Industry News

Building on an already busy day in the mortgage industry, the Federal Housing Finance Agency ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ease appraisal and employment verification requirements for the next two months. Fannie and Freddie will use alternatives to reduce the need for appraisers to inspect the inside of homes at a time when an increasing number of states have issued shelter-in-place directives or ordered the closing of non-essential businesses. This will allow for purchases and homes to be refinanced as the nation deals with the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, lenders may now obtain employment verification by email from an employer, a recent year-to-date paystub from the borrower or a bank statement showing a recent payroll deposit. This is instead…

Black Knight on Monday released an early look at February mortgage performance statistics in the United States, reflecting the health of industry in the last days before the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation. Black Knight’s data showed: Foreclosure starts fell 25 percent from January 2020 and 20 percent from the year prior, hitting their lowest level on record since Black Knight began publicly reporting the numbers in January 2000.The national foreclosure rate falling to 0.45 percent in February, the lowest it’s been since 2005 and within one basis point of an all-time low.Delinquencies were up slightly from January, but remain more than 15 percent below last year’s levelsPrepayment activity rose by nearly 8 percent month-over-month as early 2020 rate declines…

As pleas to stay home to stop the spread of the coronavirus grow louder, construction workers and developers find themselves in a new and uncertain territory.  State and local orders directed at whether and how construction workers can continue building are untested and vary dramatically.  Pennsylvania imposed a strict ban on all business activities that are not deemed “life-sustaining,” including construction in all forms. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s “stay-at-home” order excludes construction workers. New York Gov. Cuomo mandated that 75 percent of the non-essential workforce work from home to further reduce density across the state to slow the spread of COVID-19. However, New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio said he will “continue to consider how to handle this” and pointed to…

Americans went on a home-buying spree in the month before the coronavirus slammed the brakes on the economy. Existing-home sales jumped 6.5 percent to 5.77 million in February over the month before – which is also a 7.2 percent increase over a year ago, according to the monthly sales report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). “February’s sales of over 5 million homes were the strongest since February 2007,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “I would attribute that to the incredibly low mortgage rates and the steady release of a sizable pent-up housing demand that was built over recent years.” The median existing-home price for all housing types in February was $270,100, up 8 percent from February 2019 ($250,100)…

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday shuttered all real estate agent and brokers’ offices in the state as part of a sweeping edict to all “non life-sustaining” businesses to close. The order covers “lessors of real estate,” “real estate agents and brokers,” and “activities related to real estate,” including open houses and settlements. It also includes residential construction.  “To protect the health and safety of all Pennsylvanians, we need to take more aggressive mitigation actions,” said Gov. Wolf. “This virus is an invisible danger that could be present everywhere. We need to act with the strength we use against any other severe threat. And we need to act now before the illness spreads more widely.” The governor posted a five-page yes/no…

After reaching historic lows earlier this month, mortgage rates climbed for the second week in a row, Freddie Mac announced Thursday in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.65 percent – up from 3.36 last week. “Mortgage rates rose again this week as lenders increased prices to help manage skyrocketing refinance demand. This is expected to be a short-term phenomenon as lenders work through their backlog,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “On the purchase front, daily loan purchase applications were rising as of mid-February but started to decline last Friday.” The survey found: The 30-year fixed rate of 3.65 percent – with an average 0.7 point – was still significantly lower than last year’s…

People have begun isolating themselves across the country – and that means fewer are out and about looking to buy a house. A survey released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors found that 48 percent of realtors said home buyer interest has decreased due to the coronavirus. That’s triple the number from a week ago, when it was 16 percent. “The decline in confidence related to the direction of the economy coupled with the unprecedented measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19, including major social distancing efforts nationwide, are naturally bringing an abundance of caution among buyers and sellers,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.  The survey, conducted Monday and Tuesday of this week, also found: 69 percent…

The coronavirus is shaking up every corner of the economy – and that includes the iBuyer market. Redfin disclosed in a filing Wednesday to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it is temporarily shelving its homebuying business, known as RedfinNow “RedfinNow, our business that buys homes directly from homeowners and resells them to homebuyers, will temporarily pause making offers on homes,” the company said in the filing. CEO Glenn Kelman said in a blog post that the coronavirus impact on housing is “now nearly nationwide” and that the “housing market took a turn for the worse” this week – noting that there has been a 1 percent contraction in demand over the last three days. This comes on the heels after…

Total housing starts in the United States dropped 1.5 percent in February from the month before to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.6 million units, according to a monthly report released Wednesday by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That is still 39.2 percent above February 2019 numbers Single-family housing starts were 6.7 percent above January. “Housing starts were strong at the outset of 2020, as builders started production of homes to meet consumer demand at the beginning of the year,” National Association of Home Builders Chairman Dean Mon said. “While these are solid numbers, the report is backward looking. Challenges lie ahead due to broad economic weakening stemming from the coronavirus crisis.” Building permits for…