Mortgage rates have continued to fall over the past week, setting record lows for both 30-year and 15-year contracts, mortgage giant Freddie Mac stated Thursday.

The 30-year benchmark now stands at 3.79 percent, down from 3.83 percent a week ago, with an average “point” fee of 0.7 percent of the mortgage value. The 15-year fixed rate average fell to 3.04 from 3.05 percent.

“The European debt crisis overshadowed improving economic indicators for the U.S. and granted Treasury bond yields and fixed mortgage rates to ease for another week,” Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft stated in a statement.

There is some evidence that a low rates combined with a gradually growing U.S. economy are injecting some life into the housing industry.

Housing starts rose to an annualized rate of 717,000 homes in April, well above the market consensus forecast, and construction on one-family homes increased to its strongest pace in three months, Nothaft noted. Homebuilder confidence also rose to its highest reading since January 2008 according to an industry survey.

Rates on adjustable mortgages edged up in the past week but are still historically low at an average 2.83 percent for a five-year ARM.

CNBC’s Diana Olick reports a drop in new mortgage delinquencies last quarter and are finally back to the historical long-term average of around 3.1%.

Austin, Texas, is one of the most high-tech specialized cities in the country, with 53.6 percent of manufacturing jobs classified as high-tech compared to the national average of just 16.1 percent.

By Michael Sauter, 24/7 Wall St.

Not all manufacturing jobs are created equal — and certainly not manufacturing pay. According to a new study released by Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program, manufacturing wages differ widely between massive cities. Workers in McAllen, Texas, earn an average of roughly $35,000 per year, while those in Silicon Valley earn an average of more than four times that. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 cities with the highest-paid manufacturing jobs.

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The Brookings report performed a detailed study of the composition and pay of manufacturing in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan regions. It appears that the biggest determinant of whether manufacturing jobs are high- or low-paying is the type of industry or industries operating in the region. High-tech manufacturing positions, which include the production of computers and electronics, pharmaceuticals and medicines, and aerospace products and parts, pay the highest salaries.

These three categories have the first, second and fourth highest average wages of all types of manufacturing. Computer and electronics manufacturers make an average of more than $95,000, and those in pharmaceuticals production earn an average of more than $100,000. Many of the production jobs in nine of these 10 cities are in one of these three high-tech categories. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif., has massive pharmaceutical and computer parts industries.

On top of a region having one or more of these three high-paying industries, there appears to be other drivers in play. Based on the configurations of industries in these cities, Brookings estimated what the average salary should be in these areas. Even then, the actual average manufacturing wages in nine of these regions were 20 percent higher than their expected wages. In the case of San Jose, the actual average manufacturing salary of $144,899 was more than double the expected wage considering its industry makeup.

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These are the 10 cities where manufacturing pays the highest.

24/7 Wall St.: Six cities where rents are skyrocketing

While manufacturing jobs in the Austin metro region took a severe dive for most of the past decade, they began to rebound in the past few years. Between the first quarter of 2010 and the fourth quarter of 2011, manufacturing jobs increased 7.2 percent, more than two and a half times the national growth rate. Austin is one of the most high-tech specialized cities in the country, with 53.6 percent of manufacturing jobs classified as high-tech compared to the national average of just 16.1 percent. Those in high-tech manufacturing jobs in the region are paid an average of $118,416, approximately $68,000 more than the average pay across all jobs in the area.

5. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California

Manufacturing in the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura declined 22.2 percent, less than the national decline of 33.2 percent. However, between the beginning of 2010 and the end of 2011, those jobs decreased by 3.3 percent, more than all but a handful of the largest cities in the country. Oxnard’s manufacturing industry specializes in information technology, with computers and electronics representing 22.5 percent of manufacturing jobs. Pharmaceuticals come in second, at 20.1 percent. The average manufacturing wage in the region is $87,502 — roughly $35,000 more than the regional average wage.

