Rising rates continue to have an impact on home purchase applications. The number of mortgage applications filed last by 13.5% from the prior week on a seasonally adjusted basis as interest rates increased, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. Read More »
Housing Finance
Economists Expect Fed to Cut Asset Purchases Next Year
Businesses economists surveyed by the National Association of Business Economists believe there is an 80 percent probability the Federal Reserve will reduce its purchase of assets next year and 45 percent believe both purchases of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities will be reduced this year. The Fed's asset purchase program has been keeping mortgage rates are record lows in recent years. Read More »
Recovery Pushes 2.5 Million Owners above Water; 20 Percent Still Under-Equitied
Rising home values helped some 2.5 million homeowners return to a state of positive equity, but under-equitied mortgages-those with less than 20 percent equity-- still account for one out of five, or 21.1 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide in the second quarter of 2013, according to the latest CoreLogic report. Read More »
Rising Rates and Falling Standards Raise Default Risk
Mortgages currently being originated stand a 14 percent higher risk of default due solely to current economic conditions, especially rising mortgage interest rates and falling underwriting standards. Read More »
Credit Unions Grow Mortgage Business
Credit unions continued to steal market share from other mortgage lenders, originating 2.5 percent more first lien mortgages in the second quarter than the first and growing 5.6 percent over the same period last year. Read More »
Fewer Delinquencies Cost Lenders Jobs
For the past six years, mortgage delinquencies, often a result of homeowners losing their jobs, created employment among mortgage servicers who process delinquencies and defaults. Now the shoe is on the other foot as declining numbers of delinquencies are costing lenders jobs. Read More »
Lenders Loosen up as Refis Tank
In July, lenders loosened up their underwriting standards more than they have in yeas as purchase mortgages overtook refinancing as the leading source of mortgage originations according to Ellie Mae's July Originations report. Read More »
Cooler Asking Prices Chill Hot Markets
Asking home prices are losing steam as mortgage rates rise, inventories expand, and investor demand declines. Nationally, asking prices dropped 0.3 percent in July - the first month-over-month (M-o-M) decline since November 2012. Seasonally adjusted, prices rose 3.3 percent quarter-over-quarter (Q-o-Q), down from a peak of 4.2 percent in April. Year-over-year (Y-o-Y), prices are up 11 percent nationally, according to Trulia's July market report. Read More »
Mortgage Defaults Boost Bank, Credit Union Failures
Thanks to a jump in bank failures and a continued worsening trend in the credit union sector, quarterly mortgage-related casualties rose to the highest level in a year. The forecast is for a decline in bank failures and an increase in credit union and non-bank closings. Read More »
Purchase Mortgages Hit New High
In June the nation's leading residential mortgage platform reported the highest market share of loans were closed for home purchases as opposed to refinancing mortgages in the two years the company has been reporting monthly origination data. Read More »