Research Center

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices, which were released on Tuesday, showed that residential prices were up 4.5 percent in the nation’s 10 largest metro areas, and 5.5 percent in the 20 largest metros, for the 12 months ending in November 2012.

The Census Bureau reported on Friday that U.S. new home sales dipped 7.3 percent from November to December (seasonally adjusted, since sales always go down toward the end of the year).

Initial unemployment claims were down for the week ending Jan. 19 to 333,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor,

According to NMHC, for the first time since 2010, two of the four indexes—market tightness (coming in at 45) and sales volume (which was 49)—dipped below 50, though just barely

In his second inaugural address on Monday, President Obama touched on a number of presumed priorities of his second term, including economic policy.

The Census Bureau reported that private housing starts in December came in at an annualized rate of 954,000 units. That’s 12.1 percent more than the revised November total of 851,000, and a whopping 36.9 percent above the rate of 697,000 in December 2011.

The Federal Reserve released the latest Beige Book, which reported “all 12 Districts characterizing the pace of growth as either modest or moderate.”