Carl Rizzuto's (crizzuto) Blog

Pending Home Sales Index Crosses The 100 Barrier 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 — t...

The Fed Starts A 2-Day Meeting Today. Make A Strategy. 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, ...

Homebuilder Confidence Slips 3 Points In April For the first time in 3 months, homebuilder confidence has slipped. As measured by the National Association of Homebuilders, the Housing Market Index dropped three notches in April to a reading of 25. The report measures homebuilder confidence in the...

Mortgage Rates Fall For Third Straight Week After a brief surge north of 4 percent last month, mortgage rates have settled down, near their lowest levels of all-time. According to Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, for applicants willing to pay 0.7 discount points plus a complet...

Homes Get More Affordable On March Jobs Data Americans continue to get back to work. Last Friday, in its Non-Farm Payrolls report for the month of March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced 120,000 net new jobs created, plus combined revisions in the January and February reports of +4,000 jo...

Jobs Report Due Friday; Mortgage Rates Expected To Change If you’re out shopping for a home this week, or trying to lock a mortgage rate, with Friday comes home affordability risk. Consider locking your mortgage rate today. The March Non-Farm Payrolls report is due for release Friday morning and ...

FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums Increasing April 9, 2012 Planning to use an FHA-backed mortgage for your next home loan? You might want to get your application in gear today. Beginning next week, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is changing the way it charges mortgage insurance to U.S. ho...

Mortgage Rates Fall Back Below 4% After a brief run-up two weeks ago, mortgage rates are back below 4 percent. It’s good news for home buyers and mortgage rate shoppers of Jupiter because with lower mortgage rates come lower mortgage payments. According to Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Ma...