Mote, whose $2,000 weekly salary was cut to $360 in unemployment benefits before he lost even that 10 months ago, can again contemplate going out for dinner and taking in a weekend football game. “It feels great,” says Mote, 52. “I’ve got a job. I got my (health) insurance back.”

His employer, Batson-Cook of Atlanta, called Mote back to work amid a surge in health care and apartment construction as young adults who had doubled up with relatives find jobs and move into their own homes.

After losing 2.2 million jobs in the economic downturn, the construction industry is projected to add 113,000 this year, more than doubling last year’s pace and placing it among the fastest-growing sectors, according to a 2012 job market forecast by Moody’s Analytics. Even a moderate rejuvenation of the troubled sector – thanks largely to a multifamily building boom – helps the economy because of its ripple effects across industries such as furniture, steel and concrete.

The job outlook has brightened the past two months as higher consumer spending, improved business confidence and a stock market rally have somewhat eased concerns about further shocks from Europe’s financial turmoil.

Economists recently surveyed by the Associated Press expect employers to add 2.1 million jobs in 2012, an average of 175,000 a month. That would top the monthly pace of 136,000 last year and 78,000 in 2010, though still fall short of the 250,000 to 300,000 needed to cut unemployment quickly.

The USA has recovered just 2.6 million of the 8.8 million jobs lost in the recession.

“It’s not going to be a breakout year,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. Moody’s projects job gains of about 130,000 a month – about 1.6 million for the year – in line with 2011.

Moody’s also predicts:

Three categories – professional and business services, education and health care, and leisure and hospitality – will lead job gains, collectively producing more than 1 million. The booming energy sector will also continue to hire.

Sun Belt states hammered by the recession – Florida, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada – will rebound some as an easing of the foreclosure crisis lets homeowners move more easily. All four are projected to be among the 10 fastest-growing job markets.

Rust Belt manufacturing bastions such as Illinois, Ohio and Indiana will generate jobs more slowly as the European financial crisis hampers exports.

Driving the improvement in overall job growth is a pickup in hiring and confidence among small businesses as banks modestly ease credit standards. Small firms, particularly start-ups, typically account for two-thirds of the new jobs created in a recovery. Also, productivity gains that have allowed companies to do more with fewer workers are slowing, government reports show.

“Small businesses are being more aggressive” than large ones, says consultant Harry Griendling of DoubleStar.

A wild card: The retirement of Baby Boomers could help trim the jobless rate even without blockbuster job growth, says Dean Maki, chief U.S. economist for Barclays Capital.

The optimism is heavily tinged by caution. Many experts expect payroll growth to slow the first half of the year amid an expected drop in exports and a pullback in consumer spending. With real income growth running at a tepid 1 percent annual rate, Americans had to dip into savings to fuel their holiday buying binge – a trend that many analysts say can’t be sustained.

And many businesses are hesitant to ramp up hiring significantly amid lingering concerns about Europe’s debt crisis and a presidential election year that will leave battles over taxes and regulation unresolved.

A survey of 18,000 employers released last month by staffing giant Manpower underscores both buoyancy and prudence. Employers’ hiring outlook for the first quarter was at its highest since 2008. At the same time, the level of employers unsure of their hiring plans was the most since 2005.

Big companies cautious

Many large companies, in turn, are holding off on permanent hiring and relying heavily on contractors and temporary workers to complete projects, says Janette Marx, senior vice president of staffing company Adecco. The good news: That’s fattening payrolls for third-party providers, such as engineering and accounting firms.

While big corporations are hiring cautiously, they’re sitting on record cash reserves and driving job growth more than consumers, who make up 70 percent of the economy but remain burdened by debt. Companies, for instance, are boosting travel budgets and shifting their computer software systems to remote, cloud-based networks.

The expenditures are forcing professional and business services to beef up staffing. Cleveland-based accounting firm Cohen & Co. is enlarging its 250-employee staff by about 10 percent this year as highly profitable corporations seek to reduce taxes, weigh mergers and navigate increasingly complex banking rules stemming from financial reform, says CEO Randall Myeroff.

