The notes are used to finance the servicing advances that are used to fund RMBS investors, according to an Ocwen spokesman, who also noted that the company believes the securitization of the advances is the most efficient and lowest cost form of borrowing available to mortgage servicers.
Read More »Low Mortgage Delinquency Levels Stabilize Consumer Credit Market
Mortgage delinquency rates continued their trend of year-over-year double-digit declines in the third quarter of 2015, which contributed to the strong performance of consumer credit markets during Q3, according TransUnion’s Q3 2015 Industry Insights Report released Monday.
Read More »Forecasters Predict GDP Growth Will Slow Down in 2016 and 2017
The outlook for the annual growth rate of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) for the next two years looks somewhat softer compared to what it was three months ago, according to a survey of 45 forecasters conducted by the Philadelphia Fed.
Read More »New York Fed President Praises Progress of Housing Fundamentals
“Housing prices are rising and the constraint on growth in residential investment now appears to be more on the supply side, as building contractors struggle to mobilize the resources needed to construct more homes,” Dudley said. "The National Association of Home Builders’ index rose in October to the highest level since late 2005. While the housing indicators will likely continue to be volatile on a month-to-month basis, I expect the gradual improvement in the housing sector to continue.”
Read More »‘New’ Severe Delinquencies Tumble to 2009 Level
The percentage of “new” severe delinquent residential mortgages reported for September 2015—that is, the number of severely delinquent loans that were current six months ago—was the lowest of any September since 2009, according to Black Knight Financial Services.
Read More »Aside from Completed Foreclosures, the News in Florida is All Good
The Sunshine State has fallen to third in foreclosure inventory rate (2.6 percent) behind New Jersey (4.6 percent) and New York (3.7 percent) and is getting closer to the national average, which was 1.2 percent during September. Florida had the highest decline of any state in foreclosure inventory year-over-year in September—a 42.3 percent drop, from 4.4 percent in September 2014.
Read More »Nationstar Becomes the Latest Servicer to Settle Over ‘Force Placed Insurance’
The class action suits claim the insurance policies were automatically issued to homeowners at rates approved by lenders, which were much higher than market rates. Homeowners claim they did not have a choice in the matter, hence the term “forced placed insurance.”
Read More »Fannie Mae: Is Government’s Definition of ‘Affordability’ Accurate?
“These are big numbers that demand our attention,” said Nuno Mota, an economist at Fannie Mae. “However, considering that there are a number of affordability metrics currently used throughout the industry, are these numbers providing the most accurate view of the overall affordability picture, or are we only getting a partial view?”
Read More »High Rents Put Would-Be Homebuyers in a Catch-22
Most renters are putting about 30 percent of their monthly income toward their rental payment, which makes saving for a 10 or 20 percent down payment difficult. This conflict forces first-time buyers and millennials to pursue other options when looking to purchase a home, such as help from family or friends.
Read More »Will ‘Unaffordable’ Homes Ever Become ‘Affordable’ to Millennials?
In a market where house prices are low and income growth is strong, such as Columbia, South Carolina (another market in the eastern U.S.), the payments begin the life of the mortgage as 17 percent of the household’s monthly income; by the end of the life of the loan, the payments drop to 6.6 percent
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