Click here to read the rest of cities where manufacturing jobs pay the most at the 24/7 Wall St. site.

Nearly 78% of homes sold during the first quarter were inexpensive to those earning the national median income of $65,000, according to a report released Thursday by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo.

The reason: Home prices nation-wide are off about 36% from their peak. Median income has risen by about 10%. And mortgage rates are below 4%.

There is one catch for home buyers, however: Mortgage availability.

“Homes in this year’s first quarter were more inexpensive than they have been at any time in more than 20 years, yet many potential sales are not happening,” stated Barry Rutenberg, NAHB’s chairman and a homebuilder in Gainesville, Fla. He stated that is mainly due to overly tight lending conditions.

“Without this significant hurdle, the housing and economic recovery could be proceeding at a much stronger pace,” he said.

Most and least inexpensive markets: Among massive metro areas, Indianapolis was America’s most inexpensive housing market with 96% of all homes sold easily afforded by the typical family, according to the report.

Wages in Indianapolis are reasonably high with the median family income at $66,900, almost $2,000 above the national median. Meanwhile, the median price for homes sold there during the first three months of 2012 was a mere $102,000.

Other major markets that topped the most inexpensive list included Dayton, Ohio, where 94% of homes sold were considered comfortably affordable; Lakeland, Fla., with a 93% affordability score and Modesto, Calif. at 93%.

Decidedly unaffordable was New York, where only 31% of homes sold were inexpensive to median income families, who earned $69,200. The median home price in the metro area was $400,000.

Other least inexpensive massive markets included San Francisco (40%), Honolulu (48%), and Los Angeles (50%).

In smaller markets, Cumberland, Md. topped even Indianapolis with 99% of homes sold inexpensive to median income families in the area. Homes sold for a median of $80,000 there, with local families typically earning about $53,000.

The least inexpensive small market was Ocean City, N.J., with an index rating of 46% for families earning the median income of $71,100. Other costly housing markets in this category included Santa Cruz, Calif., San Luis Obispo, Calif., Santa Barbara, Calif. and Laredo, Texas.  

First Published: May 17, 2012: 10:07 AM ET

The 30-year fixed mortgage, the most popular mortgage product, dipped by 0.04 percentage points to 3.79%, according to a weekly survey by Freddie Mac. Last year, 30-year loans averaged 4.64%. The new low can save borrowers $50 a month for every $100,000 borrowed. Over a 30-year term, that comes to $21,874.

The 15-year fixed mortgage, which is popular among those looking to refinance, inched down 0.01 percentage points to 3.04%, according to Freddie Mac’s survey. That’s down from 3.82% a year ago. The new 15-year rate would lower borrowing costs to $693 a month for every $100,000 borrowed, a $38 savings compared to last year.

Ongoing economic turmoil in Europe is, in part, responsible for the continued slide in mortgage rates, according to Freddie Mac’s chief economist, Frank Nothaft.

“The European debt crisis overshadowed improving economic indicators for the U.S. and granted Treasury bond yields and fixed mortgage rates to ease for another week,” he said.

As for economic conditions here in the U.S., Nothaft pointed to recent reports that showed improvements in industrial production, consumer sentiment and new home construction.

Affordable mortgages, combined with much lower home prices, should also help to bolster the housing market.

Rates are nearly half what they were at the peak of the housing bubble in mid-2006. At the time, the median price of a U.S. home was about $250,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders, and the average interest rate was about 6.75% for a 30-year loan.

A person who purchased a home in 2006 with 20% down would have made payments of $1,300 a month. Today, a person who purchases a median priced of home of about $162,000, would pay less than half that amount, about $600 a month.  

First Published: May 17, 2012: 11:55 AM ET

Three weeks ago, some clients wrote a $1.25 million offer on a 1,400 square foot 3-bed, 1-bath house with original kitchen and bath near San Francisco’s Dolores Park. They were not even close. There were 51 offers. It sold for $1.4 million and closed 8 days after offers were due.

