 that economists consider healthy.
4 retailers recall unsafe baby recliners
Four major national retailers — including Amazon.com, Toys R Us/Babies R Us, Buy Buy Baby and Diapers.com — are voluntarily recalling more than 150,000 Nap Nanny baby recliners after reports of at least five infant deaths.
At the request of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a government agency, the companies said they are calling back Nap Nanny Generations One and Two as well as the Chill model of the recliner.
The products, according to the agency, "contain defects in the design, warnings and instructions, which pose a substantial risk of injury and death to infants."
Aside from the fatalities, the agency said it received nearly 100 of reports of children hanging out or nearly falling over the sides of the seats, despite usually being placed in a harness. The portable recliners feature a foam base shaped like a bucket seat and a fitted fabric cover.
The recall affects the 55,000 now-discontinued Generation One and Generation Two models sold between 2009 and 2012 as well as the 100,000 Chill models sold in 2011 and after. The products were all priced around $130.
On the Move
Cades Schutte has announced the following new associates to the firm:
>> John P. Duchemin is an associate in the litigation department.
>> Gabriel F. Gorman is an associate in the finance and real estate department.
>> Andrew V. Nelson is an associate in the finance and real estate department.
>> Trisha L. Nishimoto is an associate in the litigation department.
>> Summer G. Shelverton is an associate in the trusts and estates department.