Mortgage Roundup (10/15/20) – Earnings, Ginnie & FHA

Good morning! Today is Thursday, October 15. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett closed out her confirmation hearing testimony. About 70 percent of registered voters surveyed said they would take a Covid-19 vaccine, but many of those would prefer to wait to see what side effects there are. A man in a jet pack flying over LAX was spotted by a China Airlines crew – the second sighting of its kind in a month. 

And in mortgage and housing news …

GINNIE MAE: Ginnie Mae issued a record $748 billion in mortgage-backed securities during the recently completed fiscal year, nearly 50 percent higher than the previous record.

REFINANCE MARKET: While mortgage applications overall were relatively flat, significantly more American homeowners continue to work to take advantage of low interest rates by refinancing their mortgages.

UWM EARNINGS: Ahead of its initial public offering, United Wholesale Mortgage announced that it closed $54.2 billion in loans in the third quarter of this year – up 81 percent from the third quarter of 2019.

INCOME TO MORTGAGE: There are at least two schools of thought on how much of your income should be allocated to your mortgage.

BANK EARNINGS: Big banks are cautiously optimistic about the economic recovery.

FHA MORTGAGES: Many FHA borrowers are struggling, and that means FHA mortgages are harder to get.

CONSUMER SPENDING: Bank of America reports that it is seeing a full restoration of customer spending, along with declines in delinquencies on credit cards, car loans and mortgages, even as the pandemic rages on.

MORTGAGE CREDIT RISK: Reinsurers are reassured as the mortgage market passes the COVID-19 resilience test.

BORROWER BURNOUT: A new survey by YouGov for Forbes Advisor suggests homeowners may not believe the mortgage refinance savings  are real.

BUYER PESSIMISM: Only 54 percent of buyers think now’s a good time to move forward with a home purchase, according to a new Fannie Mae survey. The question is: Are buyers being overly pessimistic, or might they indeed be better off waiting?

THE FED: How does the Federal Reserve interest rate cut affect your mortgage and credit cards?