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After 3 consecutive months of growth, the housing market appears to have eased a bit in December. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, December's Pending Home Sales Index slipped 4 percent from the month prior. The index measures the number of homes under contract to sell nationwide, but not yet sold. Despite falling ...

Wednesday, the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged within its current target range of 0.000-0.250 percent. The Fed Funds Rate has been near zero percent since December 2008. For the third consecutive month, the Fed Funds Rate vote was nearly unanimous. Just one FOMC member dissented in ...

The Federal Open Market Committee adjourns from a scheduled 2-day meeting today, its first of 8 scheduled meetings this year. The FOMC is a designated, rotating, 12-person committee within the Federal Reserve, led by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Members of the FOMC sub-committee are the voting members of the Federal Reserve; the ones that ...

The housing market finished 2011 with strength, and is carrying measurable momentum into 2012.  According to data from the National Association of REALTORS®, on a seasonally-adjusted, annualized basis, December's Existing Home Sales climbed by 120,00 units overall from the month prior on its way to an 11-month high. An "existing home" is a home that's ...

The outlook for the U.S. economy improved last week, taking the mortgage bond market with it. For the first time this year, conforming mortgage rates rose throughout IL from one week to the next. Data was strong across all categories last week. Home Resales :Existing Home Sales rose 5% New Homes : Single-Family Housing ...

When it comes to housing data, sometimes you have to look past the headlines. December's Housing Starts data offers a terrific illustration of why. Each month, the Census Bureau tallies Housing Starts for the month prior. A "housing start" is a home on which construction has started. The Housing Starts report is separated by ...

Homebuilder confidence is soaring. For the fourth straight month, the National Association of Homebuilders reports an increase in its Housing Market Index. The index climbed 4 points to 25 this month -- its second four-point gain since October. With home sales activity increasing across all four regions, the monthly HMI has now nearly doubled in value since June 2011. The ...

Foreclosure filings are fewer these days, according to foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac. In December 2011, the number of foreclosure filings nationwide fell 9 percent from the month prior. Not since November 2007 has foreclosure activity been this sparse across the country. The drop does not appear to be seasonal, either.  Last month's foreclosure filings were ...

Mortgage markets gained last week, picking up momentum into the weekend. Global demand for mortgage-backed bonds helped push mortgage rates to new lows, and closing costs eased somewhat, too. According to Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage rate survey, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 3.89% nationwide. In order to get access to 3.89% ...

Will your home gain value over the next 12 months? Nobody can know for sure, of course, but should recent housing trends continue, there's concrete cause for optimism. The housing economy has suffered since 2007, knocking home values down nearly 20% nationwide. ...