House prices rose 1% in August and are now 18.5% higher than a year ago, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index (FHFA HPI). “Annual house price gains remained extremely high in August but the pace of month-over-month gains continues to decelerate,” said Dr. Lynn Fisher, FHFA’s Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics. “This does not mean house prices are at risk of declining—far from it, they continue to climb at a double-digit pace in all regions—but it does suggest we may have seen the peak in annual gains for the time being.” At the same time, First American released its Real House Price Index (RHPI), which showed similar results: Real house prices rose…
Mortgage loan application volume rose by just 0.3% last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly survey reports. The Market Composite Index, which measures application volume, rose 0.3% on an adjusted basis. The Refinance Index fell 2% and was 26% lower than a year ago. It’s the Refinance Index’s lowest level since January 2020. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index rose 4%, while the unadjusted Purchase Index rose 3% compared to the week before, down 9% from the previous year. “Mortgage rates increased again last week, as the 30-year fixed rate reached 3.30% and the 15-year fixed rate rose to 2.59%- the highest for both in eight months. The increase in rates triggered the fifth straight decrease in refinance activity to…
Forbearances continued to drop last week, though not as dramatically as the week before. The total number of loans in forbearance dropped to 2.21% of servicers’ portfolio volume, down from 2.28% the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest survey. The estimated number of homeowners in forbearance plans remains around 1.1 million. This week’s drop of seven basis points is a significant cooling compared to the prior week’s drop of 34 basis points. Black Knight reported that forbearances have entered a mid-month slowdown which they said to be unremarkable, mimicking “the same mid-month lull in removal activity that we’ve been reporting on for many months now.” MBA Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni acknowledged the…
The national delinquency rate dropped below 4% for the first time in 18 months in September, according to Black Knight’s September 2021 “first look” report. It is a 2.3% drop from August and 41.3% lower year-over-year. And those numbers might have been even better if not for the impact on delinquencies a result of hurricanes in Louisiana, many in FEMA-declared disaster areas. Mississippi, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Alabama ranked just below Louisiana for the highest percentages of non-current loans. Foreclosure starts also fell in September, coming down 45% from August. August saw spikes in foreclosure starts in the days following the Supreme Court’s decision to end the national moratorium. However, those increases were from historic lows, meaning the raw numbers…
As the end of the federal government’s eviction moratorium approached this summer, housing activists warned a “tsunami” of evictions and homelessness would follow. The country is on the cusp of a “tsunami of evictions,” John Parvensky of the nonprofit organization Colorado Coalition for the Homeless told NBC News. “We will likely see more people unable to pay rent and end up being evicted and turning to the streets.” But nearly two months after the Supreme Court ruled against the moratorium, the predicted avalanche of evictions has not materialized—leaving experts scrambling trying to explain why a factor of such certainty could have been so wrong. The moratorium’s legal status was always hazy: The ban on evictions was never issued through Congress…
The number of loans in active forbearance fell 0.6% since last Tuesday, entering an expected, mid-month period of “lull,” according to Black Knight’s blog, Vision. Only 7,300 homeowners exited forbearance plans this week. The slowdown is significant compared to the two weeks prior, during which forbearance rates were dropping at break-neck speed. Forbearance rates have been improving at the fastest pace since the pandemic began, with 432,000 homeowners exiting their plans in the first weeks of October alone. But Black Knight noted that the dip is unremarkable, mimicking “the same mid-month lull in removal activity that we’ve been reporting on for many months now.” Portfolio and PSLs plans rose by 6,000, lowering the average set by declines of 10,500 for…
Despite the pandemic receding and a housing market cooldown, some housing markets at the county level are still susceptible to damage from the pandemic, according to a new report from ATTOM. The Q3 2021 Special Coronavirus Report showed that New Jersey, Illinois, and Delaware had the highest concentrations of at-risk markets, totaling 26 of the 50 counties whose housing markets might be most impacted by Covid-19. To determine risk to the market, the report looked at the percentage of homes facing possible foreclosure, the portion with mortgage balances exceeding property values, and the percentage of average local wages required to pay for homeownership expenses on median-priced houses or condos. Included on the list are eight counties in the Chicago metro…
Mortgage rates continued their upward trajectory, hitting 3.09% over the past week, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. Freddie’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.09%, up from last week’s 3.05%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.80% “Mortgage rates continued to rise this week due to the trajectory of both the economy and the pandemic,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “Even as the availability of existing homes is improving, prices remain high due to homebuyer demand and limitations on housing starts and permits resulting from the ongoing labor and material shortages. Despite these countervailing forces, we expect the housing market to remain strong as we head into the end of the…
In a speech to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention on Monday, President and CEO Bob Broeksmit told members that, to paraphrase former President Bill Clinton, the era of big, regulatory government is back. Broeksmit’s remarks addressed a range of issues, from the impact on the industry of the COVID-19 pandemic to minority homeownership. But his central theme for the industry is the political changes made in Washington, D.C. in 2020 are going to have an impact in 2021 — and beyond. Broeksmit said he spoke to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and four of the other Governors of the Federal Reserve. “I always make the same points, too. The MBA supports regulation and legislation that is clear, easy to implement, and helpful…
Mortgage loan application volume fell 6.3% last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly survey reported. The Market Composite Index, which measures application volume, fell 6.3% on an adjusted basis. The Refinance Index fell 7% and was 22% lower than a year ago. It’s the Refinance Index’s lowest level since July 2021. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index fell 5%, while the unadjusted Purchase Index dropped 5% compared to the week before, down 12% from the previous year. “Refinance applications declined for the fourth week as rates increased, bringing the refinance index to its lowest level since July 2021. The 30-year fixed rate has increased 20 basis points over the past month and reached 3.23% last week – the highest since…
