Home builder confidence held firm this month, according to the National Association of Home Builders' monthly Housing Market Index. September's reading of 13 equaled a 17-month low. The HMI is on a 1-100 scale. A value of 50 or better indicates "favorable conditions" for home builders. Broken down, the Housing Market Index is actually a weighted composite of 3 separate surveys which measures current single-family sales; projected single-family sales; and foot traffic of prospective buyers. None of the 3 September surveys improved from August: Single-Family Sales : 13 (unchanged from August) ...

For the 17th straight month, the Case-Shiller Index reports that home values are rising across the United States. As compared to June, July's prices were up by 4 percent. However, despite the improvement, July's Case-Shiller Index showed weaker as compared to prior months. In June, just 3 cities posted year-to-year reductions in home value. In July, 10 of 20 did. In June, just 1 city posted a month-to-month reduction in home value. In July, 7 of 20 did. As a spokesperson for Case-Shiller said, values "crept forward" in July. But not that it matters -- the Case-Shiller Index is a better ...

Existing Home Sales rebounded last month after a lackluster July. New Home Sales data, by contrast, did not. After an upward revision to July's data, New Home Sales remained unchanged at 288,000 units in August. It marks the second-lowest number of units sold in a month since 1963, the year government started its record-keeping. At the current pace of sales, the newly-built home inventory would be depleted in 8.6 months. The August New Home Sales was weaker-than-expected, but both Wall Street investors and Main Street economists are shrugging it off. The numbers were foreshadowed by weakening ...

Mortgage markets improved last week as markets digested a bevy of data from the housing sector, plus the scheduled Federal Open Market Committee meeting.  In back-and-forth trading, conforming mortgage rates in Illinois bottomed out Wednesday before rising through Friday's afternoon close. Rates still managed to eke out improvement on the week overall. According to Freddie Mac, mortgage rates remain near their lowest levels of all time. Despite low rates, however, rate shoppers are finding it a challenge to lock the "best price". This is because Wall Street is conflicted about the future ...

Sales of existing homes in recovered in August, perhaps the result of a post-tax credit normalization. As compared to July, Existing Home Sales rose 8 percent in August, buoyed by falling interest rates and slow-to-rise home prices. There's lot of "good deals" out there and home buyers in Chicago are taking advantage. The housing gains are relative, however. August's total units sold barely crossed 4 million and still trails the average figures of the last few years by close to 1 million units. Despite that, the August Existing Home Sales report can be considered a strong one. This is for ...

The number of single-family Housing Starts rebounded in August, climbing 4 percent from July's 14-month low. A "Housing Start" is defined as a home on which construction has started and the August increase represents 18,000 single-family units nationwide. If you only read the headlines, however, you would think the data was stronger. This is because the Housing Starts data is actually a composite of 3 types of homes -- single-family, multi-family, and apartments -- but  the press tends to lump them all three together. As a sampling, here are a some headlines on the story: US Stock ...

Today, in its 7th meeting of the year, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-to-1 to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged.  The Fed Funds Rate remains at a historical low, within a Fed's target range of 0.000-0.250 percent. In its press release, the FOMC said that the pace of economic recovery "has slowed" in recent months. Household spending is increasing but remains restrained by high levels of unemployment, falling home values, and restrictive credit. For the second straight month, the Federal Reserve showed less economic optimism as compared to the prior year's worth of FOMC ...

The Federal Open Market Committee adjourns from its 6th scheduled meeting of the year today, and 7th overall. Upon adjournment, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will release a formal statement to the market. In it, the Fed is expected to announce "no change" to the Fed Funds Rate. Currently, the Fed Funds Rate is within a target range of 0.000-0.250 percent.  It's been at this same level since December 2008. Note that the Feds Funds Rate is not "a mortgage rate" -- nor is it a a consumer rate of any kind. The Fed Funds Rate is a rate that defines the cost of an overnight loan ...