That’s the most offers I’ve seen in 10 years. And a different property at that week got 23 offers.

Two weeks ago, another client offered $245,000 over list price on a 3-bed, 2-bath Pacific Heights condo. One of the other 9 offers was the winning bid in this $1.6 million to $1.9 million market segment. That was my client’s fourth rejected offer. He’s looking at two properties in this price range this week, and the listing agents are reporting similar demand: about 10 serious buyers circling.

That’s the norm. It’s what some are calling The Facebook Effect on San Francisco real estate.

There are three main themes that set fire to this trend starting in late-2011:

1. Rushing to purchase before IPOs set ever higher bars for tech firm valuations

2. City incentives keep tech companies in San Francisco, amplifying wealth effect

3. Limited housing inventory and rising rents in San Francisco

Let’s take them one at a time …

1. RUSH TO BUY HOMES BEFORE TECH BOOM PUSHES PRICES UP

The San Francisco buyer mindset is that they want to get in before they are priced out, but they either have not reaped their firm’s windfall yet or do not anticipate much if any windfall from their firm.

This mindset dictates a common approach: purchase ASAP for the least down. A expensive market often means jumbo loans above $625,500, which means that the least down is 20%.

Jumbo loans are still quite painstaking to get approved and closed. When San Francisco was in a similar (but less intense) frenzy in 2005-2006, it was simple to close jumbos in 15 days. Now it’s 25 days at ideal (the occasional deal heroics aside). And even though a fast close is a critical factor, price still wins most of the time when sellers receive a stack of offers.

Tech valuations are a large reason for this buyer mindset.

It started slow with LinkedIn’s (LNKD) IPO one year ago and picked up steam ahead of Zynga’s (ZNGA) December IPO and through Yelp’s (YELP) March IPO. Then as though the Facebook IPO hype machine needed any fuel, they purchased another San Francisco company, Instagram, for $1 billion last month.

Facebook has set the tone for billions rather than mere millions like we saw with Yelp. And there are plenty of still-private San Francisco firms with valuations in or near the billions, like these:

Twitter: $8 billion+ Dropbox: $4 billionSquare: $1- 2 billionPath: $1 billion (if Google & Facebook fight for it)AirBnB: $1 billion

Don’t forget companies just down the road in Silicon Valley that employ lots of San Francisco residents like:

Pinterest: $1- 5 billionQuora: $1 billion

You can argue against these absurdly high valuations all you want but thousands of liquid millionaires are being created before and after these firms go public — and the impact on our property market is real.

On top of this you have your tech money machines like Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Google, (GOOG, Fortune 500) eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) and Salesforce (CRM) that provide high incomes for thousands more AND remain a ready takeout option for countless startups all over Silicon Valley and beyond.

But let’s be clear: I’m speaking about San Francisco, not Silicon Valley.

And that leads us to the second large reason for the San Francisco home buyer rush.

2. JOBS NOW FAR MORE LIKELY STAY IN SAN FRANCISCO

With Mayor Ed Lee’s reelection in November 2011, tech firms became more confident about controlling cost structure if they stay in the city.

Lee, a 23-year veteran of SF government, was appointed interim mayor January 2011 when Gavin Newsom vacated the slot to start his post as California’s lieutenant governor.

Lee’s top priority at the time was to keep Twitter from leaving.

So Twitter threatened to split and (this time last year) the city responded by limiting total annual payroll tax on stock compensation of newly public companies to the higher of $750,000 or a firm’s 2010 payroll tax bill.

It kept Twitter in the city … with a couple strings: they had to move to a designated redevelopment area so their growth can contribute to revitalizing the rougher mid-Market and Tenderloin areas West of downtown — which they are doing now by refurbishing the old San Francisco Mart at 1355 Market. And the payroll tax break on stock income runs out in 2017.

