Lending was up all-around, ranging from year-over-year growth of 27.5 percent in smaller short-term loans in the year's first half to 9.9 percent in first mortgage loans in just the second quarter. The association also recorded improvements across other metrics, including credit union membership, which grew by more than 900,000 in the second quarter to surpass 98 million.
Read More »NTC Pushing Mortgage Industry Into Digital Age
Not only is eRecording faster, NTC says, but it also provides a safer, more reliable way to process documents, minimizing risk of losing documents in transit and cutting down on the time and effort it takes to find public records. Though eRecording is catching on in most states, a few have been more receptive than most—including Colorado and Nevada, where 90 percent or more of NTC documents have been recorded electronically.
Read More »Freddie Mac: Mortgage Rates Stay Level
While it's been a tame summer for mortgage rate movements, analysts at Bankrate say it's only a matter of time before that steadiness ends, especially as economic improvements spur policymakers at the Federal Reserve to stop holding interest rates down as much.
Read More »Employment Growth Falls Well Short of Expectations for August
Employment growth in the United States took a sharp downturn in August, according to government figures released Friday. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase 142,000 in U.S. payrolls last month, well short of the 230,000 predicted by economists. August's sudden slowdown snaps a six-month streak in which payroll growth came in at 200,000 or higher.
Read More »Federal Reserve: Housing Mirrors Modest Economy Growth
Growth was described as "modest" in the New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas, and San Francisco districts, while Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Kansas City reported “modest” growth. Looking ahead, contacts in about half of the districts "generally remained optimistic about future growth," while most of the other districts saw ongoing optimism in specific sectors.
Read More »Analyst Warns of Potential Mortgage Crisis
With the Federal Reserve on track to end its monthly bond purchases (currently at a rate of $25 billion and falling), Bove cautions that the loss of one of the tools used to help lift housing out of its post-recession rut could hurt the market, especially as interest rates start to tick back up.
Read More »Late August Finds Consumer Sentiment On Rebound
Indeed, 59 percent of households with incomes in the top tier reported being better off now than they were before, while only 36 percent of those in the lower tiers said the same. At the same time, 34 percent of the top-income households reported net income gains, while there were no net gains reported in the bottom two-thirds.
Read More »Fannie Mae News: Book of Business Declines in July
New business acquisitions totaled just less than $40 billion throughout the month, a nearly 12 percent rise over June and the strongest month for new business since last November, the mortgage giant reported.
Read More »Home Price Appreciation Decelerates Annually
Compared to a year prior, July's index was up 7.4 percent, barely down from 7.5 percent in June. As of the July report, the national HPI has risen year-over-year for 29 straight months.
Read More »Power Shift Could Result in Home Sales Spike
For July, Redfin recorded a 0.3 percent monthly decline in the median sales price of homes sold in the major metros the company tracks, marking the first time in five months that price growth was essentially flat.
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