New Home Sales fell 11 percent from the month prior and posted the fewest units sold in a month since 1963 — the year the government first started tracking New Home Sales data. It may be good for home buyers.

Using data compiled in December, Standard & Poors released its Case-Shiller Index Tuesday. The report shows home prices down just 2.5% on an annual basis, a figure much lower than the 8.7% annual drop reported after Q3.

Although the newspapers reported mortgage rates down last week, they weren’t. Conforming mortgage rates were higher by at least 1/8 percent, or roughly $11 per $100,000 borrowed per month. In some cases, rates were up by even more.

What is Scheduled to Release?
A quick breakdown of this week’s economic news:
* Tuesday : Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Consumer Confidence
* Wednesday : New Home Sales
* Thursday : FHFA Home Price Index, Initial Jobless Claims
* Friday : Existing Home Sales, Personal Consumption Expenditures
With markets already on edge, any better-than-expected results will likely be bad for mortgage [...]

Mortgage markets had a terrible, holiday-shortened week last week as Wall Street responded to worse-than-expected inflation data and action from the Federal Reserve. Mortgage bonds sold off with force, causing mortgage rates to rise for the second week in a row.

Sometimes, headlines for housing can be misleading and this week gave us a terrific example. On Wednesday, the Commerce Department released its Housing Starts data for January 2010. The data showed starts at a 6-month high. The real story is something different.

The Fed Minutes is a follow-up document, delivered 3 weeks after an official FOMC meeting. It’s a companion piece to the post-meeting press release, detailing the debates and discussions that shaped our central bankers’ policy decisions. The Minutes is a terrific look into the Fed’s collective mind and, yesterday, Wall Street didn’t like what it saw.

According to the Census Bureau, 2.8 million people commute to work 90 minutes or more each day, in each direction. Now, your daily commute may not be as long, but time spent in cars, trains and buses is time away from work and from family.

Surprise! Weather Has an Impact Too.
Some of the week’s more important releases include:

Housing Starts and Building Permits (Wednesday)
The release of the last month’s FOMC Minutes (Wednesday)
Business and consumer inflation figures (Thursday and Friday)

Believe it or not, nasty weather may have impacted last month’s Housing Starts reading so pay closer attention to Building Permits.  If [...]

Mortgage markets worsened last week on general profit-taking in the U.S. bond market, combined with talk of a coordinated rescue effort for Greece and its debt burden. Mortgage-backed bonds sold off, causing conventional and FHA mortgage rates to rise.