Not that the policy will even last that long. The city already bent the rule and granted the tax break for Zynga even though they are not in the redevelopment zone (they have a lease in the Potrero Hill neighborhood that runs through 2018). Also there is already speak of replacing tax on payrolls with a tax on gross revenues.

But the theme is clear: San Francisco will do what is necessary to keep tech firms in town.

And if the firms stay here to create stability and wealth for thousands here, those thousands spend their money here.

Which of course leads us to third large reason for the San Francisco real estate fervor.

3. RENTS SPIKING, HOUSING INVENTORY INCREDIBLY LOW

Now we have established that hundreds or thousands of people are looking to purchase homes that were not doing so in the past several years, what is their available inventory?

My friend Patrick Carlisle, chief market analyst at Paragon Real Estate Group, helped me answer this question.

Only 5,500 to 6,000 homes sell in San Francisco each year. If you focus down to better neighborhoods, that reduces the number to about third of that range.

So when droves of newly wealthy individuals suddenly rush to a low-inventory market at the same time, it can drastically impact the market. Especially in the higher price points above $1.5 million, a segment in which there are only 550-600 sales per year.

And yeah sure, sellers are holding back until they see even more buyer froth. So inventory can jump short-term when more sellers finally list their homes. But those numbers I just laid out are still the annual ranges.

Here’s how San Francisco house and condo pricing breaks down by neighborhood right now.

And here are three more detailed charts on pricing. First up is a short-term chart of median house and condo prices that shows a sharp price increase since November. Then the next two provide some longer-term context for house and condo prices across the city.

So yes, The Facebook Effect on prices is real. And rents are rising even faster. Here’s some key data points (and accompanying charts) I pulled from RentBits:

Rents for all apartment sizes: +16% since JanuaryRents for 1-bedroom apartments: +23% since JanuaryRents for all house sizes: +25% since JanuaryRents for 2-bedroom houses: +40% since January

I know this post has gone a bit long, but hopefully it helps you comprehend what is going on at ground level in San Francisco. And even then, the data I’ve given is not specific enough for individual decision making.

Housing decisions are street to street, house to house. Housing is not efficient like other capital markets so you have to price houses one at a time. And I’ve covered how to price a home.

You also have to to purchase vs. rent math one at a time. But for now the trend (since late-Fall) is still holding where more than half of scenarios I review pencil in favor of buying.

That’s math I understand. Can’t state the same for the Facebook IPO math. And because of the wealth effect it represents, I cannot state purchase vs. rent math will continue to pencil either. But I’ll keep watching it for you…

Follow Julian Hebron to stay up to speed on housing: Twitter | Facebook | StockTwits. 

First Published: May 17, 2012: 12:47 PM ET

I love having all types of birds in the yard, even though it can get a tiny LOUD in the early morning. I try and provide an environment to attract birds, including food, water and shelter. I even leave the overgrown yew out front, because I know the cardinals like it. If your yard could use a tiny more bird song, here are some tips from Melissa Mayntz, our Guide to Wild Birds.

That realization struck Carla and Pieter Schulting the moment that the house across the road from them in the Dutch village of Wassenaar came up for sale in the late 1990s. More spacious than their own home, the neighbor’s property also offered a bigger garden, a particular attraction for the couple’s three small children. They wasted no time making an offer, sold their house, and were ready to move in.

But it quickly became apparent that they might have acted a bit too impulsively. The new house had added space and charm, but it lacked light. Its layout did not adequately serve the needs of a young family. Worse, there were not really enough walls.

They thought there was no realistic way to remodel the newly bought house into the warm family home they truly wanted. And not only was rebuilding costly, modern architecture did not suit their aesthetic. They preferred an old home, one with history, one with a story to tell, that would suit them and their massive collection of 19th-century Dutch paintings.

To the rescue came Vlassak-Verhulst, a company based in Antwerp whose team of architects, designers, carpenters and artisans builds new homes with repurposed, aged materials.