Engineering firm Black & Veatch, of Kansas City, with about 6,000 U.S. employees, plans to add several hundred this year as utilities retrofit power plants to meet stricter pollution limits and smartphone carriers expand networks, says CEO Len Rodman. Yet that’s far less than the 1,000 U.S. employees the firm added last year. Rodman worries that electricity providers could rein in spending if the European crisis hurts their customers’ exports. “We have taken a conservative approach,” he says.

Health care providers are scrambling to meet the needs of an aging population. Philadelphia-based Genesis HealthCare, whose 40,000 employees provide rehab services in nursing homes in the Eastern U.S., is expanding to Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, hiring 10,000 workers. “The Baby Boomers are getting older,” says Vice President Mike Guglielmo.

Hotels, meanwhile, are looking for bellhops, front desk clerks and maids as companies replenish travel budgets slashed in the recession and tourism picks up moderately. That’s a boon for Texas, where a population boom and business growth feed off each other. Joseph DePalma, president of DePalma Hotel, says occupancy at his eight franchise hotels in Texas has risen to about 65 percent from 55 percent the past year. “Companies are back to traveling again,” he says. DePalma plans to increase his Texas staff of 1,200 by more than 100 this year.

Texas is again projected to top the nation in total job gains, with more than 200,000.

Meanwhile, North Dakota, home to one of the nation’s biggest untapped oil reserves, is expected to lead in the pace of job growth, at 2.8 percent. Continental Resources is adding 50 to 75 workers to its existing base of about 160 in the Bakken oil field as it drills about 240 new wells, says Chief Financial Officer John Hart. Much of the activity has been fueled by benchmark crude oil prices that have hovered around $100 a barrel. “I have a better return that enables me to take a risk,” Hart says.

The frenzy has turned North Dakota, with a population of 684,000, into a job hunter’s magnet that added 17,000 workers last year, a 4.5 percent gain. Continental’s recent advertisement for a computer specialist drew 518 applicants from as far away as South Africa.

Uneven job growth

Not every sector is expected to grow robustly. Retailers likely will pull back hiring as consumer spending moderates, according to the Moody’s study. State and local governments will continue to shed jobs amid budget constraints, though likely at a slower pace than last year. And factory payrolls could flatten or even contract slightly amid a slowdown in exports.

Some manufacturers plan to add workers because they can’t wring more output from existing ones. Paulson Manufacturing in Temecula, Calif., laid off more than half its 220 employees in the recession, though revenue fell just 25 percent. The company, which makes face shields for industrial and public safety use, installed automated technology to boost efficiency and got more out of each worker, helping it increase profits, says CEO Roy Paulson.

But with sales expected to rise about 15 percent this year, Paulson plans to hire 12 to 15 employees.

“We might have worn out some of these people a little bit,” he says. If he forced his workers to shoulder a still bigger burden, “Worker compensation costs go up and your sick rate goes up.”

Even more encouraging: Small businesses – which create an outsize share of jobs – appear to be launching and expanding again. The number of establishments opening hit a record low of 1.1 million in 2011’s first quarter, the most recent data available, according to the Labor Department. But anecdotal evidence suggests the pace of business start-ups has increased lately, says Dane Stangler, research director for the Kauffman Foundation, which studies entrepreneurship. The International Franchise Association expects the number of U.S. franchise locations to rise 2 percent this year after dipping three years in a row.

Franchise company Driven Brands, which owns Meineke and Maaco, sold more franchise licenses in November than in the past five years combined, says CEO Ken Walker. “We are beginning to get businesses financed,” he says.

Franchisee Stephen Keel, who owns a Maaco auto body outlet in Catonsville, Md., sought for a year to move it to nearby Randallstown and add a Meineke auto repair shop at the new site. But he couldn’t get a $1.7 million loan from seven banks despite a $2.2 million appraisal of his planned new land and building.

Recently, he snared a loan from Susquehanna Bank and plans to add four to seven workers to his 12-employee staff after he opens the new location in April.

“I was tickled to death,” Keel says. “It was a very long, dreadful, painful process.”

