June 2012

Step one foot into this 8,800 square foot penthouse and the first word that comes to mind is "incredible."

The space is wide open delineated by marbleized balustrades, swirled vitrolite columns and curved glass block walls. The beamed, pine ceiling that ranges in height from 12 to 26 feet, with skylights, gives a true sense of expansiveness highlighted by an indoor Japanese garden. And if you like to entertain, welcome to paradise! Be amazed by the party kitchen, parquet dance floor and bar area which leads to your private terrace offering some of the most fabulous views of downtown St. Louis!

This truly is downtown's most unique and historically rich dwelling. Many of the interior's most spectacular features are relics of old St. Louis buildings.

Brace yourself, the next few days could prove to be rather exciting depending on how Europe receives the news on the elections in Greece.

Investors were focused on events in Europe this week, ahead of Sunday's Greek elections. The US economic data released during the week was generally weaker than expected. Anticipation of action by global central banks helped mortgage rates end the week a little lower.

The highly anticipated elections in Greece took place on Sunday, and investors hope that the outcome will help reduce some of the uncertainty in Europe. The elections featured a conservative party which supports the EU bailout package against a radical leftist party which opposes the bailout plan. Had the leftist candidate won, it likely would destabilize

Following a large improvement in mortgage rates and a large decline in stocks last week, investors partially reversed direction this week. The European Central Bank (ECB) and the Fed were the main focus, providing a degree of comfort, and investors were a little more willing to take on risky assets. This was negative for bonds, however, and mortgage rates ended the week modestly above last week's record low levels.

The high degree of uncertainty about the troubles in Europe and the pace of US and global economic growth remains a major influence on US mortgage rates. In general, the uncertainty causes investors to reduce risk, which supports low rates. In addition, it tends to produce a higher level of volatility, which was evident this week. Reports about

Weaker than expected US economic data and continuing concerns about Europe were positive for mortgage rates, which declined to record low levels this week.

Nearly all of the economic data released this week, including GDP, ISM Manufacturing, Consumer Confidence, and Pending Home Sales, fell short of expectations. Most significantly, for the third consecutive month, the important Employment report disappointed investors. Against a consensus forecast of 150K, the economy added just 69K jobs in May, and the figures for prior months were revised lower by 49K. The Unemployment Rate unexpectedly increased to 8.2%, from 8.1% in April. In short, the data was weak in nearly every area. As usual, bad news for the economy was positive for mortgage rates.

Growing

The new-home market in Las Vegas continues to improve with 347 sales in April, a 34.5 percent increase from the same month a year ago, Home Builders Research reported Wednesday.

Builders are seeing more traffic through new-home subdivisions as resale inventory has tightened, a result of Nevada's robo-signing law that has slowed foreclosure activity.

For the year to date, new-home closings have increased 20 percent to 1,220.