News

The weekly mortgage rate reports released Thursday by Freddie Mac and Bankrate were mixed. But one thing was certain: the average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hit a new record low. Freddie Mac said 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.57 percent for the week ending July 8, 2010, down from last week's average of 4.58 percent. And Bankrate said 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.74 percent this week, a slight dip from 4.75 percent one week earlier. Meanwhile, the average rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages posted a minor uptick.

John C. Dugan announced Thursday that he will leave his role as Comptroller of the Currency on August 14, 2010. This departure comes as Congress is in the final stages of considering the Financial Reform Bill. If passed, this legislation will preserve and expand the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's role as a dedicated prudential supervisor of federally chartered banks and thrifts. Dugan said this exclusive supervisory focus will serve the nation well in the future when the banking system is tested once again, as it surely will be.

As of Thursday morning, shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are trading exclusively on the over-the-counter (OTC) market. This announcement comes shortly after the Federal Housing Finance Agency directed the companies to voluntarily delist their common and preferred stock from the New York Stock Exchange and any other national securities exchange. Fannie Mae's common stock will commence trading on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol ""FNMA,"" and shares of Freddie Mac's common stock will now trade under the symbol ""FMCC.""

Thanks to an increase in springtime sales and the lasting residual effects of the federal homebuyer tax credit, U.S. home prices continued to increase in June, Clear Capital reported Thursday. According to the company's Home Data Index Market Report, June home prices came in 8.8 percent above levels experienced one year ago. And on a rolling quarter-over-quarter basis, home prices jumped 5.2 percent, bringing the nation back to within 1 percent of last fall's levels.

Despite a month-over-month increase in the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) default rate in June, Trepp LLC--a New York based company tracking commercial real estate--still sees hope in its latest report. The monthly delinquency rate for commercial real estate loans in CMBS showed a jump of 17 basis points in June, coming in at 8.59 percent for loans 30 or more days delinquent. However, Trepp said this marked the best reading since July 2009.

The U.S. Small Business Administration recently announced the first nine loan pool originators authorized by the agency to assemble and sell pools of 504 program first mortgage loans. The federal agency called this a major step to jump-starting a secondary market that will make financing more accessible for small businesses.

A new study developed by TransUnion finds that consumers with multiple account relationships with the same lender outperform consumers who maintain only one relationship with that lender, with the biggest improvements in delinquencies seen among mortgages. The study found that borrowers whose only credit relationship with their lender was for their mortgage had a 30-day or worse delinquency rate of 4.8 percent. However, this delinquency level dropped to 4 percent if the borrower had two relationships with the lender, and that rate fell even further with each additional relationship.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has sent a proposed rule to the Federal Register to establish a framework for conservatorship and receivership operations for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Several key issues are addressed within the proposed rule, including the status and priority of claims, the relationships among various classes of creditors and equity-holders, and the priorities for contract parties and other claimants under conservatorships or receiverships.

Safeguard Properties, the largest privately held mortgage field services company in the United States, has expanded its marketing and business development team with two new appointments. Tod Burkert has been named vice president of business development, and Anthony Golden has been named director of strategic initiatives.

Although purchase applications fell once again, total mortgage loan application volume jumped 6.7 percent for the week ending July 2, 2010, due to a continued uptick in refinance applications, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday. According to MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the purchase index fell 2 percent from one week earlier, but the refinance index soared 9.2 percent on a week-to-week basis.