Good Morning! Today is Thursday, September 21. Russia struck at least five cities in Ukraine with missiles, damaging energy infrastructure. The Biden administration will let Venezuelans living in the U.S. work legally for 18 months. The White House plans to recruit 20,000 young Americans to work in jobs to fight climate change.
The Mortgage Note Reports
FOMC: The Federal Reserve Board voted Wednesday to maintain the federal funds rate target range set after the FOMC’s previous meeting. Writer Patrick Lavery has the story.
Flipping Profit Boom: Home flipping rates are falling thanks to the high rate environment blocking out some investors, but as home prices are soaring, so are profits.
In other mortgage and housing news…
Doom And Gloom: Fannie Mae predicts total home sales to slump to just 4.8 million this year, the slowest sales environment since 2011, and will only improve slightly in 2024.
Rentals Won’t Save Us: No part of the rental market is well positioned to offset demand for homeownership, which remains Americans’ preferred way to live.
Renting Over Buying: Buying a starter home was $1,111 (60.3%) more than renting one in August, as median rents see the fourth consecutive month of YOY declines.
NIMBY Example: Residents of a D.C. suburb are suing to reinstate single-family zoning laws. The county says their objections don’t constitute standing for a lawsuit.
Company News: Ocrolus launched a fully automated document processing offering; Curinos and Polly teamed up to enhance Polly’s PPE; Floify announced new VOI and VOE waterfall technology.