Good Morning! Today is Tuesday, February 8. The Supreme Court reinstated Alabama’s congressional map, which a lower court had said hurts Black voters. Vladimir Putin met with President Emmanuel Macron of France but did not rule out a Ukraine invasion. The budget airlines Frontier and Spirit plan to merge. The Mortgage Note Reports UWM Sues Brokerage in Effort to Enforce its ‘Anti-American’ Restrictions on Lenders. UWM’s Mat Ishbia is defending his company’s decision to slap America’s Moneyline with a $2.8 million lawsuit over its decision to violate UWM’s restrictions on working with Rocket and Fairway Independent. AML’s Shawn Nevin calls it ‘anti-American.’ $53 Million Agreement With Fannie Mae To Help Rebuild Communities Of Color In Metro Areas: Fair housing organizations throughout the…
Homeowners gained $2.6 trillion in tappable equity in 2021, up by 35% year-over-year for an aggregate total of almost $10 trillion, Black Knight’s December 2021 Mortgage Monitor reported. In just Q4 2021 alone, tappable equity rose by nearly half a billion dollars, resulting in the lowest total market leverage on record. The $2.6 trillion gain was the largest annual increase ever, more than double 2020’s record high of $1.1 trillion. The average homeowner has gained $48,000, for a total of $185,000 in available equity. “Home price appreciation over the course of 2021 was unlike anything that’s come before, and the incredible growth we’ve seen in homeowner equity is testament to that fact,” said Black Knight Data & Analytics President Ben…
Good Morning! Today is Friday, February 4. Islamic State’s leader died during a nighttime raid by U.S. special forces in northwestern Syria. The US is short on blood due to below-average donations amid Covid-19. The House is set to approve a $350 billion initiative to boost U.S. competitiveness with China and others, but the Senate may fight it. The Mortgage Note Reports Standing Up For Independent Mortgage Bankers In 2022 And Beyond:The executive director of Community Home Lenders Association is working to educate policymakers in Washington, D.C., while articulating the perspective of independent mortgage bankers. Forbearances Drop: Active forbearance plans fell by 45,000 plans (-5%) last week, according to Black Knight’s blog, Vision. More than 90% of homeowners who entered Covid-related forbearance…
Active forbearance plans fell by 45,000 plans (-5%) last week, according to Black Knight’s blog, Vision. GSE plans fell by 24,000 (-9%), while forborne loans held by portfolios and PSL dropped 12,000 (4%). FHA/VA loans in forbearance fell by 3%, or 10,000 plans. New plan starts and restarts also decreased after weeks of climbing. In a recent webinar, RealtyTrac EVP Rick Sharga and Mortgage Policy Advisors Managing Director and Five Star Global Chairman Ed Delgado predicted 2022 would look much like 2021, with low rates of new forbearance plans and serious delinquencies. “The presumption at the start of the pandemic was that there was going to be this gradual swelling of foreclosures, as forbearances expired and consumers had nowhere to…
New forbearance plans rose for the second week in a row, up by 19,000 plans (2.3%), according to Black Knight’s blog, Vision. The increase was driven primarily by a 9.6%, 9,000, jump in FHA/VA plans. Forborne loans held by portfolios and PSL also rose by 9,000 (3.3%) while GSE plans rose by 1,300 (0.5%). Black Knight noted that the increases follow a pattern of “significant plan exits followed by predictable lulls driven by new plan starts and restart activity”. “This week’s data held true to that pattern,” the post reads. This is the second consecutive week of increases after a long period of declines, though Black Knight stressed that last week’s percentages were artificially pushed up by restart activity paired…
As forbearance exits yet again hit an expected mid-month slowdown, resulting in an increase in active plans, according to Black Knight’s blog, Vision. Active forbearance plans rose by 36,000 (4.6%) this past week, driven primarily by a 9.6%, 25,000, increase in FHA/VA plans. Forborne loans held by portfolios and PSL rose by 8,000 (3.2%) while GSE plans rose by 3,000 (1%). The headline is ominous coming a week after new plan starts reached their highest level since an unexpected jump in December. However, new plan starts actually fell by 3% week-over-week. Restart activity paired with an exit “lull” pushed plan entries up. The majority of homeowners in Covid-19 related forbearance have exited their plans as the economy continues its slow…
The total number of loans in forbearance fell from 1.67% of servicers’ portfolio volume to 1.41% in December 2021, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Loan Monitoring Survey. The pace of monthly forbearance exits is at its lowest point since MBA began tracking exits in June 2020. MBA estimates 705,000 homeowners are currently in forbearance plans. Independent mortgage banks saw a 0.28% decline from 1.94% to 1.66%, while depositories saw a 0.28% drop from 1.52% to 1.24%. The share of forborne Fannie and Freddie loans fell to 0.68%, down by 8 basis points, while Ginnie Mae loans fell from 2.10% to 1.63%, down 47 basis points. PLS and portfolio loans in forbearance dropped by 51 basis points to 3.43%.…
Good Morning! Today is Friday, January 14. The Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a vaccine-or-testing mandate for large employers. Australia canceled Novak Djokovic’s visa for a second time, days before the Australian Open. The leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia was charged with seditious conspiracy in the Capitol riot investigation. And in mortgage and housing news… Forbearance Exits Remain High: Of single-family homeowners who entered Covid-19 related forbearance, 89% have now exited their plans, according to Black Knight. Rates Climb Again: Mortgage rates jumped significantly this week, up to an average of 3.45% from 3.22%, Freddie Mac reported. Vice Chairwoman: President Biden will nominate Sarah Bloom Raskin, a former top Treasury Department official, to serve as…
Of single-family homeowners who entered Covid-19 related forbearance, 89% have now exited their plans. Active forbearance plans dropped by 43,000 (-8%) in the first week of January, according to Black Knight’s blog, Vision. The number of loans in forbearance fell across all categories, led by a 22,000 (-8%) drop in forborne loans held by portfolios and PSLs. Forbearances on FHA/VA loans fell by 17,000 (-16%) and GSE loans fell by 4,000 (-1.6%). The number of active plans is down 100,000 (-12%) from last month. An additional 155,000 plans are up for extension or removal in January. However, less than a third are expected to expire, meaning exit volumes will lessen moving forward. New plan starts rose again, reaching their highest…
ATTOM Data Solution’s Year-End 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report found foreclosure filings dropped 29% from 2020 and were down 95% from a peak of nearly 2.9 million in 2010. It is the lowest level since ATTOM began tracking filings in 2005. Properties with foreclosure filings–default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions– made up 0.11% of all U.S. housing units, down from 0.16% in 2020. “The COVID-19 foreclosure tsunami that some people had anticipated is clearly not happening,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president at RealtyTrac, an ATTOM company. The report is heartening from a broad view of foreclosure filings in the US. However, it found that filings increased as protections expired, pushing rates closer to pre-pandemic levels. A total of…
