Market Studies

Jacksonville, Florida-based Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS), a provider of technology and services to the mortgage industry, has released the results of a recent study that reveals the impact of foreclosure, or REO, sales on home prices.

Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) today, in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.98 percent (0.7 points) for the week ending March 19, 2009.

Based on the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today, as long-term mortgage interest rates continue to drop well below five percent, the industry is seeing a boom in refinancing of home loans.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) submitted its fourth quarter report to Congress this week detailing actions the GSEs have taken to prevent unnecessary foreclosures. The report shows a 76 percent increase in loan modifications by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the third to fourth quarters of 2008.

The Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI), a LexisNexis service, released a new report at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA’s) National Fraud Issues Conference in Las Vegas on Monday.

In a new report issued this week, Navigant Consulting, Inc. found that beyond the billions in writedowns, the credit crisis produced an alarming 576 new litigation matters filed in U.S. federal courts in 2008.

ForeclosureRadar, which tracks every California foreclosure and provides daily auction updates, issued its monthly California Foreclosure Report for February 2009 on Thursday. The company said that Notices of Default have increased 21.

Foreclosure activity in February increased nearly six percent from the month before, according to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released on Thursday. The gain comes despite widespread foreclosure moratoria instituted by the GSEs and some of the nation’s largest lenders during the first part of the year.

Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) today, showing that mortgage rates eased this week, following news of a weaker jobs market which may slow consumer spending and keep inflation at bay.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 6, 2009. MBA’s study, which covers approximately 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, showed that mortgage loan application volume increased 11.