Housing Market | featured news

Mortgage rates ticked up slightly after sinking last week for the first time since late January, according to the latest data released by Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 3.57 percent with an average 0.8 point. It was up from 3.54 percent a week ago but down from 3.99 percent a year ago. The 30-year fixed rate has remained below 4 percent for more than a year now.

Sales of new homes fell in February after climbing to the highest level in more than four years in January. Sales of new homes dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000 in February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. That is a decline of 4.6 percent from the January level of 431,000, which had been the strongest sales pace since September 2008.

Single-family home prices rose in January, starting the year with the biggest annual increase in six-and-a-half years in a fresh sign the housing market recovery remains on track, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.

Home resales hit a three-year high in February and prices jumped, adding to signs of an acceleration in the housing market recovery, even though the supply of properties on the market increased.

Groundbreaking to build homes rose in February and new permits for construction climbed to the highest level since 2008, a sign the nation's housing market recovery is gathering steam.

To quell the latest financial crisis, the Federal Reserve smashed interest rates to the floor by buying bonds with money it effectively prints. Since 2008 assets on the Fed’s balance sheet, including those bonds, have tripled, to $3 trillion. (Hey, people needed encouragement, and low rates are encouraging.) The mixed results: Entrepreneurs and homeowners got some relief, while savers got whacked along with the value of the U.S. dollar. Starving for yield, investors piled into stocks, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its all-time high, absent inflation.

U.S. retailers are posting moderate sales for February, dealing with mixed signals like payroll-tax increases and later income-tax refunds that were countered by a rousing stock market and better housing reports.

U.S. home prices jumped in January, a sign the housing market is gaining momentum as it nears the spring selling season.

A measure of the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January from December to the highest level in more than 2 ½ years. The increase suggests sales of previously occupied homes will continue rising in the coming months. The National Association of Realtors says its seasonally adjusted index for pending home sales rose 4.5 percent last month to 105.9. That's the highest since April 2010, when a homebuyer's tax credit was about to expire.

The US economy registers surprisingly strong consumer confidence and new home sales data, suggesting the recovery is gathering steam.