WASHINGTON—Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. rose last month to the highest level in nearly two years, and the inventory of unsold homes contracted to a level considered healthy by economists, positive signs for the housing market.

Existing-home sales increased 4.3% in January from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. It was the third increase in the past four months and the highest level of sales since May 2010, when the housing market was lifted by federal tax credits. Compared with January a year ago, sales rose 0.7%.

Sales of previously occupied homes in the U.S. rose last month, and the inventory of unsold homes contracted to a level considered healthy by economists, positive signs for the housing market. Brenda Cronin has details on Lunch Break.

Economists were generally encouraged by the report, which comes amid other signs that the housing market may have bottomed and is starting to heal. “We’re slowly improving for the right reasons: more jobs, more credit availability and affordability of homes,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist with PNC Financial Services Group.

Guy Berger, U.S. economist with RBS Capital Markets, wrote that some of the recent growth in home sales may have been the result of the mild winter. “But for the most part, it seems that the housing sector may have turned the corner,” he wrote.

Some economists, however, said January’s report wasn’t as encouraging as it appeared because the size of the gain was due to a large downward revision in December’s data. The revised reading for December was 4.38 million compared with an earlier estimate of 4.61 million.

“The number of sales in January was actually a touch lower than we had thought they were in December,” wrote Paul Diggle, property economist at Capital Economics. Nevertheless, he said, “it’s still the case that existing home sales are recovering, albeit only gradually.”

Last month’s median sales price was $154,700, down 2% from $157,900 a year earlier. The inventory of previously owned homes listed for sale fell to 2.31 million at the end of January, the lowest level since March 2005. That represented a 6.1-month supply at the current sales pace, a level economists consider healthy.

The Realtors’ report said home sales rose last month from a month earlier in all four U.S. regions. Sales were up 8.8% in the West, 3.5% in the South, 3.4% in the Northeast and 1.0% in the Midwest.

The housing market has been one of the weakest parts of the U.S. economy, but there are signs it is starting to recover after a price collapse that began 5½ years ago. In 2011, about 4.26 million homes were sold, up 1.7% from 4.19 million in 2010.

Mortgage rates have been hovering around the lowest recorded levels and hiring has picked up, giving some buyers more confidence. However, prices in many distressed markets have continued to fall due to a continuing flow of foreclosures. While the share of loans in foreclosure has remained elevated, the number of new borrowers falling behind on their mortgages has been declining

A six-month housing rally landed South Florida’s real estate market on a most-­improved list of areas showing signs of an economic recovery.

Housing prices in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties have climbed 2.6 percent from a low in March, according to a National Association of Home Builders index released Monday.

New-home permitting in the region was up 7.3 percent from an April 2009 bottom.

The index measures employment increases, house price appreciation and single-family housing permit growth. For an area to be listed on the index, all three categories must show improvement for six consecutive months.

Economists at the Washington-based association said they were surprised to see some of the country’s most devastated markets make the cut this month.

But because areas such as South Florida hit such extreme lows, a small revival can go a long way.

“There is some improvement, but that doesn’t mean things are improved,” said David Crowe, the group’s chief economist. “We’re not back to everything being fine; we’ve simply started on a course of getting there.”

Nationally, 98 markets made this month’s list, including seven in Florida.

Mike Larson, a real estate analyst at Weiss Research in Jupiter, said Monday’s report mirrors what he’s seeing in the South Florida market. But optimism should be tempered, he said.

The primary driver for improvement is a burgeoning but still fragile jobs market, Larson said. Unemployment rates for Palm Beach County and Florida fell below 10 percent in December, hitting levels not seen since 2009.

“Do I think it’s going to be a strong rebound? No, it’s more of a gradual thing,” Larson said. “It’s a market that has suffered a lot in recent years, so even a stabilization feels like an improvement.”

Though single-family home sales have been strong in Palm Beach County – surging 24 percent in 2011 over the previous year – prices have been below $200,000 in recent months.

The year ended with a median sales price of $193,700, a 15 percent slide from 2010, according to a January report from the Florida Realtors.

