Good Morning! Today is Wednesday, February 23. U.S. truckers plan to embark on a 2,500-mile cross-country drive to DC in protest of coronavirus restrictions. Germany put a stop to an $11 billion Russian natural gas pipeline that would link the two countries. The Supreme Court will hear a case from a web designer who objects to providing services for same-sex marriages.
The Mortgage Note Reports
Getting A Mortgage Online: Leaders at Bank of America say home loan applications initiated through their Digital Mortgage Experience accounted for 81% of total mortgage applications in 2021. That is up from 45% in 2020.
FHFA HPI: Home price appreciation cooled slightly in Q4 2021, with prices rising 17.5% YOY and 3.3% from Q3 2021.
MBA Forbearances: The number of loans in forbearance fell 11% in January to 1.30% of servicers’ portfolio volume, though re-entries and new forbearance requests rose.
And in other mortgage and housing news…
Moving En Masse: A record 32.4% of Redfin users nationwide looked to move to a different metro area in January, according to a new report.
Cheaper To Buy: Buying a starter home was more affordable than renting in 26 of the 50 largest metros, where the monthly cost to buy was 20.6% ($323) lower than to rent.
Delinquencies Down:CoreLogic’s Loan Performance Insights Report shows the serious delinquency rate for November 2021 fell 1.9% from 12 months prior to 2%.
Confidence Freefall: The Consumer Confidence Index fell to 110.5 this month, a steeper decline than economists had expected and the lowest level since September.
S&P HPI: The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index posted an 18.6% YOY gain in December, up slightly from 18.3% the previous month.
More Better Layoffs?: Executives at Better.com keep resigning as employees brace for another slew of layoffs.
Upper-Class Signifier: For most Americans, owning a home is now a distant dream.