News

Speaking before an audience at the Boulder Summer Conference on Consumer Financial Decision Making, CFPB director Richard Cordray spoke on the effects of student loan debt on the future of the housing market. The oft-criticized director commented on the growing $1.2 trillion of student loan debt, and how student debt will have negative ramifications on the housing market in the future.

Zillow released its Negative Equity Report for the first quarter, revealing an estimated 9.7 million homeowners continue to owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. That number, down from about 9.8 million in Q4 2013, represents about 18.8 percent of mortgage-paying Americans, according to Zillow.

Data through April 2014 showed a decline in the national default rate from March, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian for the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices. The indices are a comprehensive measure of changes in consumer credit defaults, released monthly. The national composite default rate recorded its lowest post-recession figure of 1.11 percent in April.

Nearly a year after a tornado devastated the town of Moore, Oklahoma, foreclosure activity is slowly dwindling in the area, specifically in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. RealtyTrac found that bank repossessions spiked 58 percent in the four months following the tornado but are pulling back as the area experiences recovery.

According to the Commerce Department and HUD, privately owned housing starts last month were at an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.07 million, representing a 13.2 percent jump from March’s barely revised pace of 947,000. Unfortunately for the supply-constrained single-family market, most of that spike came in apartment buildings, which were started at a rate of 413,000—a leap up from March.

President Obama is expected to nominate current San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro as the new secretary of housing and urban development. Castro would take the place of current director Shaun Donovan, who is to become director of the Office of Management and Budget.

A new report by the Wells Fargo Economics Group found that Texas added 64,100 new jobs in April, the largest gain in the nation. The boost in job numbers helped push unemployment down to 5.2 percent from 5.5 percent in March. Nationwide, unemployment was 6.3 percent for the month of April.

A new study by the FDIC found that thanks to a strong agriculture sector, small banks based in rural areas are coping better than expected in the face of a steady exodus of residents. In fact, they’re doing better than metro-based community banks. But how long rural banks will be able to stay strong is a much dodgier question to answer.

The number of REO properties increased to 430,000 as of March 2014, according to a new blog post by CoreLogic’s Sam Khater. March's figure reflects an increase of 15 percent from the low point of REO inventory in August 2013, when properties totaled 375,000.

In a survey of 106 economists, real estate experts, and investment and market strategists, Zillow found a slight majority—28 percent—pinned the most blame for declining affordability on stagnant income growth across the country, even as the rest of the economy has moved in a generally positive direction.