News

When calculating average monthly mortgage payments by state and the District of Columbia, Lending Tree found the nation's capital has the highest average monthly payment and highest share of income that goes toward a house payment. In D.C., monthly mortgage payments average $1,641, while 31 percent of household income goes toward a mortgage, according to LendingTree. Hawaii ranked second with its average payment of $1,536, and homeowners in the state spend about 30 percent of their household income for a house payment.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced revisions to parts of its loss mitigation program last week in order to expand the number of borrowers who can receive assistance. Through changes to the Loss Mitigation Home Retention Options, more homeowners in distress should be able to qualify for FHA foreclosure prevention efforts and the level of assistance available should also increase.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported home prices continued to climb higher in September, with prices gaining by 0.2 percent from August. On the same day Tuesday, the Case-Shiller Indices posted a similar monthly increase of 0.3 percent. FHFA's house price index (HPI) also revealed a quarterly price gain of 1.1 percent from the second to the third quarter. Compared to the third quarter last year, prices rose 4 percent. The agency stated the monthly index has increased for eight straight months now.

Home prices rose just slightly over the month of September, demonstrating a 0.1 percent increase from August, according to Lender Processing Services' Home Price Index, which analyzes home prices in more than 15,500 ZIP codes each month. The September Home Price Index stands at $205,000, according to LPS. While the 0.1 percent increase is slight, LPS does report more significant change on a yearly and year-to-date basis. Home prices have risen 3.6 percent from last September and 4.9 percent over the year thus far.

The share of distressed properties is shrinking and home prices are rising, but first-time homebuyers aren't benefiting from the improvements, according to findings from a survey. In the most recent Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulseTracking survey, the first-time homebuyer share for home purchases was found to be 34.7 percent in October. The figure is a decrease from 37.1 percent in June and the lowest share in the survey's three-year history. The decrease coincides with a significant rise in purchases for non-distressed properties.

Despite another month of home price improvements, the housing sector stumbled in September as prices fell in five of the 20 cities covered in the monthly Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. The 10-city index increased 0.3 percent from August to 158.93, its highest level since September 2010. Meanwhile, the 20-city index rose by the same 0.3 percent to 146.22, also the highest in two years. The national index improved 2.2 percent in the third quarter to 135.67, its highest level since Q3 2010.

After suddenly jumping 7.7 percent in September, the nation's delinquency rate fell in October, according to first look data from Lender Processing Services (LPS). The delinquency rate stood at 7.03 percent in October, a decrease of 4.91 percent from September and 7.19 percent from last year. Historically, LPS says the delinquency rate is actually expected to tick up in October due to seasonal effects. Overall, the number of properties 30 days or more past due or in foreclosure numbered 5.3 million.

A specific provision in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) was amended to extend protections for military members with mortgage obligations, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced.

Woodward Asset Capital (WAC) is aiming to go as paperless as possible through the use of software solutions the company is creating. WAC is adopting a variation of the same technologies used for OfferSubmission and VerifiedShortSale to create software solutions for the real estate industry.

Hiring in the mortgage industry increased in Q3 for the fifth straight quarter, according to Mortgage Daily's Mortgage Employment Index. The index shows 8,711 hires were made in the year's third quarter, up more than 3,000 from the last quarter and nearly 3,500 from Q3 2011. Even with an estimated 5,785 layoffs, the industry saw a net increase of nearly 3,000 jobs--more than double the gain in Q2.