Home prices fell for a second consecutive month in August, with prices seeing the sharpest contractions in more than 13 years. Black Knight’s latest Mortgage Monitor Report showed huge price drops month-over-month and stalling inventory levels. Its Home Price Index saw prices decline 0.98%, with the median home price now 2% off its June peak. July’s 10.5% dip and August’s 0.98% are the largest one-month price drops since the Great Recession and are in the top eight largest dips ever recorded. “Either one of them would have been the largest single-month price decline since January 2009 – together they represent two straight months of significant pullbacks after more than two years of record-breaking growth,” Black Knight Data & Analytics President…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have raised their limits on government-backed loans to $647,200 in most of the country and nearly $1 million in some high-cost American communities. Does that mean lenders are repeating the same mistakes which led to the 2008 crash? This 18% hike in the size of conforming loans is the highest single jump since at least 1970, outpacing the 15.9% increase seen in 2006. Two years later, on Dec. 30, 2008, the Case-Shiller home price index reported its largest drop in history. The credit crisis and housing bubble burst that followed led in part to the Great Recession in the United States. Now some observers fear U.S. markets are moving back to…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and workers reevaluate their commitment to metropolitan life, lenders in smaller cities stand to benefit from what is being termed the “Great Resignation.” It is estimated that about 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September after months of dramatic departure numbers, which means those employees are looking for and taking new jobs, often choosing to live in a different location if they have the option of working remotely. Since 87% of employees say they would like to work remotely at least one day a week, and one in three workers would not want to work for an employer that required them to be onsite full time, potential homebuyers are taking these…
The number of loans in forbearance stayed more or less the same as exits stalled mid-month, making up 1.9% of all active mortgages, according to Black Knight’s blog, Vision. November has hit a lull in its third week that mimics similar slowdowns in the last few months. Black Knight has characterized these declines as “expected.” The number of active forbearance plans rose 0.2% as activity hit its lowest level since mid-August. Plan volume rose by 5,000 for portfolio and PLS loans with small declines for FHA/VA (-2000) and GSEs (-1000). FHA/VAs saw an increase in new plans, pushing start volume to its highest level since October. Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) head Rohit Chopra has zeroed in on foreclosures since…
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a joint statement with other government agencies to mortgage servicers announcing a return to enforcement of protections for families and homeowners. The statement cited an April 2020 decision not to take “supervisory or enforcement action” regarding the timing requirements of the Regulation X mortgage servicing rules during the pandemic. The decision would last indefinitely “as long as the servicers made good faith efforts to provide those required notices or disclosures and took the related actions within a reasonable period of time. “ Wednesday’s statement from the CFPB walked back that flexibility, saying mortgage servicers have had plenty of time to adapt their operations to the ongoing challenges of Covid-19. The agencies will return…
