The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.33 percent this week – precisely the same as last week, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. The Primary Mortgage Market Survey also found: 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.77 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.82 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.60 percent. 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.40 percent with an average 0.3 point, unchanged from last week. A year ago at this time, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.80 percent.A year ago, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 4.12 percent. “While mortgage rates remained flat over the last week, there is room for rates to move down,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s…
In the latest sign of a slumping housing market, 90 percent of realtors say buyer interest is declining during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors. The survey also found 59 percent of realtors say buyers are delaying home purchases for a couple of months and 57 percent said sellers are delaying home sales for a couple of months. Eighty percent of members said they have seen a corresponding decline in the number of homes on the market. “Home sales will decline this spring season because of unique economic and social consequences resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, but much of the activity looks to reappear later in the year,” said NAR Chief…
Mortgage credit availability decreased in March in the face of economic turmoil brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Thursday. The tightening credit market comes at the same time people across the country are losing jobs, real estate activities are being severely curtailed and fewer people are applying for mortgages. The Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) fell by 16.1 percent to 152.1 in March. A decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while increases in the index are indicative of loosening credit. Conventional MCAI decreased 24.2 percent, while the Government MCAI decreased by 6.6 percent. Of the component indices of the Conventional MCAI, the Jumbo MCAI decreased by 36.9 percent, and the Conforming MCAI…
Redfin announced that 41 percent of its agents are leaving the company, with some leaving the company for good and most furloughed through the summer. The company also it is cancelling bonuses and temporarily cutting headquarter salary by 10 to 15 percent. “We decided on this large-scale furlough because fewer people are buying and selling homes, but another factor was the federal government’s $600 weekly contribution to each person’s unemployment insurance,” CEO Glenn Kelman said. “Of the field folks leaving, we estimate about 75 percent live in states that will allow them to earn more from unemployment insurance than from Redfin.” Kelman said employees who build the technology and programs behind the brokerage are staying on, with “a small number…
Another day, another rough report for the housing market, as lower interest rates were not enough to overcome the headwinds of the coronavirus pandemic last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey released Wednesday showed that mortgage applications dropped 17.9 percent from a week earlier. The weekly purchase index dropped 12 percent from a week earlier and was 33 percent lower than a year ago. “Mortgage applications fell last week, as economic weakness and the surge in unemployment continues to weigh heavily on the housing market. Purchase activity declined again, with the index dropping to its lowest level since 2015 and now down 33 percent compared to a year ago,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and…
Home prices are expected to increase an average of just 1.9 percent across the United States through the first quarter of 2021 due to massive unemployment and other economic impacts associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Five cities in Illinois – led by Chicago – are expected to be among the bottom top performing markets, according to the projections released by Veros Real Estate Solutions. “Home price trends and forecasts certainly take a backseat to more pressing health and safety issues during this unprecedented tragedy. While we expect a softening of house prices in the near-term, we anticipate a rebound when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides,” said Darius Bozorgi, CEO of Veros Real Estate Solutions. “The fundamental economic principles under which housing…
Mortgage forbearance requests skyrocketed in early days after the passage of the CARES Act as homeowners seek financial relief in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Forbearance requests grew by 1,270 percent between the week of March 2 and the week of March 16, and another 1,896 percent between the week of March 16 and the week of March 30, the Mortgage Bankers Association announced Tuesday. The share of loans in forbearance grew from 0.25 percent to 2.66 percent between March 2 and April 1, according to MBA’s forbearance and call volume survey. “MBA’s survey highlights the immediate relief consumers are seeking as they navigate the economic hardships brought forth by the mitigation efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.…
The Detroit Free Press wrote a glowing article last week about United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia and his hiring of former Michigan State basketball teammates: Twenty years ago, Ishbia was a walk-on third-string point guard for the Spartans, the human victory cigar on a team that won the 2000 NCAA tournament. Now, he’s the CEO and president of United Shore, a company that has grown from 12 employees to 5,800 in just 17 years. Ishbia has hired five former MSU teammates to work with him, in part because they are his friends — he gets them in the door; it’s up to them to do something with it. But also because they speak the same language and share the same experiences. Those teammates are Adam…
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced the first failure of a bank during the coronavirus pandemic, though the bank was struggling before economic challenges began. The West Virginia Division of Financial Institutions closed The First State Bank in Barboursville, West Virginia on Friday. MVB Bank of Fairmount acquired all of the bank’s deposit accounts. FDIC said The First State Bank had approximately $152.4 million in total assets and $139.5 million in total deposits as of Dec. 31. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, MVB Bank agreed to purchase approximately $147.2 million of The First State Bank’s assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for now. Earlier this year, DepositAccounts.com had given the bank an “F” for its financial…
Industry trend reports are starting to show the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. housing market. Realtor.com’s march Housing Trends Report for March shows that inventory softened, the number of newly listed properties declined, and prices did not increase as fast in the second half of the month – though there was a strong start to the month. That strong start meant the total number of homes for sale declined 15.7 percent from March 2019. The numbers declined to 15.2 percent for the weeks ending March 21 and March 28. In the weeks ending March 21 and March 28, the volume of newly listed properties decreased by 13.1 percent and 34 percent from last year. During the last two weeks of March,…