Crowe said Monday’s index isn’t based on median sales price. It more closely resembles the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, which measures repeat sales on homes that have conforming Freddie Mac loans. The quality and characteristics of the homes sold also are taken into consideration, Crowe said.

The National Association of Home Builders launched its monthly improving-home index in September to highlight pockets of the country that are showing signs of a rebound.

This month, seven areas were dropped from the list for lack of improvement, including Washington and New Orleans.

The latest statistics for the Orlando real estate market were released by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association yesterday and the best news of all is that the inventory is down to 10 months. We’re not that far off from the signal of market stabilization at the 6 month inventory level.

The number of sales remained steady at 1,854 with 19,123 homes on the market. The average days on market stands at 104 days and the number of new contracts is the highest it’s been in quite a few years at 3,455.

I’ve been telling me customers that the market is picking up and these numbers back me up.

Rates for fixed mortgages moved higher over the past week amid positive signals from the long-suffering U.S. housing market, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of mortgage rates.

“Fixed mortgage rates ticked up this week as the housing market ended 2011 on a high note,” said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft, noting encouraging data like a report that existing home sales rose 5% at the end of the year to 4.61 million houses, the largest amount since May 2010.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.98% for the week ended Thursday, up from 3.88% the previous week, though below 4.8% a year ago. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.24%, up from 3.17% last week and below 4.09% a year earlier.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARM, averaged 2.85%, up from 2.82% last week and below 3.7% a year ago. One-year Treasury-indexed ARM rates averaged 2.74%, matching the prior week and below 3.26% last year.

To obtain the rates, 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages required an average 0.7 percentage point and 0.8 percentage point payment, respectively. Five-year and one-year adjustable rate mortgages required an average 0.7 percentage point and 0.6 percentage point payment, respectively. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

Orlando (CNN) – “Oi — Sejam bem-vindos!” — meaning “Hi, welcome!” — is a Portuguese phrase heard more and more these days at Florida’s tourist spots.

That’s because Florida is the top U.S. vacation destination for Brazilians, who are taking advantage of a favorable exchange rate and low prices. Brazilians outnumbered all other international travelers to Florida in 2011, up 41% from the previous year,according to state tourism officials.

And there’s no sign of this Brazilian invasion slowing down: The U.S. Commerce Department projects 1.5 million Brazilians will visit the United States in 2012 — and most of them will head to Florida.

Floridians are used to seeing Brazilian tour groups marching through outlet malls and theme parks, usually dressed in matching T-shirts in single-file lines behind their leader. These Brazilian tourists are usually loaded with cash and ready to clear the shelves of the name-brand outlets. That’s because even at regular price, many goods and services in the United States are much cheaper than in Brazil, where tariffs, taxes and transportation costs can mean higher prices.

“We [took] about 15,000 passengers on shopping tours, and they on average spend about $300 to $400 each person,” said Claudia Menezes, vice president of Pegasus Transportation. And those were just the Brazilian tour groups visiting outlet malls and theme parks in South Florida and Orlando.

Menezes says she expects her business to double in 2012. That could be a conservative estimate as the United States plans to expand its global entry program, which aims to speed up the visa approval process for international visitors.

President Obama announced the expansion of the plan last week at a news conference at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. He said he hopes to make it easier for visitors from countries “with rapidly growing economies, huge populations and emerging middle classes” like Brazil and China to visit the United States. He said he wants the plan expanded “this year.”

He said Brazil was “especially important for Florida” because it has “a huge population that loves to come to Florida … but we make it too hard for them.”

“We want them spending money here, in Orlando, in Florida in the United States of America, which will boost our businesses and our economy,” he said.

It’s a long process for many Brazilians to get to the United States: On average, people have to wait 76 days just to get an interview at the largest U.S. consulate in Brazil, in Sao Paolo. And with only four U.S. consular offices in a country that is bigger than the continental United States, a lot of Brazilians trying to visit the U.S. must travel long distances for their interview. As a result, many are opting to travel to Europe because the visa process is easier.

Menezes says her tour business depends on the United States improving its visa process:

“If they make it easier, it would be even more people coming here,” she said.

On a recent afternoon at the Orlando Premium Outlets near Disney World, one of the hottest-selling items among the Brazilian tourists is luggage. They buy the suitcases, then stuff them with recently purchased shoes, clothing, bags and electronics until the luggage is almost bursting at the seams.