Copyright © 2012 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc., Paul Davidson and Barbara Hansen.

WASHINGTON – Dec. 19, 2011 – Who is paying for the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut working its way through Congress? The cost is being dropped in the laps of most people who buy homes or refinance beginning next year.

The typical person who buys a $200,000 home or refinances that amount starting on Jan. 1 would have to pay roughly $17 more a month for their mortgage, thanks to a fee increase included in the payroll tax cut bill that the Senate passed Saturday. The White House said the fee increases would be phased in gradually.

The legislation provides a two-month extension of a payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits that would otherwise expire on Jan. 1. It would also delay for two months a cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors; the cut is currently scheduled to take effect on New Year’s Day.

However, the House intends to vote down the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, Speaker John Boehner said Monday, and request immediate negotiations on a full-year renewal that can provide “certainty for people who are trying to create jobs.”

“I don’t believe the differences between the House and Senate are that great,” Boehner said at a news conference, although he provided no estimate on how long it might take to produce a compromise.

To cover its $33 billion price tag, the Senate-passed measure increases the fee that the government-backed mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, charge to insure home mortgages. That fee, which Senate aides said currently averages around 0.3 percentage point, would rise by 0.1 percentage point under the bill. The increase will also apply to people whose mortgages are backed by the Federal Housing Administration, which typically serves lower-income and first-time buyers.

The higher fee would not apply to people who currently have mortgages unless they refinance beginning next year.

Because of the weak housing market and the huge numbers of foreclosures in the last few years, private insurers have not competed strongly for business with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have the backing of the federal government. As a result, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA back about 9 in 10 new home mortgages.

President Barack Obama and many congressional Democrats and Republicans want to curb Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s dominance in the mortgage market. Obama earlier this year proposed raising the mortgage guarantee fees they charge as one way to do that.
 Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press, Alan Fram. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, surged 10.4 percent to 93.3 in October from 84.5 in September and is 9.2 percent above October 2010 when it stood at 85.5. The data reflects contracts but not closings.

“Home sales have been plodding along at a sub-par level while interest rates are hovering at record lows, and there is a pent-up demand from buyers who normally would have entered the market in recent years,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “We hope this is indicates more buyers are taking advantage of the excellent affordability conditions. Many consumers recognize that homebuyers in the past two years have had one of the lowest default rates in history. Moreover, continued inventory declines are another healthy sign for the housing market.”

The PHSI in the Northeast surged 17.7 percent to 71.3 in October and is 3.4 percent above October 2010. In the Midwest the index jumped 24.1 percent to 88.7 in October and remains 13.2 percent above a year ago. Pending home sales in the South rose 8.6 percent in October to an index of 99.5 and are 9.7 percent higher than October 2010. In the West, the index slipped 0.3 percent to 105.5 in October but is 8.1 percent above a year ago.

“Although contract signings are up, not all contracts lead to closings,” Yun says. “Many potential homebuyers inadvertently hurt their credit scores and chances of getting a mortgage through easily averted actions, such as cancelling an old credit line while taking on a new one. Such actions could unwittingly prevent buyers from obtaining a mortgage if their credit score is close the margins of qualifying – or they might get a loan but with less favorable terms.”

© 2011 Florida Realtors®

DETROIT – Nov. 14, 2011 – If you are a troubled homeowner hoping to refinance, pay attention next Tuesday as details come out on a new federal program that could make it easier starting in late December or early in 2012.

In the meantime, be sure you keep up with your mortgage payments so that you can qualify for the new deal.

Even if you missed payments in the past, it can help to be current going forward, said Kathy Conley, housing specialist for GreenPath Debt Solutions in Farmington Hills.

The revised Home Affordability Refinance Program (HARP) could apply to a broader base of people.

If, for instance, you owe $100,000 on a house that would appraise at just $50,000 – too deep underwater for a conventional refinancing – you might be able to refinance under the new HARP. That was not true under the old HARP, launched in 2009, which had a 125 percent maximum on loan-to-value ratio.

