Average rate on 30-year mortgage snaps 3-week slide and rises to highest level since late November
By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. rose this week to its highest level since late November, reflecting a recent uptick in the bond yields that lenders use as a guide to price home loans.
The rate rose to 6.72% from 6.6% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. The rate is now higher than it was a year ago, when it averaged 6.67%.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, also rose this week. The average rate increased to 5.92% from 5.84% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.95%, Freddie Mac said.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now the highest it’s been since Nov. 27, when it was at 6.81%.
Recent Central Florida bankruptcies
Chapter 7
Central Florida individuals and businesses that have filed for liquidation under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code include:
204 Magnolia LLC, 526 Brevard Ave., Cocoa. Filed: Dec. 5. Assets: $500,001-$1 million. Liabilities: $0-$50,000. Major creditors: Not available. Creditors meeting: Jan. 6.
Chapter 11
Central Florida individuals and businesses that have filed for reorganization and protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code include:
Orlando Medical Institute Inc., 6925 Lake Ellenor Drive, Building 3, Suite 300, Orlando. Filed: Dec. 5. Assets: $0-$50,000. Liabilities: $500,001-$1 million. Major creditors: U.S. Small Business Administration, Birmingham, Ala., $494,070; Internal Revenue Service, Philadelphia, $196,000; Heaven 3 RE LLC, Miami, $58,740. Creditors meeting: Jan. 13.
Jay Squared LLC, 16706 Hidden Springs Drive, Clermont. Filed: Dec. 6. Assets: $0-$50,000. Liabilities: $100,001-$500,000. Major creditors: Not available. Creditors meeting: Jan. 6.
Prime Electrical Services LLC, 550 Holts Lake Court, Suite 102, Apopka. Filed: Dec. 8. Assets: $256,996. Liabilities: $5,419,313. Major creditors: DeAngelis Diamond Construction, Naples, $1,701,430; Southstate Bank N.A., Orlando, $556,190; Black Business Invest Fund, Orlando, $225,000. Creditors meeting: Jan. 13.
US home sales hit fastest pace since March with more properties up for sale
By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in November to their fastest pace since March with home shoppers encouraged by a wider selection of properties on the market, even as mortgage rates mostly ticked higher.
Existing home sales rose 4.8% last month, from October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.15 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.
Sales accelerated 6.1% compared with November last year, representing the biggest year-over-year gain since June 2021. The latest home sales topped the 4.1 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 17th consecutive month. The national median sales price rose 4.7% from a year earlier, to $406,100.
Despite increasing in November and October, home sales are still running below last year’s pace, when they sank to a nearly 30-year low.
“Looks like we won’t match last year in terms of the annual total, so it will be the lowest home sales since 1995,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.
US applications for unemployment benefits come back down after last week’s big rise
By MATT OTT, AP Business Writer
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell markedly last week following a big increase the week before.
Jobless claim applications declined by 22,000 to 220,000 for the week of Dec. 14, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 229,000 analysts were forecasting.
Continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits, fell by 5,000 to 1.87 million for the week of Dec. 7. That was also fewer than analysts had projected.
The four-week average of weekly claims, which quiets some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by 1,250 to 225,500.
Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs.
Carnival brings Italian-themed Venezia to Port Canaveral
Port Canaveral’s busiest sailing season ever got its final homeported ship of the year when Carnival Cruise Line arrived with its Italian-themed Carnival Venezia on Wednesday.
Its debut makes 16 ships calling the Central Florida port home for the winter sailing season, and the fifth for Carnival Cruise Line, a record for one line at the port.
It sailed away before sunset from Cruise Terminal 3 after having arrived from New York where it had been based since its summer 2023 debut.
Unlike other Carnival ships with the signature whale-tail funnel and blue-red-and-white color scheme, this ship has a simple cylindrical funnel amid a yellow-and-black color scheme. The ship is themed to Venice, Italy and sports a moniker on its hull that says “Carnival Fun Italian Style.”
The 135,225-gross-ton, 4,090-passenger ship was originally built for sister cruise line Costa Cruises as Costa Venezia, and thus features Italian design and architectural touches inspired by Venice including the atrium the line is calling Piazza San Marco. It debuted in 2019 and sailed out of China until the COVID-19 pandemic. Carnival rebranded it and a sister ship from Costa that is now known as Carnival Firenze, calling them the line’s Venice class of ships.