Home prices started the year on an upswing. According to the Federal Home Finance Agency's Home Price Index, home prices rose by a seasonally-adjusted 0.3 percent between January and February 2012. The index is up 0.4% over the past year, offering a counter-story to the Case-Shiller Index's assertion that home values are sinking. Last week, Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Index said home values had dropped more than 3 percent in the prior 12 months. As a home buyer or seller , data showing "rising home...continue reading...

After a series of worse-than-expected data last month, the housing market appears to be back on track. The Pending Home Sales Index posted 101.4 in March, a four percent gain from the month prior and the index's highest reading since April 2010 -- the last month of that year's federal home buyer tax credit. A "pending home" is a home under contract to sell, but not yet closed. The Pending Home Sales Index is tracked and published by the National Association of...continue reading...

The Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged within its current target range of 0.000-0.250 percent Wednesday. For the fifth consecutive month, the Fed Funds Rate vote was nearly unanimous. Just one FOMC member, Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker, dissented in the 9-1 vote. The Fed Funds Rate has been near zero percent since December 2008. It is expected to remain near-zero through 2014, at least. In its press release, the Federal Reserve noted that the U.S....continue reading...

The Federal Open Market Committee begins a 2-day meeting today in the nation's capitol. It's the group's third of 8 scheduled meetings this year. Mortgage rates are expected to change upon the Fed's adjournment. Led by Chairman Ben Bernanke, the FOMC is a 12-person, Federal Reserve sub-committee. The FOMC is the group within the Fed which votes on U.S. monetary policy. "Making monetary policy" can mean a lot of things, and the action for which the FOMC is most well-known is its...continue reading...