Together, the Vlassak-Verhulst designers and the Schultings concurred to demolish the existing home and build a new one in the style of an English manor — an architectural design that would not only fulfill the family’s needs but also would harmonize with similar houses in Wassenaar, home to Holland’s wealthiest elite, including Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. (The average home in Wassenaar is valued at slightly less than €900,000, or $1.15 million; €4,275 per square meter, or $505 per square foot.)

The completed home, thanks to an assortment of architectural sleights-of-hand, looks as if it had grown organically over generations, rooms repurposed, balconies erected or removed. Brickwork, for instance, simulates a covered-over window below the roofline; glass appears to have transformed an arched portico into an enormous picture window — but no portico was ever there.

Other details combine practicality and aesthetics, while embracing the old Cotswold character of the main architectural design. A little window set high on the wall in the first-floor study echoes the faux bricked-up window beneath the eaves while also allowing light deep into the room. A group of small-scale works by Zero artists, including a 1962 Jan Schoonhoven and a 1965 Günther Ueker newly added to the couple’s collection, line up beneath.

Elsewhere, both indoors and out, whimsical details like the 19th-century carved rooster set into a garden wall contribute to the careful fiction of the home’s “history.” But the craftsmanship worked into the home reflects the care of its builders.

Jo Lauryssen, sales director at Vlassak-Verhulst, stated the company normally selected materials in keeping with the architecture: “English tiles for an English house, Belgian for a Belgian house.”

But for this particular six-bedroom, five-bath manor, local regulations forced some adaptation. The English bricks were declared too red and, as Mr. Lauryssen put it, “not Dutch enough.”

Consequently, the century-old brick laid along the garden pathways previously lined Amsterdam’s Ruysdaelstraat, while those used for the house came from a 19th-century Antwerp hospital. Vlassak-Verhulst workers recut each brick by hand, many of which then were cleaned by Pieter Schulting as they were put in place.

The Schultings, in fact, remained closely involved with the construction. As they had sold their old house before the new one was built, the couple already had disposed of most of their furniture. They loaned their artwork to the West Fries Museum and, free of belongings, the family lived on the site, using the garage and a some temporary buildings.

“It saved them a great deal of money — maybe €4,500 to €7,500 a month, which they could then invest in the house,” Mr. Lauryssen said.

Twelve years later, now surrounded by his 250-square-meter, or 2,690-square-foot, home, Mr. Schulting still refers to the family’s garage days as “one of the ideal times of my life.”

The completed villa (with a new garage and guest house) still reflects something of those months: casual and intimate, with extensive views of the gardens and simple access to both indoors and out.

Abundant windows keep the house bright, even during the Netherlands’ short winter days and often rainy afternoons. Two outdoor fireplaces — one outside the kitchen, the other in an entertainment pavilion beside the heated pool — grant the family to gather, and even to dine outdoors in cooler weather.

Wrought-iron balconies hug several upstairs windows, including that of the master bath, which overlooks manicured gardens and streams.

And at the heart of the house, the spacious combined kitchen and family room opens onto the terrace.

The family is not alone in their enjoyment of the house. Neighbors have called on Vlassak-Verhulst to create similar homes in this 900-year-old forested community on the North Sea coast. The company estimates that 50 percent to 60 percent of its profit now comes from the Netherlands, something Mr. Lauryssen credits to the Schultings’ enthusiasm.

For the family, time has brought its own changes. The couple have begun modernizing their art collection, trading in Raoul Dufy paintings for works by Alighiero Boetti, Jaume Plensa and Lucio Fontana. There has been speak of modernizing the house as well. But for now, the Schultings have built their dream home, and there are walls still left to fill.

One reason is the stimulus that the property market received during the last few years, thanks to government and private investment in new developments. Funds have been invested in the luxury marina at Port St. Charles, on the western coast, with facilities for residents to berth yachts as long as 250 feet, or 75 meters.

