Fed keeps key funds rate at 1%

The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 1 percent.

The Fed did, however, change some of the wording in its policy statement, a move most analysts expected.

Specifically, the Fed said it "believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured." Previously, it said it believed it could be patient in removing its policy accommodation.

The evidence accumulated over the intermeeting period indicates that output is continuing to expand at a solid rate and hiring appears to h  more...

GMAC Real Estate unit gets new CEO

GMAC Home Services' President and CEO John Bearden today announced that Lane Barnett, a real estate industry veteran with nearly two decades of experience, has been named president and CEO of the GMAC Real Estate Franchise Business Unit, which includes more than 1,300 offices throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Barnett was formerly executive vice president, Support Services Group. He joined GMAC Home Services in 2002 as executive vice president of marketing and communications.  more...

Real estate council approves C21 management courses

The Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers, a not-for-profit affiliate of the National Association of Realtors, recently approved completion of the Century 21 International Management Academy and the Century 21 Operation Orbit management training programs for credit toward the Certified Real Estate Brokerage Manager (CRB) designation.

The C21 International Management Academy is a five-day, entry-level management course that aims to educate and empower new C21 franchisees with the latest management techniques, practices and principles, helping them to build and maintain a product  more...

Federal limits on real estate vouchers spark outcry

A coalition of housing and real estate organizations, the National Association of Realtors and the National Multi Housing Council among them, issued a statement in protest to new limits in federal money for housing vouchers issued through public housing authorities.

Congress restricted the U.S.  more...

Google grabs more users

Search engine Google's Web site maintains the highest amount of global usage of seven of the largest search engines on the Web, according to OneStat.com, a provider of Web analytics.

Google's global usage share increased to 56.4 percent in the last two months, while usage of Yahoo!, the second most used search engine on the Web, was at 21 percent.

In the last two months, MSN had 9.2 percent of search engine users, AOL had 3.8 percent, Terra Lycos had 2 percent and Altavista and AskJeeves each had 1.7 percent of users.

The research is based on a sample of 2 million vis  more...

Oregon mecca 'winning war on urban sprawl'

A recent study appearing in the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA) Spring 2004 issue finds that growth management strategies used in Portland, Ore., to control urban sprawl are working.  more...

Borrowers cash out real estate equity

The number of borrowers who refinanced to cash out home equity remained steady during the first quarter, according to Freddie Mac's quarterly refinance review.

In the first quarter of 2004, 43 percent of Freddie-Mac owned loans that were refinanced resulted in new mortgages at least 5 percent higher in amount than the original mortgages.  more...

Mortgage rates inch higher

Long-term mortgage interest rates were higher Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield stood at 4.5 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average rose slightly to 5.8 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate increased to 5.14 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 3.25 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield remained at 5.28 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...