Rate-lock volumes fell 21.5% in November despite 30-year rates dropping 48 bps over the course of the month, according to Optimal Blue’s Mortgage Market Indices from Black Knight. Rates are 3.3% higher YOY but have declined in recent weeks. But affordability struggle and continuing stock shortages have diminished buyer demand, pushing rate-locks down 39% in three months and 68% from the same time last year. Purchase locks fell 22%, while rate/term refis and cash-outs dropped 17% and 18%, respectively. Total refi locks accounted for only 15% of November’s activity. The Thanksgiving holiday and normal seasonal slowing also contributed to low lock volume, but Optimal Blue President Scott Happ noted that these cannot account for dwindling activity by themselves. “While we…
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…
The historically low delinquency rate dropped further in August, closing in on May 2022’s record low, but rising foreclosure starts may cause it to increase, according to Black Knight’s First Look at August 2022 mortgage data. Nationally, delinquencies dropped 3.6% in August to 2.79%. This is just four basis points above May’s record. Improvements were seen across the spectrum of borrowers, with the number of those owing only a single late payment down 4%. Those 90 or more days delinquent fell by 4.5%. Cure activity also increased, with 62,000 seriously delinquent loans curing to current status. Cure rates refer to loans that were delinquent in the prior month but are now current. Start activity rose 15% from July, though it…
Home price growth saw the largest single-month slowdown on record since at least the 1970s in June, coinciding with a huge increase in inventory, according to Black Knight’s most recent Mortgage Monitor Report. Annual home price growth fell from 19.3% to 17.3% between May and June. “For context, during the 2006 downturn the strongest single-month slowing was 1.19 percentage points – about what we saw last month – and June topped that by 66%,” said Black Knight Data & Analytics President Ben Graboske. However, while the slowdown was historic, home price growth would need to fall at this pace for a while yet before annual price appreciation returned to 5%. “Still, while this was the sharpest cooling on record nationally,…
Home prices have risen 42% since the beginning of the pandemic and have gained 9% in value since the first of the year, with equity reaching another all-time high, according to Black Knight’s latest Mortgage Monitor Report. Black Knight reported that the annual rate of appreciation dropped slightly to 19.9% in April, down from an upwardly revised 20.4% for March. Despite this, rising prices and interest rates have brought about the worst affordability since July 2006. “While a downward shift from 20.4% to 19.9% annual growth is hardly cause for concern, it’s also likely we’ve not yet seen the full impact of recent rate increases. Rather, April’s decline is more likely a sign of deceleration caused by the modest rate…
Good Morning! Today is Tuesday, December 7. New York City will implement a vaccine mandate for private employers this month. President Biden will speak with Vladimir Putin today in an attempt to stave off a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Republican Representative Devin Nunes will resign to run Donald Trump’s media company. And in mortgage and housing news… CT Town Settles For $350,000: Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice have announced a settlement in a lawsuit against a Connecticut town that enacted zoning laws making housing for persons with mental health disabilities unavailable. Mortgage Monitor: Tappable equity reached an all-time high in October 2021, according to Black Knight’s latest mortgage monitor report. New FinLocker SVP: FinLocker has named Andria Thomas …
Tappable equity soared to a new all-time high in October 2021, increasing almost a quarter-trillion dollars in Q3, according to Black Knight’s October 2021 Mortgage Monitor Report. Black Knight reports that Q3 home price growth added more than $250 billion to Q2’s “history-making rate.” The average homeowner’s equity has risen by $53,000, working out to $178,000 available in tappable equity before reaching an 80% combined loan-to-value ratio. Homeowners tapped their equity in Q3 at the highest rate in 14 years, with cash-outs accounting for 54% of all refinances. The aggregate total of $9.4 trillion is up 32% YOY and almost 90% higher than the peak in 2006. “Data points like these inevitably, and understandably, lead to comparisons with the run-up…
