After the flood: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has announced federal mortgage insurance approval that will allow construction to begin on a full-service hospital in eastern New Orleans, one of the areas devastated by flooding in 2005 when levees failed during Hurricane Katrina. Landrieu’s office says the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development made a commitment to insure a $97.6 million loan for the hospital. His office adds that the project, valued at a total of $130 million, will restore full-service health care to residents in New Orleans East. The new hospital is planned for the site of the former Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital.
On the rise: A measure of U.S. home prices jumped 4.6% in August compared with a year ago, the largest year-over-year increase in more than six years. CoreLogic, a private real estate data provider, also reports today that prices rose 0.3% in August from July, the sixth straight monthly gain. Steady price increases, combined with greater home sales and rising builder confidence, suggest the housing recovery may be sustainable. In Louisiana, non-distressed home prices have risen 6% over the 12-month period that ended in August. The Associated Press has all the details here.
Wrap it up: The nation’s largest retail trade group predicts Americans will spend more during what’s traditionally the busiest shopping season of the year but aren’t likely to shop till they drop,as they have done in the fourth quarter of the past two years. The National Retail Federation reports today that it expects sales during the winter holiday shopping period in November and December to rise 4.1% this year. That’s more than a percentage point lower than the growth in each of the past two years, and the smallest increase since 2009, when sales were up just 0.3%. Get the full story here.
