Wed, Dec 19 2018, 11:27 AM
The debate has opened again on the fate of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (the GSEs). Ten plus years after the two were put in federal conservatorship at ...
Wed, Dec 19 2018, 8:12 AM
It is sad to say, but the good news can't last forever and the recent improvement in mortgage application volume, especially for purchase mortgages, p...
Tue, Dec 18 2018, 3:47 PM
Only about one third of Americans told the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) in a recent survey that they thought it was a good time to buy a ho...
Tue, Dec 18 2018, 10:27 AM
Residential construction performed an abrupt and unexpected about face in October. Permits, housing starts, and completions all improved on a month-ov...
Mon, Dec 17 2018, 10:47 AM
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) is flirting with the danger zone. Although stressing that the ...
Fri, Dec 14 2018, 11:04 AM
Consistency can be boring, but in crazy times it can also be reassuring, even comforting. While they differ on the specifics, economists, at least tho...
Thu, Dec 13 2018, 9:58 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) added a little more evidence to the pile indicating a rather rapid slow-down in the housing market. MBA's Build...
Wed, Dec 12 2018, 11:21 AM
Lenders continue to be pessimistic about their profit outlook as 2018 draws to an end. Fannie Mae said its fourth quarter 2018 Mortgage Lender Sentime...
Wed, Dec 12 2018, 8:11 AM
Almost exactly 10 years after he helped pass the legislation that established the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Mark Anthony Calabria has bee...
Wed, Dec 12 2018, 8:06 AM
Borrower activity continued to pick up last week as interest rates retreated to September levels and mortgage applications extended their recent winni...
Tue, Dec 11 2018, 11:45 AM
CoreLogic reports that mortgage delinquency rates were little changed in September. The percentage of mortgage loans that were 30 or more days delinqu...
Mon, Dec 10 2018, 1:23 PM
Both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have announced the suspension of eviction lockouts for single-family and two- to four-unit properties for the holiday ...
Mon, Dec 10 2018, 12:25 PM
We know that home price growth is slowing , and cash-out refinancing has been coming back, still it is a bit of a stunner to find that homeowner equit...
Mon, Dec 10 2018, 11:14 AM
The stereotype of a second home usually involves a tropical beach, a boat dock on a lake, or skiers whizzing past a picture window, but the National A...
Fri, Dec 7 2018, 1:24 PM
Three researchers from the Urban Institute (UI) recently analyzed the new capital standards rule proposed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)...
Fri, Dec 7 2018, 11:51 AM
Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) for November rose slightly, but within the 0.5-point increase was some increased confidence about pe...
Fri, Dec 7 2018, 8:30 AM
Access to mortgage credit moved higher in November, largely due to improved access to conforming mortgages. The Mortgage Bankers Association's Mortgag...
Fri, Dec 7 2018, 8:27 AM
While there has been a lot of talk since the recovery took hold about the lack resiliency in the residential construction sector, the issue is now mov...
Thu, Dec 6 2018, 8:44 AM
In June the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) issued a proposed capital standard for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Freddie Mac an...
Wed, Dec 5 2018, 1:22 PM
Mortgage rates remained largely flat or even slightly lower during the week ended November 30. This probably helped to maintain the upward trend in mo...
Tue, Dec 4 2018, 12:04 PM
It is often billed as the most important and consequential financial decision a household can makes, so it probably follows that buying a home should ...
Tue, Dec 4 2018, 8:13 AM
While their behavior thus far doesn't do much to validate it, a survey by Bank of America (BoA) finds that Millennials put a high priority on homeowne...
Mon, Dec 3 2018, 12:22 PM
Construction spending was lower on a month-over-month basis in October, but an increase in public sector spending held the overall decline to a minimu...
Fri, Nov 30 2018, 11:17 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 4.7 percent in October, up from 2.3 percent the pr...
Fri, Nov 30 2018, 9:40 AM
Financial concerns continued for independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks as they reported, on average, declining profi...
Thu, Nov 29 2018, 10:24 AM
Pending home sales in October failed to build on their small September gains - only the second uptick in six months. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHS...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 3:32 PM
The party is probably over for the time being when it comes to rate-and-term (i.e. "no cash out") refinancing. But even as rising interest rates stead...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 11:53 AM
With both interest rates and home prices rising it is nearly impossible to find a housing forecast that doesn't include the word " cooling ." The Nove...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 11:16 AM
New home sales were expected to make a strong showing in October; the consensus of analysts polled by Econoday was for a sharp increase from the Septe...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 8:14 AM
Even though the week was shortened by the Thanksgiving holiday MBA's Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage application volume, managed a 5.5 p...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 1:05 PM
Given the rapid run-up in home prices over the last year, it's no surprise that loan limits will also be going up in 2019. The Federal Housing Finance...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 11:28 AM
The views about the direction of home prices diverged slightly in September, as those reported in the S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller indices slowed for th...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 8:18 AM
Mortgage delinquencies spiked in the September "first look" report from Black Knight, but that was followed by a swift reversal in October. The compan...
Mon, Nov 26 2018, 11:34 AM
"Possibly the only thing worse than a world in which homeownership doesn't work as a wealth-building tool is a world in which it does work as a wealth...
Fri, Nov 23 2018, 10:08 AM
The share of loans that were for refinancing and those where borrowers opted for adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) both ticked up in October , with the...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 11:55 AM
Existing home sales broke their extended losing streak in October, increasing 1.4 percent from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.22 ...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 8:25 AM
Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group (ESR) upped their projection for economic growth slightly, to 3.1 percent this year , but say housi...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 8:07 AM
Mortgage rates pulled back slightly during the week ended November 16, but that did little to move mortgage applications higher. The Mortgage Bankers ...
Tue, Nov 20 2018, 10:50 AM
October was another mixed but largely mediocre month for residential construction . Permits were lower both on a monthly and an annual basis, while ho...
Mon, Nov 19 2018, 5:17 PM
Freddie Mac has announced a new collaboration with a handful of rural non-profits to expand sweat equity opportunities to homeowners in several rural ...
Mon, Nov 19 2018, 10:32 AM
Builder confidence took a steep dive this month, reflecting increasing news of slowing home sales and rising concerns over affordability. The National...
Fri, Nov 16 2018, 12:16 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) notes that applications for the purchase of new homes declined by 2.1 percent in October compared to the same m...
Fri, Nov 16 2018, 10:22 AM
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) said on Thursday that its Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (MMI Fund) exceeded its congressionally mandated min...
Thu, Nov 15 2018, 5:27 PM
Fannie Mae has expanded the menu of post-disaster services it is offering to its borrowers. The new services are in addition to the up to 12 months of...
Thu, Nov 15 2018, 12:10 PM
It ain't going to get any easier... The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) tells us these cheery words encapsulate the attitude of responden...
Wed, Nov 14 2018, 9:39 AM
While reams of research have been done on why members of the Millennial generation are less likely to own a home compared to their baby boomer and Gen...
Wed, Nov 14 2018, 8:08 AM
Mortgage application activity continued to shrink during the week ended November 9. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its Market Composite Index, ...
Tue, Nov 13 2018, 11:17 AM
It may be that California, where home prices have exploded over the last few years, has jumped the shark when it comes to affordability. CoreLogic's A...
Fri, Nov 9 2018, 10:27 AM
The ongoing improvement in mortgage performance hit a slight snag in the third quarter of 2018, one that appears to be disaster related. The Mortgage ...
Thu, Nov 8 2018, 2:43 PM
Housing affordability crept down again in the third quarter of 2018 reaching, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a ten-yea...
