News

In September, the nation's delinquency rate suddenly spiked 7.7 percent from August, according to data from Lender Processing Services (LPS). The data provider explained the surge in its recent Mortgage Monitor report for September. For one, first time delinquencies increased by about 200,000 from the month before as more borrowers rolled into 30 day delinquency status. Despite the increase, other numbers were still down. Foreclosure starts hit their lowest level since September 2007 and were down 27.9 percent yearly.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell 8,000 to 363,000 for the week ending November 3, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected 370,000 initial claim filings. It was the third straight weekly decline and the fifth drop in the last seven weeks.

Government agencies are continuing their regulatory investigation of mortgage activities at Wells Fargo and Wachovia, according to a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Wells Fargo absorbed Wachovia in 2008 when Wachovia's shaky mortgage portfolio threatened the bank's soundness.

The vast majority of homeowners who refinanced in Q3 2012 either maintained or slashed their loan debt, according to a release from Freddie Mac. In the year's third quarter, 83 percent of homeowners who refinanced their first-lien home mortgage either kept the same loan amount or lowered their principal balance by paying-in additional money at the closing table, the GSE revealed. Of those borrowers, 54 percent maintained about the same loan amount, while 29 percent reduced their principal balance.

A lower supply of inventory and fewer distressed sales led to stronger home price gains across the country, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed in a recent report. The median price for existing single-family homes increased 7.6 percent to $186,100 in the third quarter of this year compared to last year. NAR says the annual gain is the strongest since the first quarter of 2006 when the median price was up 9.4 percent. Total existing-home sales rose 3.2 percent quarter-over-quarter to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.68 million.

The positive outlook on home prices was further strengthened in Fannie Mae's most recent housing survey. In the October survey, respondents raised their expectation for home price growth in the next 12 months to 1.7 percent, up from 1.5 percent in September. In October 2011, consumers expected prices to fall by 0.3 percent. In addition, only 10 percent of respondents expect home prices to drop during the same one-year period.

The number of housing markets across the country showing lasting improvement expanded by leaps and bounds in November, according to a report from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The Improving Markets Index (IMI), put together monthly by NAHB and First American, showed 125 markets demonstrating consistent improvement, up from the previous record high of 103 in October.

A U.S. district judge squashed an attempt by JPMorgan Chase to fully dismiss a lawsuit from the Federal Housing Finance Agency over alleged fraud over mortgage-backed securities. In its motion to dismiss, JPMorgan argues that FHFA's complaint does not contain enough factual support that loans were not underwritten properly. Judge Denise Cote disagreed, saying the allegations ""amply support FHFA's assertion that the Offering Documents for the Securitizations contained false statements regarding originators' compliance with underwriting standards.""

In a slow recovery, Freddie Mac expects to see further growth in the multifamily sector, while the homeownership rate is projected to tick down from its already historically low rate. According to the GSE's multifamily demand forecast, the homeownership rate will descend by one or two percentage points to around the 65 percent level, which implies more than half of total new households will transition into rental units. On the other hand, the multifamily market is expected to reap somewhere around 1.7 million new renter households from 2011 to 2015. The projection is based on the assumption that the recovery is continuing at a slow pace.

Zillow, Inc., a major real estate information provider, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mortech, Inc., a mortgage technology company. According to a release, Zillow will give $12 million in cash and 150,000 shares of restricted stock in the deal.