New home sales fell in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000, down 12.6% from June and 29.6% YOY, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The massive dropoff can be attributed to the rising cost of buying a home. Home price appreciation and increasing interest rates are pricing potential buyers out of the market. Between rates and prices, the monthly mortgage payment on a typical US home is 62% higher than a year ago. Meanwhile, some sellers are opting not to put their homes up for sale, exacerbating the stock shortage and driving up competition. About half of all homeowners have a rate under 4% and are disinclined…
Ian Ouwerkerk has been named Freddie Mac Multifamily’s SVP of Underwriting and Credit, the GSE announced in a press release. He has served as interim SVP since Q1 2022. Ouwerkerk joined Freddie Mac in 2008. He previously served as VP of Multifamily underwriting and senior director of underwriting for the Southeastern region. As VP of Underwriting and Credit, he focuses on ensuring the quality of Multifamily loans. He also oversees large regional pool transactions and balances credit risk management and solutions for sponsors and lenders. Prior to joining the GSE, Ouwerkerk worked as a commercial real estate broker. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration from Acadia University. “Ian is a strong leader with a proven track record implementing strategic,…
By SCOTT KIMBLER The business of real estate is shifting. Potential homebuyers are pulling out of the market due to current interest rates, once super-high property prices are beginning to lose their luster, and the country is still transitioning as part of the pandemic with companies and employees working together to see what business model will suit them in the future. People in the real estate world have been left wondering: Can I continue to thrive? In the upcoming months, mortgage lenders, refinancing businesses, and real estate agencies may fire thousands of people as the housing market cools. Carmen Arroyo, Steven Church, and Maxwell Adler at Bloomberg reported last week that “the mortgage industry is seeing its first lenders go…
Buyers are still fleeing the market in droves despite signs of cooling, driven out by rising mortgage rates and economic uncertainty. Home sales fell by 19.3% YOY in July, hitting their lowest level since the pandemic started, Redfin reported. It’s the biggest annual decline in U.S. home sales in more than a year. Sales also fell 4.1% from June. Redfin noted that while affordability challenges pushed some buyers out, others were concerned about the potential for home-value declines. Home price appreciation rose at its slowest pace since June 2020, up only 7.7%, and talk of price correction is everywhere. Fewer homeowners put their homes on the market, too. New listings fell 13.5% YOY, the biggest decline in more than a…
Non-QM lender Arc Home LLC has appointed Suzy Lindblom as Chief Operating Officer, the company announced in a press release. “Arc Home is well-positioned for steady growth through innovative proprietary products and technology, and I’m thrilled to have been chosen to be the Chief Operating Officer. My goal is to create a seamless customer-focused experience for our clients and homebuyers throughout the entire mortgage loan process,” Lindblom said. Lindblom is an industry veteran with a strong past history of leadership. Prior to Arc Home, she served as COO for First Guaranty Mortgage, and has held the same position at Planet Home Lending. She has also served as Managing Director of Operations at Stearns Lending. She has earned many industry awards,…
By TYRONE TOWNSEND Leaders at Rocket Mortgage have launched a new program that will cover a sizable portion of closing costs for a refinance transaction if interest rates drop and their customer refinances within three years of purchasing a home. Applicants with credit scores as low as 580 will be considered, in contrast to other mortgage lenders who need a minimum of 620. Leaders at the company say this offers a choice for potential homebuyers with bad credit. John Perich, Director of Public Relations of Rocket Central, spoke with the Mortgage Note about the Rate Drop Advantage. “People might want to buy a house, and if you want to buy a house now, go ahead and get it,” Perich said.…
Mortgage Lenders lost money on every loan originated for the first time since 2018 in Q2, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report. Independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks lost an average of $82 on each loan they originated in the second quarter of 2022, down from gains of $223 per loan in Q1. The average pre-tax production loss was 5 bps, a complete turnaround from Q1’s average net production profit of 5 bps. Average production volume totaled $705 million per company, down from $808 million in Q1. Only three other quarters in the survey’s history saw net production losses: Q1 2014, Q1 2018, and Q4 2018. “The second quarter of 2022…
Mortgage rates dropped to an average 5.13% last week from 5.22% the week prior, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. Freddie’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.13%, following a rollercoaster couple of weeks that saw both a 30-point rate decrease and a 20-point increase. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.86%. “Inflation appears to be beyond its peak, which has stopped the rapid increase in mortgage rates that the housing market was experiencing earlier this year,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “The market continues to absorb the cumulative impact of the large price and rate increases that led to a plunge in affordability. As a result, over the rest…
Existing-home sales dropped for the sixth straight month in July, down 5.9% from June and 20.2% YOY, according to the National Association of Realtors’ most recent data. Sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million and declined in every major region. At the same time, inventory of unsold homes increased to 1.31 million, or 3.3 months of inventory at the current sales pace. “The ongoing sales decline reflects the impact of the mortgage rate peak of 6% in early June. Home sales may soon stabilize since mortgage rates have fallen to near 5%, thereby giving an additional boost of purchasing power to home buyers,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. The median price for an existing home…
Fay Servicing has named Dallas Vit Chief Information Officer, the company announced in a press release. “It’s exciting to join a firm with a solid foundation and such diversity in their business model. This team has a great reputation in the servicing business and their ancillary companies give us great opportunities,” Vit said. Vit brings fifteen years of experience to the position. He will lead the company’s technology team, working on application development, technology infrastructure, information security, and data management. Prior to Fay, he most recently served as CIO for Roosevelt Management Company, an investment firm. He earned both his MBA and BA in Management Information Systems from The University of Northern Iowa. “Dallas brings with him a progressive track…
