Market Studies

Despite the year-over-year decline in the percentage of underwater residential properties, negative equity remains a serious issue, according to Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. For the full year of 2014, 1.2 million borrowers regained equity – but nearly five and a half million properties remained in negative equity as of the end of the year after approximately 172,000 homes slipped into negative equity from the third quarter to the fourth quarter in 2014.

Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer, who will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming Five Star Government Forum in Washington, D.C., on March 18, predicted in Freddie Mac's March 2015 Economic and Housing Market Outlook that the coming year would be the best for housing since 2007, immediately prior to the crash.

Consumers were more optimistic toward the economy than they've been at any point in the last five years, according to Fannie Mae's February 2015 National Housing Survey released Monday. The percentage of respondents who said they believe the economy is on the right track increased by 3 percentage points since January's survey up to 47 percent, an all-time high since the survey began nearly five years ago.

While several strategies have reportedly emerged to help small CLO managers who may be having trouble complying with the new risk retention rule, which was finalized in October 2014, but how effective these strategies are in achieving that goal remains uncertain, according to an announcement from Fitch Ratings.

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped down to 5.5 percent in February, its lowest figure since May 2008, as 295,000 jobs were added, according to the February 2015 Employment Situation released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

Two challenges facing the U.S. housing market is currently facing are a dearth of credit creation and a lack of available inventory, according to a report released Wednesday by the Kroll Bond Ratings Agency (KBRA) that is scheduled to be presented Thursday by KBRA Senior Managing Director and Head of Research Christopher Whalen at the 2nd Annual Real Estate Symposium in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Weather conditions slowed home construction in New York, Philadelphia, and Cleveland and caused Boston to have low levels of inventory. The report notes that lack of desirable lots and low inventory levels continue to slow the market.

The mortgage market could have taken twice the default risk during the first three quarters of 2014 and remained well within the high standards set from 2001 to 2003, according to data released by the Urban Institute on Monday.

While Fannie Mae's February 2015 Economic Outlook released on Thursday predicted a boost for housing this year based on strong economic growth, consumers may not be quite convinced, based on two consumer sentiment indices released this week.

Economic growth is expected to climb to 2.9 percent this year, up from 2.4 percent in 2014, according to Fannie Mae's February 2015 Monthly Economic Outlook released on Thursday. Fannie Mae predicts this economic growth will boost the sluggish housing market into recovery.