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The National Survey was sent to Realtors in February by Home Warranty of America, Inc. and received close to 500 completed responses. Realtors responded to a credit availability question positively, which was very encouraging when considering how tight banks have been over the last several months.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index™, which had decreased moderately in January, declined in February, reaching yet another all-time low. The Index now stands at 25.0 (1985=100), down from 37.4 in January. The Present Situation Index declined to 21.2 from 29.7 last month. The Expectations Index decreased to 27.5 from 42.5 in January.

The Economic Stimulus Bill signed recently by President Obama provides even more of America's seniors with the opportunity to benefit from a reverse mortgage. The new bill will raise the HECM loan limits to 150 percent of the Freddie Mac loan limit. Currently, that would create a HECM loan limit of $625,500, helping older Americans access even more of the equity available in their homes to augment retirement incomes or offset investment losses.

Consumers’ economic concerns and uncertainty about the future of gas prices are contributing to declines in miles driven, even though gasoline prices have declined sharply from last summer's historic highs. According to recent survey conducted by The NPD Group, 56 percent of consumers surveyed say they are driving less.

According to the results of a poll conducted by GetJar, the world’s leading independent app store, ease of use, brand and embedded content are the top three features that U.S. consumers consider when choosing a new mobile phone. Mobile handset features like touch screen, overall phone design and memory rank lower on the list of purchase-deciding factors in the U.S.

Although President Obama announced a sweeping Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, the weekly average rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for thirty-year mortgages remained steady last week at 5.25 percent, up slightly from 5.23 percent the week prior, according to the Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor, compiled by leading real estate Web site Zillow.com®.

Data through December 2008, released today by Standard & Poor's for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show that the prices of existing single family homes across the United States continue to set record declines, a trend that prevailed throughout all of 2007 and 2008.

As the economic crisis continues, some other issues may be put on the back burner as the government focuses on getting the economy back on its feet. One such issue could be environmental conservation, but 46% of Americans say that the issue of environmental conservation is something that is more important to them personally than it was a few years ago while 47% say it is no more or less important. Just 7% of Americans say it is less important to them. Furthermore, most people do not believe the government needs to choose between the economy and the environment and that the government should be making more of an effort to be environmentally conscious.

The Energy Security Leadership Council, a project of Securing America's Future Energy, released a study entitled Economic Impact of the Energy Security Leadership Council's National Strategy for Energy Security. The paper, a long-term macroeconomic analysis of policy proposals put forward by the ESLC last September, finds that the U.S. economy would benefit substantially over the long term from implementation of the ESLC policy package.

Consumers’ use of cash is declining as they continue to embrace a range of card-based payment options, according to the 2008 Study of Consumer Payment Preferences, a nationwide study conducted by BAI Research and Hitachi Consulting, and sponsored by First Data, MasterCard Worldwide, Metavante, and PULSE.