Thu, Nov 8 2018, 11:58 AM
A deep dig into recent home purchase loans shows that some of the underwriting standards employed by FHA and the GSEs (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) eas...
Wed, Nov 7 2018, 12:13 PM
Despite the success of the U.S. economy as of late, housing sentiment seems to have hit a rough patch . Fannie Mae said its Home Purchase Sentiment In...
Wed, Nov 7 2018, 8:14 AM
The week ended November 2 was another week of retreat for mortgage applications as the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Market Composite Index d...
Tue, Nov 6 2018, 11:32 AM
The ease of access to mortgage credit rose in October according to the Mortgage Credit Availability Index. An increase in the Index, a product of the ...
Tue, Nov 6 2018, 8:16 AM
Cash-out refinancing is currently a larger share of the refinance market than at any time since the financial crisis . However, the Urban Institute (U...
Mon, Nov 5 2018, 8:24 AM
By mid-October the average interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages (which at that point was at 4.85 percent) represented an increase of 85 basi...
Fri, Nov 2 2018, 10:12 AM
Both of the two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which remain in government receivership ten years after the housin...
Thu, Nov 1 2018, 1:24 PM
Construction spending in September was largely unchanged from where it was in August. The U.S. Census Bureau said that private and public sector spend...
Thu, Nov 1 2018, 11:23 AM
Single family home prices increased during the third quarter of 2018 in 93 percent or 166 of the 178 metropolitan areas tracked by the National Associ...
Wed, Oct 31 2018, 4:19 PM
While they are talking apples and oranges, both the U.S. Census Bureau and ATTOM Data Solutions each took a recent look at residential vacancies . The...
Wed, Oct 31 2018, 8:10 AM
After posting the first across-the-board volume increases in almost a month during the week ended October 19, activity reversed last week, and the sea...
Tue, Oct 30 2018, 4:07 PM
Freddie Mac is forecasting that there will be GDP growth of 3.0 percent in the second quarter of this year, moderating from the strong 4.2 percent gro...
Tue, Oct 30 2018, 10:53 AM
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index for August showed an annual appreciation rate that was lower than 6.0 percent for the fi...
Mon, Oct 29 2018, 1:29 PM
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) says its 2018 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers confirms that student debt balances are an increasing con...
Fri, Oct 26 2018, 10:31 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 2.3 percent in September. The portfolio balance at...
Thu, Oct 25 2018, 3:12 PM
As part of an upgrade to its Desktop Underwriter (DU) that will be issued over the December 8 weekend, Fannie Mae says there will be some adjustments ...
Thu, Oct 25 2018, 10:26 AM
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) just issued the first positive pending home sales report in months . Pending sales, a leading indicator fo...
Wed, Oct 24 2018, 11:06 AM
New home sales managed to pull out a gain last time they were reported. The question was, with an improving inventory but rising interest rates, could...
Wed, Oct 24 2018, 10:26 AM
Mortgage delinquencies surged by 13.2 percent in September, the largest single-month increase since November 2008. But despite the ominous connotation...
Wed, Oct 24 2018, 10:24 AM
Like most measures of monthly home price appreciation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency's House Price Index (HPI) has slowed in recent months but no...
Wed, Oct 24 2018, 8:47 AM
Mortgage applications rose during the week ended October 19, an increase the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) attributed to a rebound from the Colum...
Tue, Oct 23 2018, 11:53 AM
Remember the old Point/Counterpoint segment on CBS's 60 Minutes? Two political commentators, a far right conservative and an equally lefty liberal arg...
Fri, Oct 19 2018, 8:07 PM
Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) group is still expecting that economic growth will "likely" be solid in the third quarter, but they...
Fri, Oct 19 2018, 8:04 PM
The share of closed loans originated for home purchase continues to inch higher. Ellie Mae, in its September Origination Insight Report , says that sh...
Fri, Oct 19 2018, 11:02 AM
Existing home sales slipped in September, following a month in which sales were almost totally flat. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said ...
