By TYRONE TOWNSEND In the upcoming months, mortgage lenders, refinancing businesses, and real estate agencies may fire thousands of people as the housing market cools. Many millennials had started looking for new houses because of low-interest rates, stimulus payments, and the ability to work from home during the coronavirus epidemic, which fueled a booming U.S. housing market. But now the pandemic is no longer driving workers out of metro markets. Peak prices hit in June and potential buyers are pulling out of the market. According to experts, mortgage origination is expected to fall 35 to 50 percent this year. The drop in refinancing is also playing a key role in changes to the mortgage industry. The Mortgage Bankers Association attributes…
Active listings posted a record-high growth rate in July, an indication that balance is returning to the housing market, Realtor.com reported. July’s Monthly Housing Trends Report found that the national inventory of active listings rose by 30.7% YOY, while the total inventory of unsold homes, including pending listings, increased for the first time since September 2019. This means there were 176,000 more homes actively for sale on a typical day in July than at the same time last year. However, the bump in total unsold inventory amounted to only a modest 3.5% due to a dip in pending inventory. And listings are still far behind their pre-pandemic and even early pandemic levels. Active listings were 15.7% below 2020 and 45.4%…
Home price appreciation is leveling out on a national level, but zooming in on price points and regions reveals a more complex picture, according to new data from the AEI Housing Center. The center looked at how home price appreciation is changing, first by price tier and then by specific metros and geography. While June home price appreciation dropped to nearly zero month-over-month nationally, the story is completely different when analyzing these two metrics. In the first, the Center divided home sales into four price tiers based on their access to leverage. Doing so revealed that appreciation is slowing across all tiers, especially when it comes to the highest level. High-price tier homes were the first to show a negative…
Mortgage rates nosedived by 31 basis points last week, dropping below 5% for the first time since April, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. Freddie’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.99%. Last week it averaged 5.30%, and a year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.77%. “Mortgage rates remained volatile due to the tug of war between inflationary pressures and a clear slowdown in economic growth,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “The high uncertainty surrounding inflation and other factors will likely cause rates to remain variable, especially as the Federal Reserve attempts to navigate the current economic environment.” Recession fears are adding to a dip in homebuyer demand spurned on…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are cracking down on a mortgage company that allegedly discriminated against minority families and a bank that is accused of pressuring employees into unlawfully accessing the credit reports of customers. With the aid of the U.S. Department of Justice, CFPB officials took action to end Trident Mortgage Company’s alleged discrimination against families in minority neighborhoods in the greater Philadelphia area. It is alleged that Trident violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Act. DOJ officials also claim Trident violated the Fair Housing Act. In Philadelphia neighborhoods that were more than 80% minority, more than half of the applications Trident generated were from white applicants, according to…
Nearly half of mortgaged homes in the U.S. were equity-rich in Q2, with the most equity gains concentrated in the South, according to ATTOM’s Q2 2022 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report. The report found that 48.1% of mortgaged residential properties had an estimated worth that topped their loan balances by 50% or more. That’s up from 44.9% in Q1 2022 and 34.4% YOY. At least half of all mortgagees in 18 states were equity-rich, up from just 3 states at the same time last year. It’s the ninth consecutive quarter in which the number of equity-rich homes increased. ATTOM also found that only 2.9% of mortgaged homes were considered seriously underwater in Q2, down from 3.2% in Q1 and…
By SCOTT KIMBLER Times have changed when it comes to the home buying process. The age-old way of buying a first-time home, or even a larger home was to save to have 20% down and sign on to a 30-year-mortgage. Other parts of the equation included maintaining a high credit score and paying off debts so you could get a good rate. But now some people are finding they need to be re-educated about the process of home buying in their search for the best home and the best price. Elizabeth Rose is with Mortgage 300 in Dallas, TX and says even though interest rates have gone up and will continue to, home ownership is still something to strive…
California and Florida metros collectively account for 80% of the top 10 highest average rents across the country, forcing Americans to look to the middle of the country for affordable rentals. That’s according to HouseCanary’s first National Rental Report, which compares listings volumes, new listings, and median listing price information on single-family detached listings from H1 2021 and H1 2022. National rent prices saw a double-digit increase, up 13.4% YOY in the first half of 2022. At the end of H1 2022, the average rent was $2,495. Property demand remained strong, with the number of days on the market staying basically the same from last year. At the end of H1, rentals were on the market for an average of…
Mortgage loan application volume rose 1.2% last week when rates took a downward turn, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey shows. The adjusted Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased by 1.2%. Both the adjusted and unadjusted purchase indices rose 1%. The unadjusted index was 16% lower YOY. The refinance index rose by 2% and made up 30.8% of total applications, down 82% from the same time last year. ARM activity dropped from 9.1% to 8.4% of total applications. “Mortgage rates declined last week following another announcement of tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, with the likelihood of more rate hikes to come. Treasury yields dropped as a result, as investors continue to expect a…
Home price appreciation slowed for the second month straight in June, but remains in the high double-digits. CoreLogic’s Home Price Index found that home prices increased by 18.3% YOY in June, the 125th month of consecutive annual price growth. This is down from May’s 20.2% YOY increase. CoreLogic attributes the cool-off to reduced buyer demand from rising interest rates and concerns about the economy. Month-over-month, prices are down 0.6%. “Signs of a broader slowdown in the housing market are evident, as home price growth decelerated for the second consecutive month. This is in line with our previous expectations and given the notable cooling of buyer demand due to higher mortgage rates and the resulting increased cost of homeownership,” said Selma…