The new plan is expected be a big help for many homeowners in states that have been hard hit by drastic drops in home values, such as Michigan, Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada, according to Greg McBride, senior analyst for Bankrate.com.

Seeing mortgage rates hover near record lows – around 4.23 percent for a 30-year fixed and 3.48 percent for a 15-year – has many folks wondering whether it’s time to refinance.

In this tough housing market, what do you need to know? How can you save money by refinancing and make those low rates work for you?

Even with interest rates low and a revised federal program coming, refinancing is not for everybody who wants – or needs – a better deal on their home and some extra cash.

Some homeowners could face surprising hurdles, even if they’re not underwater and are current on payments.

“Everybody who is really hurting – and everybody who needs the help – can’t take advantage of the rates,” said Kip Kirkpatrick, CEO of Shore Mortgage Services in Birmingham, Mich.

What’s your credit score? How solid is your income? Got a lot of debt?

To refinance, the borrower needs a predictable level of recurring income – so such things as pension income would count, as would Social Security, your regular paychecks, alimony if expected to last three years or more, and interest on investments.

“You will need to provide a full accounting of your income,” said Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Loans in Detroit.

Lenders are going to look at how much money you owe on the mortgage and other loans relative to what you’re making.

“A reduction in income can lead to a higher ratio of debt payments to monthly income,” said Greg McBride, senior analyst for Bankrate.com. “A high debt-to-income ratio makes lenders nervous. The borrower is just one unplanned expense away from problems.”

As a general rule, it becomes more difficult – but not impossible – to qualify for a mortgage or refinance when a person’s total debt – to income ratio exceeds 40 percent to 45 percent, Walters said.

Your credit score counts. Lenders generally want a FICO of 680 or higher to qualify for the best rates in a conventional mortgage. A FICO of 620 tends to be the cutoff that often defines who can, and who can’t, get a mortgage.

Walters noted that there are exceptions to the 620 cutoff, especially when utilizing Federal Housing Administration programs with some lenders.

Credit scores also could have more wiggle room under the new federal Home Affordable Refinance Program. Gerri Detweiler, personal finance expert for Credit.com, said consumers who are in the process of a refinancing don’t want to go out and borrow money to get new furniture, buy a car or even get holiday gifts. Lenders are likely to look at your credit even the day before or the day of closing on that new mortgage, Detweiler said.

“If you’ve done something stupid with your credit, you could lose the loan,” she said.

So what if the house you bought for $280,000 and mortgaged for $260,000 is now worth $150,000?

Right now, you can’t do a thing with it.

For a conventional refinancing, the lender wants at most an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio. So if your home is worth $100,000 and you owe $70,000, you could qualify.

The new HARP 2.0 plan is going to address the underwater mortgage issue further.

“Anybody who thinks they’re underwater, I would say just hold off until the new program comes out,” said Brian Seibert, president of Watson Group Financial, a mortgage banker in Waterford, Mich.

The old HARP program had a maximum 125 percent loan-to-value ratio. But that cap is removed under the new plan.

“It’s easier to refinance through HARP than a conventional refinance,” Conley said.

But remember to stay current with mortgage payments.

Under HARP 2.0, the borrower would have to be current with the mortgage payment for the past six months and have no more than one late payment in the past 12. But Conley and others recommend that even if you were late in the past, you can try to be current now if you want to try to qualify for HARP 2.0.

“Definitely don’t skip the mortgage payment so you can go Christmas shopping,” Detweiler said.

Though the old HARP promised far more than it delivered – fewer than 900,000 refinancings and just 72,000 of them underwater – experts say consumers should avoid being discouraged. The revised program, which will run through 2013, could be an improvement.

The program would lower payments but would not reduce principal, so borrowers would still hold mortgages for more than their homes are worth. But they could avoid foreclosure.

Consumers who want to refinance should prepare paperwork, keep up payments, consider the new option and avoid the desire to give up.

“You feel the frustration that people have,” McBride said, “but sitting back and doing nothing is not going to solve the problem.”

Copyright © 2011 the Detroit Free Press, Susan Tompor, personal finance columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News Service.

