Market Studies

Regulatory compliance professionals at community banks expect to spend a significant amount of their time meeting Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA) and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) requirements during the next 12 months, according to a recent survey by Minneapolis-based Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

Long-term interest rates for home loans continue to drop, marking the third consecutive week they’ve declined. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s VP and chief economist, explained that fixed mortgage rates are now down about half a percentage point from early June levels, when they began heading upward.

Nearly two million foreclosure filings were recorded during the first half of the year, according to the market research company RealtyTrac. One in every 84 homes in the United States has received at least one foreclosure filing, the company says.

The Des Moines, Iowa-based mortgage and real estate research firm iEmergent has updated its 2009 first-time homebuyer loan volume forecasts in light of the new federal tax credit. The company projects that home loans made to first-time buyers will tally 955,000 this year and generate $133 billion nationwide.

ForeclosureRadar, a company based in Discovery Bay, California that tracks every foreclosure in the Golden State, says it expected the new California Foreclosure Prevention Act to have little impact. But the company reported Tuesday that in fact, the day the law went into effect, it saw a significant decline in filings of Notice of Trustee Sale, which set the date and time of a foreclosure auction sale.

Hinting at another small victory for the housing market, Denver-based Integrated Asset Services, LLC (IAS) has reported a gain in national home prices of 1.6 percent during the month of May. The company released its IAS360 House Price Index (HPI) Tuesday, which showed an increase in property values in all four U.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey Wednesday, which showed a resurge in refinances over new loan requests. After a lull last month, more homeowners are looking to lower their monthly payments by taking advantage of mortgage rates that have again started to fall to record-lows.

Veros Real Estate Solutions, a Santa Ana, California-based provider of risk management and collateral valuation services, recently released its quarterly forecast of U.S. housing markets, including predictions of the country’s strongest and weakest areas.

Experts contend that the appeal of government-insured home loans and a resurgence in the Federal Housing Administration’s market share can be attributed to the fact that these mortgages require smaller downpayments than conventional loans.

Despite recent negative information about the job market in the United States, a report issued by Foreclosurelistings.com last week shows the housing market is beginning to exhibit some signs of improvement.