You can spot Brazilian tourists in Florida by their matching T-shirts and large tour buses.

That kind of spending has translated into billions of dollars in revenue for the United States. In 2010, Brazilian visitors spent nearly $6 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services, nearly 30% more than the prior year, according to areport from the U.S. Commerce Department.It’s a trend that has been going on since 2003 and has, according to the report, “propelled Brazil up the rankings to become the fifth largest international market for U.S. travel and tourism-related exports.”

Florida’s retailers aren’t the only ones getting an economic boost: Many of Central Florida’s numerous theme parks have also seen a large increase in Brazilian tourists. Disney World says 2011 was a record-breaking year for Brazilian guests at its parks.

As a result, Disney hired 54 Portuguese-speaking “Super Greeters,” most of them from Brazil, to assist Brazilian tour groups throughout Disney’s parks.

SeaWorld Orlando has seen a steady increase in guests from Brazil over the past five years, says Peter Frey, senior marketing officer with SeaWorld Parks.

As a result, SeaWorld recently launched a website in Portuguese, and Frey says the company is looking to expand its Portuguese-speaking employees.

“We are offering classes for employees to learn the basics of Portuguese,” he said.

Brazil’s economy is booming after a quick recovery from the global economic downturn, and a new class of Brazilians is traveling and spending money, giving Florida a much-needed economic shot in the arm, according to Sean Snaith, an economics expert at the University of Central Florida.

“There is an emerging middle class [in Brazil] who has disposable income,” he said.

Only a few years ago, Brazilian tourists were not always welcomed by shop owners in Central and South Florida, a tour guide said. Today, businesses are catering to these cash-laden Brazilian tourists.

Brazilians are also investing in Florida’s sagging real estate market, particularly in South Florida, either for a vacation home or just as an investment. The prices in Miami are a bargain, compared with the prices in Brazil, according to Miami Realtor Cristiano Piquet.

“In Brazil or Rio, high-end real estate is around $1,000 per square foot, while in Miami, you can find high-end oceanfront property, like the Trump Towers, for only $500 per square foot,” said Piquet, who gets 80% of his business from Brazilians. He has 75 agents.

“Brazilians love Miami, the weather is similar to Brazil, [it's] very safe … [and there are] daily flights from Brazil to Miami,” he said.

Diego Gasques from Rio de Janeiro, who owns two condominiums in Miami, agrees.

“It’s kind of a vacation place for us,” he said. “Of course Miami is a beautiful place, a lot of nice people around — a lot of bodies … it’s a nice place to hang out to have some fun.”

While Spanish is still the most popular second language in most South Florida businesses, these days it’s becoming more common to hear, “Obrigada e volte sempre!” — Portuguese for ” Thank you, come again!”

Average fixed mortgage rates in the U.S. over the past week kicked off the new year at or near record lows, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of mortgage rates.

The firm noted the rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage during the period matched its all-time low, making it the fifth straight week the rate has averaged below 4%.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.91% for the week ended Thursday, down from 3.95% the previous week and 4.77% a year ago. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.23%, down from 3.24% last week and 4.13% a year earlier.

The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM, averaged 2.86%, down from 2.88% last week and 3.75% a year ago. One-year Treasury-indexed ARM rates averaged 2.8%, up from 2.78% the prior week, though below 3.24% last year.

To obtain the rates, 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages required an average payment of 0.8 percentage point. Five-year and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages required an average 0.7 percentage point and 0.6 percentage point payment, respectively. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

For an institution that jealously guards its independence, the Federal Reserve is wading into treacherous political waters.

With the economic rebound still mediocre at best, the Fed is charging into the housing debate. But in doing so, it runs the risk of politicizing itself, while also sending mixed signals to banks still trying to find their postcrisis feet.

