By ERIN FLYNN JAY
As artificial intelligence plays an increasingly important role in the mortgage business, industry leaders are figuring out ways to harness its power to revolutionize homebuying.
Dan Weisman, director of innovation strategy at the National Association of Realtors, said AI brings enhanced automation, efficiency, and transparency to the process. People who can effectively use it have the chance to dominate the landscape in 2024.
“With artificial intelligence rapidly entering our lives faster than most could imagine, the industry has opportunities to improve analyzing market trends, assessing credit risk, and ensuring regulatory compliance, which will lead to a more tailored lending experience,” Weisman said in a recent interview with The Mortgage Note.
For example, JPMorgan Chase is developing…
By ERIN FLYNN JAY
In some urban centers like New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami, Opportunity Zones have led to substantial investments including the revitalization of neighborhoods. These zones attracted developers and investors due to the tax benefits, resulting in new housing developments, commercial spaces, and infrastructure improvements.
However, concerns have arisen about the displacement of existing residents and whether the benefits truly reach the communities that need them most. And while these zones have found success in urban settings, many rural regions have struggled to attract significant investment.
Limited infrastructure, a smaller workforce, and higher perceived risks have made it challenging to draw investors to rural areas. That hurts the low-income neighborhoods Opportunity Zones are meant to strengthen.…
Mortgage originations fell by 3% in Q3 2023, reversing a spike in Q2 and marking the ninth decline in ten quarters, according to new data from ATTOM.
Purchase and home equity lending (both -7%) induced the drop as interest rates stuck above 7% over the summer.
These declines wiped out gains in refinances, which were up 5%, the second straight quarterly increase. ATTOM attributes the refi boost to homeowners taking advantage of cash from their sky-high equity. Though some homeowners lost equity in Q3, it remained strong overall as home prices soared earlier this year, leaving Americans with plenty to borrow against.
The downturn pushed residential lending activity down 26% YOY and 63% from a high point in 2021 during…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Distressed homeowners who get behind on their mortgage bills are avoiding foreclosure.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Delinquency Survey was released last week and it showed that delinquencies increased in the third quarter to a rate of 3.62%, up 25 basis points from the second quarter and 17 basis points from a year ago.
Marina Walsh, MBA’s vice president of industry analysis, said that despite the increase, later-stage delinquencies – those 90 days or more past due – declined to the lowest level since the first quarter of 2020.
“The decline in later-stage delinquencies, along with a foreclosure starts rate of 0.14% – which is well below the historical quarterly average of 0.40% – suggest that distressed…
Nearly 5.5 million homes are sitting vacant in the U.S.’s largest metros, but they’re not going to save the housing market.
LendingTree analyzed the latest U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data to find out what cities have the highest shares of unoccupied homes and why.
Their survey found that 5,475,687 housing units are vacant in the country’s 50 biggest metros, with a vacancy rate of 8.02% across them all.
New Orleans (16.11%), Miami (14.48%), and Tampa, FL (13.83%), have the highest vacancy rates, with 600,000 empty housing units vacant collectively.
Minneapolis, Austin, and Washington, D.C., have the fewest vacancies.
While it’s important to know the number of houses sitting empty, the reasons behind them are far more significant.
LendingTree…
By ERIN FLYNN JAY
Mortgage loans have some risks, as do student loans. But the two don’t add up to a toxic combination that threatens to cause a price crash in the housing market, and trillions of dollars of damages for taxpayers to clean up.
A recent WSJ opinion piece by Allysia Finley claims taxpayers are standing behind trillions of dollars in risky mortgages due to the way that student loan debt is calculated during the mortgage process.
In “The Student-Debt Bubble Fueled a Housing Bubble,” Finley blamed student loan repayment plans, saying monthly payments are capped at 10% of discretionary income.
“Many student borrowers consequently aren’t paying down their debt, but it isn’t counted against them when they attempt…
Home flipping rates are falling as profit margins soar, according to new data from ATTOM.
Flipped homes accounted for 8.9% of all U.S. home sales in Q2 2023, down 1% from the prior quarter and nearly the lowest rate since 2021.
In total, 84,350 single-family homes and condominiums were flipped in the second quarter.
At the same time, raw flipping profits increased 18% from Q1, the largest spike in the past decade. Typical profits also increased at the fastest quarterly pace in three years.
The profit upswing comes on the heels of an “extended slump” that cut profits in half in the last two years.
Though they remain far below 2021’s peaks, last quarter’s profits represent a rebound for home…
Mortgage lenders were back in business last quarter.
Lenders issued $494 billion worth of residential mortgages in the second quarter of 2023, up by 23% from Q1 though still down 41% YOY, according to new data from ATTOM.
Residential loans drove the increases, up 21% and breaking a streak of eight consecutive quarterly declines. Purchase loans in particular jumped 29%.
Refinance and home equity activity also spiked, up 13.8% and 12.9% QoQ, respectively.
“Home buyers and owners alike lined back up again at the doors of mortgage lenders this Spring seeking loans of all kinds. It looks like owners took advantage of the small rate drop to refinance existing loans, while a jump in mortgages for purchasers was likely fueled…
By ERIN FLYNN JAY
Inflation has affected the housing market as higher costs of living puts more stress on the average person’s finances.
The average American household spent $709 more in July than they did two years ago to buy the same goods and services, according to Moody’s Analytics.
“High inflation of the past 2+ years has done lots of economic damage,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Rick Sharga, President & CEO of CJ Patrick Company, said among other things, inflation makes it harder for renters to save money for a down payment, and as home prices tend to go up over time, the amount of…
Zombie foreclosures are inching up as people who can no longer afford their homes abandon them.
The number of vacant homes in foreclosure, or zombie foreclosures, has risen for the sixth consecutive quarter, according to new data from ATTOM.
Year-over-year, zombie foreclosures are up 13.9%. Currently, 8,800 foreclosures are sitting empty across the country.
“Zombie foreclosures again are ticking up a tiny bit this quarter, tracking along with a small rise in overall foreclosure activity around the country. That’s to be expected, as a handful of homeowners who can’t catch up on overdue mortgage payments just walk away from their properties,” said Rob Barber, ATTOM CEO.
But these foreclosures remain just one in 11,600 of all homes nationwide, abating fears…