Money also has been channeled into luxury residences at Sugar Hill and exclusive golfing communities at Sandy Lane and Royal Westmoreland — not to mention a variety of townhouse developments all over the island. The government now is considering whether to help finance a Four Seasons hotel project, as bank lending remains tight.

Kieran Kelly, the chairman of Chesterton Barbados, a division of the British real estate company Chesterton Humberts, stated buyers had long been attracted to the resilience of the island’s property market — especially compared with the price fluctuations seen in other parts of the Caribbean.

Even though prices in some parts of Barbados have fallen 10 percent to 15 percent since 2008, he noted, beachfront homes dropped only about 5 percent on average, and some have experienced no decline at all because of their prime locations.

Mr. Kelly stated there was no index or official price analysis of island sales. However, he said, a beachfront home now costs from $2,500 to $600 per square foot, or $26,750 to $6,420 per square meter, while inland prices are $1,000 to $250 per square foot. (Although Barbados officially switched to metric measurement in the early 1970s, real estate agents still use square feet to measure area. Also, top-end properties generally are valued in U.S. dollars.)

Mr. Kelly added that, in his opinion, the island was in the same category as the exclusive islands of St. Barts, Mustique, Anguilla, St. Lucia and Grenada when it comes to real estate.

Agents state that property prices on smaller Caribbean islands with less developed infrastructure have fallen 20 percent to 25 percent, or even more, since 2008.

Known as “Little England” — people on Barbados play cricket, and their legal structure mirrors Britain’s — this former British colony of about 280,000 has long had strong appeal for British, American, Canadian and European buyers. The island’s western and southern coasts are known for their calm waters and long beaches, while the eastern coast is known for rougher waters and rugged cliffs.

Although the island, at about 431 square kilometers, or 166 square miles, is small, it routinely attracts wealthy and well-known visitors, and its home owners include Simon Cowell, Wayne and Coleen Rooney and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Rihanna, who is from Barbados, is often on the island.

Adding to the appeal of Barbados is the number of direct flights available from cities as diverse as New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; London; Frankfurt; and São Paulo. The island is four and a half hours from New York and seven and a half from London. Many major cruise lines also have stops.

Of all the properties on Barbados, few rival the Royal Westmoreland development, an exclusive five-star spa, golf, and beach resort on about 303 hectares, or 750 acres, in the west coast parish of St. James.

Its centerpiece is a championship golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., even though it also boasts a number of pools, floodlit tennis courts, a spa, and a private beach club at Mullins Bay.

The resort is selling a series of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, ranging from $429,000 to $925,000, and villas that top out at about 7,500 square feet for $5,950,000.

Plots range from 15,000 square feet to 80,000 square feet, and, because of their elevation, all include sea views. New building sites are being released continually at Royal Westmoreland, and villas can be designed to suit buyers’ tastes.

“We’re consistently attracted to items that occur in multiple contexts across the globe and throughout history,” Cohen adds. “The arrow shows up in every culture on every continent. So do kites.”

The 21st-century Brooklyn iteration of this ancient form is built on a bamboo frame, with a sail made of either Japanese rice paper or Indian kite paper. The largest of the four kites, which the duo are calling Floralia (after an ancient Roman holiday celebrating spring), is covered in pressed flowers, glued to a rice-paper sail. The three others, named Morning, Noon and Night, feature silk-screened patterns — dots, stars, florals and an image of a mythological beast — that have become a sort of leitmotif in Frederick & Mae designs. The kites, which will also be for sale at Matter ($64 to $160), would look as beautiful on a wall as they would in flight; it’s probably best, one imagines, not to fish with them.

Fredericks & Mae kites, $64 to $160. Go to mattermatters.com.

It’s no secret that many Americans have long relied on credit cards and other forms of debt to get what we want, or what we need.

But a new survey finds that even in the wake of the Great Recession, we may not be totally honest with ourselves about whether we are living beyond our means.

