It might not entirely be out of the woods but the US economy ended the year a lot stronger than it began.
With most major markets, including property, recording gains in the second half of the year, President Barack Obama said the “recovery was real.”
Obama gave an end of year address last week and said 2014 had been a “year of action” on the economy.
He said the US had benefited from “more jobs, more people with medical insurance, a growing economy, shrinking deficits and bustling industry.”
He also pointed out the US had become the world’s leading producer of oil and gas.
Happier times for the US economy than the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/08, government bail-outs to industry an…
This year could be the year the US economy finally shrugs off the remnants of the Global Financial Crisis and starts to act like the world’s largest economy.
As 2014 closed and the new year began the signs were looking good for the US, with low inflation, cheap money, rising house prices, a growing job market and plenty of oil and gas.
Last year was a good one for the job market and as of November the US had already enjoyed its biggest year of employment growth since 1999. It is well placed to continue in to this year.
The residential property market in the big centers regained the ground lost in the GFC and prices are back or above where they were in 2008 in most cities.
Wall Street…
With falling property prices at home, Chinese investors are increasingly looking to Australasia to buy property.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced recently new home prices in November had dropped by 3.3 per cent over 2013, the third straight month prices had dropped.
The NBS also announced prices had dropped in 67 of the 70 major cities they monitored.
House prices had been rising by as much as 9.6 per cent in some months in early 2014, but have significantly cooled off as the year closes.
In contrast Chinese investors have been increasingly looking at this part of the world to invest in.
Simon Henry, chief executive of international property website Juwai, which helps C…
