Despite low inventory and financing conditions that can favor other types of homebuyers, first-timers are increasing their market share, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage FinanceHousingPulse Tracking Survey. First-time homebuyers accounted for 38.9 percent of home purchases in April, based on a three-month moving average. That was up from a 38.1 percent share the previous month and a 37.2 percent share in April 2015. “Demand from first-time homebuyers is...
Falling delinquency and foreclosure rates over the last few years have continued to break recent records, according to industry sources, thanks to several factors including an improved housing market and price appreciation. As of the end of March, only 4.95 percent of the $5.08 trillion of home mortgages covered by the Inside Mortgage Finance Large Servicer Delinquency Index were in default or foreclosure status. That was down from 5.54 percent at the end of the fourth quarter. The figures are not seasonally adjusted. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported...[Includes one data table]
Residential lenders that rely on “downpayment assistance” programs (DPAs) operated by state housing finance agencies are growing nervous about a lengthy and ongoing audit being conducted by the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Late this week, a spokesman for the HUD IG’s office confirmed to Inside Mortgage Finance that audit has yet to be completed. “It’s getting into the final stages,” he said. “We originally thought it would be done in early 2016.” He stressed...
A paper recently published by the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research detailed links between changes in underwriting standards at banks and the banks’ loan application denial rates and mortgage performance. While the findings are intuitive, the paper from the OFR was the first to match individual lenders’ confidential responses to the Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey with data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. “We find...
How disruptive were MSR ‘marks’? The nine nonbank lenders tracked by Inside Mortgage Trends reported a combined $510.0 million loss in the first quarter…
When Freddie recently unveiled a first-quarter loss due to hedges affected by falling interest rates, MBA chief Dave Stevens issued a statement once again calling for Congress to enact housing-finance reform, but said nothing about the issue of zero capital.
“If nothing is done in the near term, the natural progression could be a spillover of mortgage originations that favor the private-label market,” S&P said.
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