The survey of about 3,000 Americans finds that about half of the respondents spend more than they earn at least a few months out of the year.

Yet only about 1 in 10 respondents stated their current lifestyle is more than they can afford. The vast majority stated their lifestyle is about what they can afford.

The survey was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on behalf of Country Financial as part of the company’s monthly measure of financial security.

Of the people who spend more than they earn at least some of the time, about 36 percent stated the primary response is to dip into savings to meet their financial obligations. About 22 percent stated they use credit cards to cover the gap, while 12 percent delayed paying the bills.

The good news is that half the people surveyed – 46 percent – rarely or never spend more than they earn in a given month.

The difficult economy has had a devastating impact on many Americans’ finances, and that has forced some to rely more on credit cards and other forms of borrowing because they don’t have the money to meet monthly expenses.

For many the recession and recovery served as a wake-up call to pare back on credit card debt and get their finances under control.

Recently, however, there have been signs that people are feeling more comfortable again about taking on debt. The Federal Reserve stated last week that Americans increased borrowing in March for things like vehicles and education, and also used their credit cards more.

Americans also may be living beyond their means because they have less money than they used to. The nation’s median household income has fallen by about 7 percent from its peak in 1999 after adjusting for inflation.

One in four Americans has more debt than savings

Do you think you are living beyond your means?

Financial experts Jean Chatzky, David Bach, and Sharon Epperson tackle viewers’ financial dilemmas, including how to afford insurance and open a retirement account, and whether to take early Social Security benefits when you are unemployed.

In Tuesday voting, virtually all the state’s school and library budgets were approved, the New York State School Board Association said. Nearly 93 percent adhered to the Cuomo tax cap.

Cuomo, 54, attributed part of his 2010 landslide win over Republican Carl Paladino to his advocacy of a 2.5 percent property tax cap, which would serve as a brake on taxes.

New York residents are among the highest-taxed in the U.S. Suburban property taxes account for between 65 percent and 70 percent of overall property taxes, with the remainder for counties, towns, villages and special districts for parks, sewers, fire and water.

The school board association stated 48 of 675 school districts wanted to exceed the cap. In that case, at least a 60 percent majority was required for approval. Twenty nine of those budgets passed.

Those school districts, as well as many other agencies such as the Town of North Hempstead, have stated they cannot abide by the cap because of large, mandated costs, mainly pensions for retired workers.

Cuomo, in emails and statements last week, took credit for the general adherence by the school districts to the cap and stated it was a means to ensure the schools would maintain high quality while keeping taxes under control.

The approvals also suggest Cuomo’s popularity remains high, as he faces 2012 legislative elections in which Democrats will try to regain control of the senate, which they lost in 2010.

As well, Cuomo, who ran his dad Mario Cuomo’s winning campaigns for governor starting in 1982, recalls the drubbing the elder Cuomo took in 1994, when voters turned down school budgets partly due to frustration over taxes.

The elder Cuomo lost the Governor’s Mansion to Republican George E. Pataki, a say senator from Putnam County.

New Yorkers also elected trustees to non-salaried seats on local boards of education which prepare the budgets. In Syosset, in Nassau County, Joshua Lafazan, 18, was elected after a campaign where the $541,000 annual salary of the superintendent of schools was an issue.

In upstate Belleville, William Allen, also 18, was elected to the board for the Belleville Henderson Central School District.

The elections of teenagers to school boards is not new: 40 years ago, State Comptroller Thomas P. Napoli, a Democrat now of Great Neck, was elected at 18 to the Mineola School Board, which included the schools of his hometown of Albertson, in Nassau County.

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Its Residential Development Land index shows that the value of green field land with planning consent remained unchanged outside London, after rising by 1.3% last year. This partly reflected the broad stability in house prices across the UK between January and March.

