Broker confidence fell for the second straight month in February, though brokers are “cautiously optimistic” about the future, according to RISMedia’s February Broker Confidence Index (BCI). The index, which is scaled 1 to 10, fell to 7.5 from January’s 7.9 and December 2021’s 8.2. For the 3,000 brokers surveyed, rising interest rates were not a big cause for concern. They felt that rising rates won’t hurt demand considering current market conditions. Brokers’ biggest worries were inflation and inventory, with a nod to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. “The continued lack of supply has really created a bubble,” Quincy Smith, a broker with ERA Matt Fischer in Yuma, Arizona, told RISMedia. “With the equity market starting what appears to be a…
Good Morning! Today is Thursday, February 10. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi suggested that they were open to banning members of Congress from trading stocks. Officials have delayed the medal ceremony for team figure skating amid reports that a Russian skater failed a drug test. A former casino executive was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for a bribery scheme to get his daughter into U.S.C. The Mortgage Note Reports Impact Of Labor Numbers On Housing Market Remains Unclear: Despite an uptick in job numbers and an increase in personal incomes, there is still uncertainty about how the latest Labor Statistics Report will impact the housing market. Second Home Demand: Second home demand outpaced primary residence demand…
Mortgage loan application volume fell 8.1% last week, down after jumping 12% the week prior, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly survey shows. The adjusted Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, dropped 8.1%. The adjusted purchase index fell 10%, while the unadjusted purchase index fell 3% and was 12% lower YOY. The refinance index fell 7% and was down 52% YOY. Refinances made up 56.2% of total applications. “Purchase activity slowed after the previous week’s gain. Both conventional and FHA purchase applications saw proportional declines, resulting in purchase activity overall dropping 10 percent,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “The average loan size again hit another record high at $446,000.…
Good Morning! Today is Friday, January 28. Economic output in the U.S. grew 5.7% over the past year, the biggest annual increase in decades. Biden told Ukraine’s president that the U.S. was ready to respond forcefully to any Russian aggression. A federal judge revoked Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leases, ruling the Biden administration failed to consider climate change when it sold them. The Mortgage Note Reports Predicting The Future: Higher interest rates will be a big issue for homebuyers in 2022. Will they drive down mortgage business? Rates Settle: After weeks of steadily rising, interests rates stayed steady last week, averaging 3.55%. Black Knight: Forbearance exits rose for the second week in a row, up by 19,000 plans…
Across the country this December, mortgage professionals will be stepping up to help people in need, support community charities, and generally help make the season a little brighter. The Mortgage Note wants to celebrate those efforts by highlighting them in an upcoming edition of our newsletter — and by doing our part to spread holiday cheer. We’ll pick one highlighted charity and make our own $1,000 donation to it. What do you need to do? Just write a brief description of the charitable activity you and/or your co-workers are doing this year—ringing the Salvation Army bell, collecting for Toys for Tots, working at a local food bank, etc.—and email it to: [email protected] Also, include a link to the website of the…
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) and global technology provider SRE.com are partnering up to build an online marketplace for borrowers to choose their own mortgage loan originators. The SRE marketplace will allow borrowers to browse the profiles of mortgage loan originators across the US based on search terms for property type and expertise, as well as read reviews posted by other users. Site reliability engineering (SRE) replaces operations teams who manually update websites with software that can automate tasks and manage systems, resulting in an easily scalable and reliable product. “This new online destination will be the industry’s first true borrower-facing portal, where consumers can choose the professionals they want to serve them based on the actual experience…
