Tagged: HomeFinance

Posted To: MND NewsWireIncreasing home prices have the additional benefit of reducing mortgage foreclosures according to CoreLogic. The company’s Loan Performance Insights report for December notes the 30+ day delinquency rate is at a 10-year low. Frank Nothaft, CoreLogic’s chief economist says “Our latest home equity report found that the average homeowner saw a $9,700 […]

Posted To: MND NewsWirePermits rose in January, but the headline for the delayed residential construction report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development was the dynamite start to the New Year for housing starts and completion. Both made a strong comeback from their weak finish in 2018. Housing starts […]

Posted To: MND NewsWireAn uptick in mortgage rates was blamed by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) for the first decline in mortgage applications in three weeks. MBA’s Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 2.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended March 1. The prior week, which […]

Homeownership is Highest Since 2014 Posted To: MND NewsWireThe Census Bureau reported on Thursday that the national homeownership rate rose slightly in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 64.8 percent , up from 64.4 percent in the third quarter and 64.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017. The Census Bureau said that change was […]

Posted To: MND NewsWireThe share of cash-out refinances spiked in 2017 and 2018 in a manner similar to what happened just before the Great Recession. The share jumped to 50 percent in 2017 and 61 percent in 2018, the highest since 2006. In two posts in CoreLogic’s Insights blog however Arthur Jobe maintains that the […]

Posted To: Mortgage Rate WatchAt one point today, there were three apparently important events dominating the newswires simultaneously. These included the Fed Chair’s congressional testimony, the Cohen congressional testimony, and–you guessed it–congressional testimony from Lighthizer on US/China trade policy. Mortgage rates are determined by the bond market, and the bond market could make a case […]

Fannie Mae is predicting a notable slowdown in the growth of the U.S. economy in the first quarter of 2019.  They have downgraded their earlier forecast by 0.1 percent to an annualized rate of 1.7 percent, compared to 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018. For the full year they are looking for growth […]

Mortgage Bankers Estimate 29% Surge in New Home Sales While we have not yet seen figures from the Census Bureau for December let alone January, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is reporting a surge in new home sales last month.  Information from MBA’s Builder Application Survey (BAS) indicates that those sales, while unchanged from January […]

Fannie/Freddie Changes Run the Gamut, Including Shutdown Underwriting Shift “Some people are so poor, all they have is money.” How about “26 of the World’s Richest Own the Same Wealth as Poorest Half” in the world!? To the best of my knowledge the PUGS (partial U.S. government shutdown) is not helping anyone’s wealth and is […]

More Home Buyers Turning to ARMs Mortgage to Achieve Home Ownership The share of December originations that were adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) was the highest since Ellie Mae began tracking them in 2011 the company said in its December Origination Insight Report.  As mortgage rates rose, the share of ARMs reached 9.2 percent, up from […]