Thu, Oct 18 2018, 1:47 PM
Evidence is growing that the housing market is cooling, and Zillow is adding to the pile of proof. However, its contribution points more to a slowdown...
Thu, Oct 18 2018, 1:44 PM
Anyone who has ever worked as a real estate agent will understand the real reasons behind a new finding from the National Association of Realtors® (NA...
Wed, Oct 17 2018, 10:05 AM
All three reports on residential construction activity in September were disappointing, but no more so than any of the other housing data that speaks ...
Wed, Oct 17 2018, 8:25 AM
Purchase mortgage originations are expected to increase a bit in 2019, but not by enough to offset the continuing decline in refinancing. A forecast f...
Wed, Oct 17 2018, 8:14 AM
Mortgage applications were down last week by the largest seasonally adjusted percentage since September 2017 . The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) ...
Tue, Oct 16 2018, 10:59 AM
Recent research from Trulia shows home price reductions are increasing . The share of homes for sale that have had at least one price cut since being ...
Tue, Oct 16 2018, 10:54 AM
Builder confidence ticked up 1 point in October, rising to 68. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), which produces the NAHB/Wells Fargo H...
Mon, Oct 15 2018, 5:13 PM
MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) newly installed president and CEO, delivered his inaugural speech to M...
Mon, Oct 15 2018, 10:27 AM
Freddie Mac is announcing a couple of enhancements to its Loan Advisor underwriting tool. The additional capabilities will allow lenders to automate t...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 11:35 AM
Mortgage denial rates ebb and flow with the economy, with lenders appetite for risk, and sometimes with the pressure lenders feel to make loans. Denia...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 8:48 AM
Want to get that reluctant customer who has been "about to" buy a home for months a little push? If an analysis by the Urban Institute (UI) as reporte...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 8:26 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports a drop in applications for the purchase of newly constructed homes last month. Those applications fell ...
Wed, Oct 10 2018, 5:00 PM
It was largely ignored with the ongoing rush of news from Washington, but late last month Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced a bill she says i...
Wed, Oct 10 2018, 8:11 AM
Mortgage application activity declined during the week as the 30-year mortgage rate crossed the 5.0 percent line for the first time in seven years and...
Tue, Oct 9 2018, 8:29 AM
Hurricane Florence, the storm that tore up much of eastern North and South Caroline in September, may be especially disastrous in terms of VA loans. B...
Tue, Oct 9 2018, 8:16 AM
It appears that, while Americans are generally upbeat about the economy, housing, and their own financial fortunes, they have a little difficulty main...
Fri, Oct 5 2018, 10:52 AM
Mortgage lenders have been increasingly reporting tighter margins as costs rise for each actual loan transaction. In the last few years the principal ...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 10:54 AM
The availability of mortgage credit at least as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) pulle...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 10:44 AM
Lesson learned? Whether they saw their credit decimated by the housing crisis and the Great Recession or merely watched loan standards tightened beyon...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 8:12 AM
Nearly two years ago the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) approved Underserved Market Plans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These plans, part of...
Wed, Oct 3 2018, 8:24 AM
As mortgage interest rates moved higher during the week ended September 28, with small increases carrying most to new seven year highs, application ac...
Tue, Oct 2 2018, 11:47 AM
Two Zillow subsidiaries are estimating it will cost the average U.S. homebuyer $40,000 to get in the door of their new home. Depending on where the ho...
Tue, Oct 2 2018, 8:17 AM
The take-away from CoreLogic's report on its August Home Price Index is that home price appreciation during the month was the slowest in two years . T...
Mon, Oct 1 2018, 11:29 AM
The total value of construction put in place during August only ticked up 0.1 percent compared to July, but the small, steady increases each month hav...
Fri, Sep 28 2018, 10:07 AM
Freddie Mac made two announcements this week. The first is a long expected administrative change to requirements for private mortgage insurance (PMI) ...
