The December FOMC meeting wrapped up Wednesday, and the Federal Reserve announced the continuation of its Treasury and Securities buying program. As expected, the Fed will continue to purchase $45B worth of Treasuries each month, and $40B worth of mortgage-based securities as previously announced.

The one interesting caveat that was added was the inclusion of the unemployment rate into their decision formula. A line in the sand for was drawn from the Fed as it relates to the Fed Funds rate. The Fed Funds rate will stay low as long as the unemployment rate is above 6.5 percent.

Mortgage rates rose slightly after the announcement, and remain ever so slightly elevated from previous session lows. The 10-year yield, which had been trading in the low 1.60 range for quite some time, was trading at 1.73 as of Thursday afternoon.

TMLS Data for November has been released, and the home sales data has improved significantly in year-over-year numbers. Here are a few key highlights: 

• Closed sales are up 24.7 percent
• Median sales prices are up 6.2 percent
• Days on market declined by 12.1 percent
• Inventory levels declined by 22.9 percent

Weekly mortgage applications were up 6 percent for the week ending Dec. 7. Refinances led the way with an 8 percent increase, and purchases were up slightly at 1 percent.