The Fed held short-term interest rates steady yesterday but appears ready to hike them later this year. The Fed’s rates directly impact ARMs and, indirectly, FRMs. Source: Florida Realtors

NAR compared local employment gains to housing stock and found 80% of U.S. metros need more construction. In Fla., one city tops list; another ranks near bottom. Source: Florida Realtors

New-home builders have a rosy outlook about the future based on current trends and their projections for 2017. The monthly index rose 6 points to 65. Source: Florida Realtors

Census: It appears that Americans got fatter paychecks in 2015 – the first significant hike since 2007. U.S. median household income rose 5.2% to $56,516. Source: Florida Realtors

Completed foreclosures down 16.5% from a year ago; U.S. foreclosure inventory down 29.1%. Fla. still leads the nation in completed foreclosures, at 57K, in July. Source: Florida Realtors

In its latest regulatory black eye, Wells Fargo must pay $185M in civil penalties for actions allegedly taken by about 5,300 employees, who secretly opened millions of accounts without customers’ permission. Source: Florida Realtors

Insurers: It could have been much worse, with some saying the Category 1 hurricane was “a good quiz” for the catastrophe plans of companies doing business in Fla. Source: Florida Realtors

Report: In the first half of the year, home sales rose 4.2% in counties with low natural hazard risk, while counties with high risk only showed a 1.9% gain. Source: Florida Realtors

RealPage: The share of renters opting to renew their leases hit an all-time high of 53.8% through the first seven months of this year, up from 52.9% in 2015. Source: Florida Realtors

Fed Housing Finance Agency: It will continue through Sept. 2017. More than 3.4M homeowners have refinanced their mortgages under HARP since it began 7 years ago. Source: Florida Realtors