FICO scores, the industry standard for determining credit risk in mortgages backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration, largely have been based on a person’s credit history. But in an attempt to develop a more well-rounded picture of a person’s finances beyond credit, tools are being developed to help the lending industry dig deeper.

Fair Isaac Corp., or FICO, the company behind the widely used scoring formula, and data provider CoreLogic last week announced a collaboration that will result in a separate score that will be available to mortgage lenders and incorporates information that will include payday loans, evictions and child support payments. In the future, information on the status of utility, rent and cellphone payments may also be included.

Separately, last month, the big three credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, began providing estimates of consumer income as a credit report option. And earlier this year, Experian began including data on on-time rental payments in its reports.

The new information could prove to be a double-edged sword for consumers: It may open the door to homeownership to some consumers who have, according to industry-speak, a “thin file” or worse, a “no-file,” meaning they lack sufficient credit histories.

On the other hand, the extra information may make a borderline borrower look even worse on paper. And it’s unlikely to quiet critics who complain that too much emphasis is put on a single number.

Still, there is thought among researchers that consumer transparency, if it demonstrates both good and bad behavior, has its place.

“You’re trying to convince someone to loan you an awful lot of money at a low interest rate,” said Michael Turner, president of the Policy and Economic Research Council. “Only you know whether you’re going to pay it back. There is a harmony in this data exchange.”

The FICO-CoreLogic partnership won’t result in a credit score that will rule out a borrower for a mortgage backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the FHA, which together own or guarantee at least 90 percent of the mortgages being written. That’s because the “tri-merge” report required for such a loan does not rely on CoreLogic data. But it could mean either more or fewer mortgage fees or a higher or lower interest rate charged by lenders that in today’s cautionary lending environment have heartily adopted risk-based pricing.

“We’re fascinated to see, as we get into the data, whether that may expand the universe of people who can get a mortgage,” said Joanne Gaskin, director of product management global scoring for FICO. “Banks are saying, ‘How do I find ways to safely increase loan volume, to find the gems out there?’ “

As a result, there’s a rush by credit reporting agencies to provide financial companies, whether it’s a mortgage bank or a credit card provider, with a wealth of information on individual customers.

“Before the (housing) bubble burst, there was a huge amount of interest in targeting the unbanked,” said Brannan Johnston, an Experian vice president. “It was a desperate dash to try and grow and go after more and more consumers. When the bubble burst, that certainly dialed back some. They want to grow their business responsibly by taking good credit risks.”

FICO scores have been around since the 1950s, but they didn’t become a major factor in mortgage lending until 1995, when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac began recommending their use to help determine a mortgage borrower’s creditworthiness. The score, which ranges from 300 to 850, factors in how long borrowers have had credit, how they’re using it and repaying it, and if they have any judgments or delinquencies logged against them.

The change comes at a time when the average FICO scores of homebuyers who qualify for loans continue to rise, as mortgage lenders reward the most creditworthy borrowers with low rates and tack extra fees onto loans for those with lower credit scores.

In a report last year, the Woodstock Institute, a Chicago-based research and advocacy group, found that residents in Illinois’ “communities of color” were far more likely to have lower, “non-prime” credit scores compared with people in predominantly white communities. Statewide, 20 percent of people had a credit score of less than 620, which meant they had a hard time qualifying for a mortgage as well as other forms of credit.

Among other ideas, Woodstock recommended that businesses report on-time and delinquent payment histories for items such as rent, health care, utility and cellphone bills, to truly determine a person’s default history.

“Any time you can get a fuller picture of a customer’s risk profile, it makes it more likely that they can get the product they are most suited to,” said Tom Feltner, Woodstock vice president. “The concern, of course, is what is that information, and does it reflect the rate of default?”

There also are concerns about whether inquiries and charge-offs from payday and online lenders should be included. “Payday loans are extremely onerous,” said Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “They trap people in a cycle of debt. To report on them is to cite that person as financially distressed. We certainly don’t think that’s going to help people with a credit score.”

The extra information may also help more affluent homeowners who aren’t on the credit grid.

