Median

The Sun, like other newspapers, publishes dozens of articles that document and interpret economic statistics. With stories about unemployment, interest rates, consumer confidence and consumer spending, housing starts, new job creation, gross domestic product, debt levels and more, readers are inundated with information. Not every economic indicator is relevant to every reader. But in my view, recent Sun articles about three new reports have served the public well by effectively tackling core issues that affect millions of American workers.

The economy may be chugging along, but the gains are not trickling down to many American families' incomes and net worth. New government figures released yesterday show the median value of families' holdings barely budged from 2001 to 2004, rising just 1.5 percent, after registering double-digit gains for the previous six years. The median income edged up 1.6 percent, after adjusting for inflation, during those years, according to the Federal Reserve's 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances.

Homes in Carroll and Howard are least affordable compared with median family income, while homes in Baltimore City and Harford are most affordable.

Mortgage applications declined last week to the lowest level since the end of May as fewer people bought homes or refinanced, a private report showed. The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of home purchase and refinancing applications declined 4.5 percent to 722.5 in the week that ended Aug. 26 from 756.2. The group's measure of home purchase applications also declined to the lowest level since the end of May. The decrease came as mortgage rates fell and suggests higher home prices may be keeping sales from accelerating.

The nation's long housing boom appears to be losing steam. Sales of existing homes fell more than expected in July and prices were virtually flat compared with the previous month, the National Association of Realtors reported yesterday. Perhaps most significant, the price of condominiums, which have recently attracted a growing number of speculators looking to cash in on the boom, fell for the second straight month, while the number of condos on the market rose sharply. "We could very much be close to the peak at this time," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America's capital markets group.

Home sales are "close to a peak" in the United States, and prices will rise next year at about half the rate of 2005, the National Association of Realtors said last week. The median price of an existing home will increase 5.2 percent to $215,200 next year, the smallest gain since 2000, when prices rose 4.1 percent, according to a forecast by the Washington-based trade group. Sales of previously owned homes will fall 3.6 percent and sales of new homes will drop 4.5 percent. "The housing market is probably close to a peak right now," David Lereah, the group's chief economist, said in a statement.

Cars whiz by like unguided missiles while Bill Vondrasek stands on the median strip of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard surveying a disorderly patch of greenery accented with red, green, blue and yellow blossoms. He's mildly displeased. As the city's chief horticulturist, its flower beds are his domain. "All up and down Martin Luther King on the end paths there are what we call `gateway beds,'" Vondrasek says. "It's a program funded by federal transportation money because this is a gateway into the city, and we want gateways into the city to look nice."

Housing affordability dropped to a 14-year low in the second quarter, when prices rose at the fastest pace in more than a quarter century. The average household had 120.8 percent of the income needed to purchase a property at the median home price of $208,500, according to the National Association of Realtors. That share was the lowest since the third quarter of 1991, when it was 113.7 percent. The average percentage of a household's income used to pay a monthly mortgage bill rose to 20.7 percent, the highest since 1991.

Temporary lane closures are scheduled Saturday along the northbound and southbound Jones Falls Expressway for work along the medians, the City Department of Transportation said. The closures will be implemented from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. between North Avenue and Fayette Street, weather permitting. At least one lane of through traffic will remain open at all times while the work is being performed. Motorists are encouraged to use alternate routes. Originally published June 10, 2005, 11:51 AM EDT

State and city officials welcomed a new left-turn signal on Russell Street yesterday as they sought to bury the hatchet on their nearly yearlong battle over linking public transit to Baltimore's new Greyhound bus station. From the moment the station opened at 2110 Haines St. in June, public transit riders have been forced to walk there from a bus stop two blocks away, crossing six lanes of heavy traffic. The problem: State-run public buses did not stop at the station, and a median prevented southbound vehicles from making a left turn onto the street leading to the station.