Market Studies

The volume of refinance applications skyrocketed in the week ending November 28, 2008, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA’s) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey released yesterday.

Single-family home sales in Rhode Island jumped 11 percent in October from a year earlier, the first double-digit percentage gain in monthly home sales in four years and the first significant increase in sales this year, according to a new report from The Warren Group.

Reported incidents of mortgage fraud in the United States increased by an annual rate of 45 percent during the second quarter of 2008 – on fewer loan applications – according to a new report released today by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI).

According to University Financial Associates LLC (UFA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, we can expect defaults on non-prime mortgage loans to be 48 percent higher than they were in the last decade. Each quarter UFA evaluates economic conditions in the United States and assesses how these conditions will impact future defaults, prepayments, loss recoveries, and loan values for non-prime loans, and it measures the risk of default on newly originated non-prime mortgages.

Freddie Mac announced today that its Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index (CMHPI) Purchase-Only Series registered a 7.3 percent annualized decline in U.S. house prices during the third quarter of 2008.

First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corporation, a provider of advance property and ownership information, analytics, and services, today released its September 2008 LoanPerformance Home Price Index (HPI).

Data through September 2008, released yesterday by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, shows continued broad based declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States – a trend that has prevailed since 2007, the research firm said.

First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corporation family of companies, today released the latest issue of its Core Mortgage Risk Monitor (CMRM). The CMRM forecasts delinquency risk for the real estate and mortgage industry, providing a barometer on the areas that are the most and least risky in terms of homeowners facing foreclosures due to mortgage default.

Existing-home sales declined on the heels of a strong gain in September as uncertainty and economic concerns increased in October, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The latest market report released yesterday by NAR shows existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – fell 3.

The government-insured share of mortgage applications continues to grow relative to conventional mortgage applications, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey released today.