Market Studies

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Mortgage Applications Survey on Wednesday, for the week ending June 5, 2009. The association’s study shows that refinances, typically an effective tool for lowering distressed homeowners’ monthly payments, continued to fall last week – a trend that has prevailed for several weeks now.

Nearly a quarter of homes currently for sale in the United States have experienced at least one price cut, according to a report released Friday by Trulia, Inc., a San Francisco-based real estate company that tracks home prices in local communities across the country.

Dallas-based MRG Document Technologies (MRG), a provider of mortgage technologies to banks, credit unions, and other lenders, recently announced that Michael O’Leary has joined the company as a senior mortgage consultant.

Mortgage interest rates across the board spiked this week, following long-term bond yields higher as the focus among investors shifted to the budget deficit and the possibility of inflation. According to Freddie Mac, the commitment rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is now at its highest level since December 11, 2008, 25 weeks ago.

Record low mortgage interest rates boosted pending home sales for the third consecutive month, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The association’s national Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in April, rose 6.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey on Wednesday, which shows an increase in purchase activity. This gain, though, was countered by an even larger decline in refinance applications last week.

For the first quarter of 2009, only six states saw an increase in home sales, and Florida was among the lucky few. According to Central Florida real estate agent Amy Ruff thanks to the lower price entry for quality homes and the $8,000 tax rebate for new homebuyers, it looks like buyers are making their way back into the market to snap up extraordinary deals on Central Florida homes.

Sales of single-family homes and condominiums in Connecticut fell by double-digit percentages in April, according to a new report released today by the New England real estate research firm The Warren Group.

According to the D.C.-based nonprofit homeownership research and advocacy group the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), a dismal milestone was reached over the weekend – the organization says one million new foreclosures have been filed so far in 2009.

HOPE NOW announced this week that 270,000 homeowner solutions were completed in April. This is the largest number of workouts in any month since HOPE NOW began to compile data. Last month, HOPE NOW members and the mortgage lending industry modified 127,000 mortgages and completed 143,000 repayment plans.