Two years ago, David Pendley, president of Avenue Mortgage Corp., worked with a client, a college professor, who didn’t believe in using credit. “He was putting down 40 percent and he had the hardest time getting a loan, even though he had $120,000 in the bank and he was 22 years on the job.”

Eventually, Pendley secured a loan for the customer through a private bank, but he paid for it. “He didn’t get the lowest rate possible,” Pendley recalled.

© 2011 the Chicago Tribune Distributed by MCT Information Services

The USC Real Estate Employment Report indicates that 150 industry job openings were received by the Lusk Center during the first eight months of the year, marking a 25 percent gain from the same period in 2010.

Lusk Center Chairman Stan Ross says the number of graduates accepting development jobs has fallen to 25 percent since the crash from 60 percent during the boom. He says finance, investment and asset management account for most of the positions offered to graduates right now.

Source: RISMedia (09/28/11)

© Copyright 2011 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-4688

Starting Oct. 1, some buyers that once qualified for FHA loans – and loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – will have to consider a jumbo loan and the higher interest rate associated with it. Or they’ll consider buying a less expensive home. Or they won’t buy a home at all.

NAR has issued a Call for Action and asks all Realtor members to contact their Washington representatives and tell them how much this change will impact an already shaky real estate market. While NAR continues to talk to lawmakers, few things catch Congressional reps’ attention like an email inbox filled with testimonials from thousands of the people who elect them to office and fund their political campaigns.

“It is with a sense of urgency and purpose that we ask you to contact Congress today,” NAR says in its Call for Action. “Communicate clearly and as a powerful voice of expertise that a housing recovery depends on keeping mortgages affordable. Congress needs to prevent these higher (FHA) loan limits from taking effect.”

ORLANDO, Fla. – Aug. 18, 2011 – Florida’s existing home and existing condo sales rose in July, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®. Existing home sales increased 12 percent last month with a total of 15,517 homes sold statewide compared to 13,874 homes sold in July 2010, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide sales of existing condos last month also rose 12 percent compared to the year-ago sales figure.

“Realtors in markets across the state are reporting increased activity from potential homebuyers who are ready to advantage of historically low mortgage rates and current availability of affordable housing options,” said 2011 Florida Realtors President Patricia Fitzgerald, manager/broker-associate with Illustrated Properties in Hobe Sound and Mariner Sands Country Club in Stuart.

Fifteen of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported higher existing home sales in July; 13 MSAs had higher existing condo sales.

The statewide median sales price for existing homes last month was $136,500; a year ago, it was $137,700 for only a 1 percent decrease. Analysts with the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) note that sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less.

The national median sales price for existing single-family homes in June 2011 was $184,600, up 0.6 percent from a year ago, according to NAR. In Massachusetts, the statewide median resales price was $325,850 in June; in California, it was $295,300; in Maryland, it was $247,100; and in New York, it was $221,595.

In Florida’s year-to-year comparison for condos, 6,619 units sold statewide last month compared to 5,904 units in July 2010 for an increase of 12 percent. The statewide existing condo median sales price last month was $90,900; in July 2010 it was $87,800 for a 4 percent increase. NAR notes the national median existing condo sales price was $182,300 in June 2011.

Economic uncertainty continued to impact the recovery of the housing sector, according to NAR’s latest industry outlook. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun pointed to overly restrictive lending requirements, low appraisals and federal budget issues as factors affecting the pace of sales activity.

Economic and political worries also dampened the outlook for Florida’s real estate markets, according to the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies’ latest quarterly survey of real estate trends. The report surveys economists, industry executives, real estate scholars, researchers and other experts.

“Even though unemployment in Florida improved in many markets, the pace of change and the still-high levels are affecting the pace of improvements in the real estate markets,” said Center Director Tim Becker. “Consumers continue to be cautious and pessimistic about their own spending, which is also affecting the rate of fundamental improvement.”

According to Freddie Mac, the interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.55 percent in July, about the same level as the 4.56 percent average during the same month a year earlier. Florida Realtors’ sales figures reflect closings, which typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

© 2011 Florida Realtors®

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