Low interest rates on mortgages continue to make home purchases attractive but many potential borrowers have been prevented from buying a home. Economists at Freddie Mac said a number of factors are making home purchases look unaffordable to potential buyers, even though affordability is at near-record levels. The Housing Affordability Index developed by the National Association of Realtors tracks the ratio of median family income required to qualify for a conventional mortgage ...
Mortgage origination volume was up sharply in the second quarter of 2017, but total production this year still trailed the pace set in 2016 because of slumping refinance activity. An estimated $455.0 billion of first-lien mortgages were originated in the second quarter, according to an exclusive new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. That was up 18.2 percent from the January-March cycle, but production over the first six months of 2017 totaled just $840.0 billion, off 6.7 percent from the same period last year. Most other mortgage market indicators sent...[Includes two data tables]
Getting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of limbo should not result in the creation of multiple guarantors, according to community lenders testifying at a housing-finance reform hearing in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee last week. “The worst outcome in … reform would be to allow a small number of mega-firms to assume the size and scale of Fannie and Freddie under the pretense of creating a private sector solution strong enough to assure the markets in all economic conditions,” said Jack Hopkins, president and CEO of CorTrust Bank, on behalf of the Independent Community Bankers Association. Any plan that promotes consolidation is...
RSS