In his commentary, Kan mentions that refinances are expected to be $551 billion in 2015, compared to a previously estimated $510 billion. MBA now estimates a total of $1.28 trillion in mortgage originations for 2015, compared to $1.12 trillion in 2014.
Read More »Eight of the Top 10 Hottest New Home Sales Markets Are in the South
According to CoreLogic, San Jose, California, was the metro area with the second-highest year-over-year home sales growth with 14 percent. San Jose was one of only two of the top 10 markets for highest year-over-year new home sales growth; the other was Portland, Oregon, which was eighth. Atlanta, Georgia, ranked third at 10 percent.
Read More »Congressman Pittenger Says Excessive Regulation Slows Economic Growth, Hurts Entrepreneurs
“The CFPB continues to issue new regulations designed for massive, ‘systemic-risk’ financial institutions without considering how those same rules harm small businesses, community banks, and credit unions,” Pittenger said last month after H.R. 1195 passed in the House.
Read More »Single-Family Built-for-Rent Market Higher than Historical Average, but Still Below Peak
The market share for built-for-rent homes increased following the financial crisis of 2008, despite a share higher than the historical average in Q1, the total numbers overall are low. This particular measure includes only single-family homes that are built and rented out; it does not include homes that are sold to another party to rent.
Read More »Housing Forecast Calls for Increase in Existing-Home Sales
Yesterday, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that existing-home sales were at 5.04 million units, a 3.3 percent decrease from March, though up 6.1 percent from a year ago. Both, Auction.com and Consensus estimates were off for April because they predicted a stronger performance based on data released in March.
Read More »Mortgage Delinquencies Experience Seasonal Rise in April
Meanwhile, foreclosure inventory – the total number of mortgage loans in some state of foreclosure – continued its decline toward pre-crisis levels in April by falling 25.5 percent year-over-year down to 1.51 percent, about 764,000 properties. It is the lowest level for foreclosure inventory since January 2008 right at the beginning of the recessi
Read More »FSOC Recommends GSEs Continue Spreading Mortgage Credit Risk Across Private Market
In its annual report released earlier this week, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) recommended that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) continue to encourage Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to spread mortgage credit risk across the private market.
Read More »Foreclosure Completions Plummet Year-Over-Year While Starts Increase
Completed foreclosure sales totaled approximately 96,000 for Q1 2015, down from 126,000 in the same quarter a year earlier, according to HOPE NOW – a decline of approximately 24 percent. Foreclosure starts jumped by 3 percent year-over-year in Q1 (from 219,000 up to 225,000) and about 10 percent quarter-over-quarter (from 205,000 up to 225,000).
Read More »Senators Introduce Amendment to Prevent Use of Fast Track to Weaken Dodd-Frank
Four Democratic U.S. Senators, Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Jeff Merkley (Oregon), Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), and Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin), have introduced an amendment aimed at preventing future administrations from weakening financial regulations, according to an announcement on Warren's website.
Read More »Georgia Lawmaker Proposes Bill to Make CFPB Accountable to Congress
Perdue said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Accountability Act of 2015 will provide critical Congressional oversight for a Bureau that is funded by the Federal Reserve but is led by a single director rather than a board of directors and is not accountable to Congress.
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