The latest effort was a housing “white paper” sent this week to Congress, along with a series of comments from Fed officials about the importance of housing to the economic recovery. In this, the Fed may be laying the groundwork for further quantitative easing, this time purchasing mortgage securities. But its paper went beyond even the Fed’s already unconventional policies. This included ideas that might require more taxpayer funding through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But having broached the thorny issue of using government entities to boost housing, the Fed didn’t touch on questions surrounding a needed long-term revamp of housing finance. This left the Fed implicitly endorsing the housing status quo: a market that is almost completely dependent on the government and, in particular, Fannie and Freddie. Whether the government should be involved in housing, or to what degree, is of course a highly contentious political question for Congress.

The Fed’s paper suggested it may be worth pursuing more aggressive actions in terms of loan modifications, mortgage refinancing and sales of foreclosed properties even if they cause greater short-term losses at Fannie and Freddie, and so by extension to taxpayers. And the paper may have led some in markets to believe a new, government housing effort was coming. The Fed’s paper said a possible policy option would be for the government to expand existing refinancing efforts “or introduce a new program.”

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Expectations of such action helped spark a nearly 8% rally in Bank of America shares Thursday, although nothing is reportedly planned. Still, the reaction shows many now see the Fed and White House potentially acting together. That underscores how perceptions of Fed independence have already been eroded.

Beyond Fannie and Freddie, the Fed’s paper also took it into other politically charged areas, such as principal forgiveness for underwater mortgage holders. While it didn’t specifically endorse such a move, the Fed said that “policy experiments in this area would be useful.”

Meanwhile on mortgage modifications, the Fed noted certain types of loan changes “may be socially beneficial, even if not in the best interest of the lender.” It went on to acknowledge that this would be “likely to involve additional taxpayer funding, the overriding of private contract rights, or both.” While the paper noted this raises difficult public-policy issues, by simply raising the possibility the Fed risks being seen as supporting such an outcome.

The paper also signaled that the Fed, ostensibly the most important bank regulator, will try to involve banks more directly in housing-revival approaches, even as it imposes new, more stringent regulatory constraints. One area involves efforts to turn foreclosed homes into rental properties. While this primarily pertains to Fannie and Freddie, the Fed noted that commercial banks as of last September had $10 billion in foreclosed homes on their books.

Banking regulations typically direct banks to sell foreclosed homes quickly, although the rules do recognize this isn’t always practical and so these properties can be held up to five years. The Fed said it is now “contemplating issuing guidance” to banks and regulators that would possibly allow banks to turn some of these foreclosed homes into rental properties.

The hope is this may help stanch the flow of foreclosed properties into markets, although the effect may not be that great. Goldman Sachs economists noted Thursday that a rental effort may add 0.5% to home-price appreciation in the first year and 1% the second, although the impact “would likely be smaller.” For banks, a move into the rental business would potentially clog parts of their balance sheets, while requiring them to essentially bet on house prices rebounding.

Housing is indeed important to the economy. But the Fed has to recognize there is only so much it can, or should, do.

The downtown health care and social assistance industry has witnessed a decade-long growth of 170 percent, to 7,442 workers, and will continue to increase with new projects from the local hospital systems.

For example, both Florida Hospital and Orlando Health are under way on two projects that will reshape their downtown offerings.

Florida Hospital’s Health Village, an $810 million project that will include a five-story, 150,000-square-foot bioscience office building and a 52,000-square-foot research facility, will create more than 800 jobs.

Florida Hospital, which has eight hospitals throughout Central Florida, has its main 1,080-bed campus on Rollins Street just north of the central business district.

Meanwhile, Orlando Health officials expect to add upwards of 8,000 new jobs including downtown workers via campus expansions that would be anchored on the future 61-mile SunRail commuter rail system.

In addition, Orlando Health is underway on plans that include a 90,000-square-foot expansion of the emergency department at its Orlando Regional Medical Center, as well as a planned new 11-story, 192-bed tower.

Orlando Health, which has five hospitals in the region, has the 808-bed Orlando Regional Medical Center, the 158-bed Arnold Palmer Hospital Children and the 285-bed Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies off Kuhl Street just south of the central business district.

Insider viewpoint: “Our economic contribution to Central Florida is now some $4.5 billion and includes employment for more than 13,000 team members, new and on-going construction projects, advances in technologies and treatments, and infrastructure updates that benefit the entire community,” said Sherrie Sitarik, president and CEO of Orlando Health.