But prices in prime central London also remained unchanged, in the first three months of the year, after a 20% rise in 2011. Demand levels for development land for luxury London homes remained robust, but there is evidence that funding sources are weighing on prices.

Prices remained stable across the UK in the first three months of the year, reflecting the wider movement in house prices, which have also remained broadly static. This comes after a 1.3% rise in development land values in 2011.

Land prices fell in the North West between January and March, while prices in the West Midlands and Greater London picked up. Prices in all other regions remained unchanged.

‘As house builders reported in their trading updates over the past month, viewings and sales have been positive across the board during the begin of the year, suggesting a market which continues to recover from the trough seen in 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis,’ stated Gráinne Gilmore, head of UK Residential Research.

‘But supply remains very limited, a reflection of the slowdown in the number of land owners applying for planning in 2009 and 2010. As a result, there are fewer sites with planning consent available. In addition, given the introduction of new planning rules, it is now taking longer to achieve planning in many areas, further exacerbating the lack of supply,’ he explained.

She pointed out that house builders are still absorbing the potential impact of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which could weigh on land prices outside London. ‘Furthermore it may deter land owners from putting their land up for sale at this stage in the market,’ she added.

While prices have been flat, this contrasts with demand as buyers continued to demonstrate a good appetite for sensibly priced opportunities. ‘Developers and investors alike remain keen to secure schemes. However their approach is one of realism as they are aware that unsupportable assumptions will not find favour with their funding sources,’ stated Gilmore.

The average 30-year mortgage fell to 3.79 percent, down from the previous record low of 3.83 percent in the prior week, and below 4.61 percent in the prior year.

“The European debt crisis overshadowed improving economic indicators for the U.S. and granted Treasury bond yields and fixed mortgage rates to ease for another week,” stated Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Positive indicators included U.S. industrial production rising 1.1 percent in April, the largest gain since December 2010, and consumer sentiment reaching its highest reading since January 2008, according to the University of Michigan. Housing starts also rose to an annual rate of 717,000 in April, beating forecasts, and the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index reported the highest homebuilder confidence level in over four years.

The rate for 15-year fixed mortgages fell to 3.04 percent, from 3.05 percent in the previous week, and 3.80 percent in the prior year. Five-year Treasury-indexed adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) rose to 2.83 percent, from 2.81 percent in the prior week, but below the 3.48 percent in the previous year.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 2.78 percent, up from 2.73 percent in the previous week, but below 3.15 percent in the prior year.

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The monetary crisis in the Eurozone is driving up the cost of borrowing for high street banks in the UK and they are set to pass it on to the 11.2million mortgage holders in the country.

The banks will pass on the cost so that they can restore their profit margins by raising rates. The Bank of England stated average rates on new tracker mortgages had already risen by 0.5% in the eight months to April.

It means that many home owners will have to find thousands of pounds extra a year and some will be pushed over the edge as they are already struggling to find the money to make their monthly repayments.

‘In the absence of falls in funding costs, it suggests that some further increase in mortgage rates is likely as banks seek to restore their margins,’ stated the Bank of England in its latest inflation report.

Some of the biggest mortgage lenders, such as Halifax, the Co-op and Yorkshire Bank, have already hit their customers with an increase in their standard variable rate loans, the type of loan which home owners are automatically moved on to when their current deal, such as a two year fixed loan or a three year tracker, comes to an end.

According to the latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders up to eight million home owners are thought to be on a variable rate. This includes those on tracker deals as well as those on the SVR. However, many of those on fixed rates will have to remortgage in the coming months as their deal expires.

Higher rates are being introduced on a weekly basis. Last week the Yorkshire Building Society raised its two year fixed rate loan from 3.24% to 3.54%. This week ING Direct is expected to raise its two year fixed from 3.29% to 3.49%.

Although a number are trying to compensate for the blow by offering incentives such as reduced arrangement fees or no fees for first time buyers. Experts advise new buyers and existing owners to shop around for the ideal deal.