The trend toward virtual real estate—a necessity during this coronavirus pandemic—might become permanent, with potential home buyers continuing to show little enthusiasm for open houses, said Redfin, Seattle.
Category: News and Trends
Pandemic Hits Single-Family Rent Prices
CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said single-family rent growth reached its slowest rate in a decade during June amid elevated unemployment rates.
Industry Briefs Aug. 19, 2020
Freedom Mortgage Corp., Mount Laurel, N.J., and RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corp., Charlotte, N.C. completed their previously announced merger. RoundPoint is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Freedom Mortgage, a full-service mortgage company and provider of VA and government-insured lending.
With Wind at Its Back, Housing Starts Continue Summer Surge
Housing starts posted double-digit increases for the second straight month, HUD and the Census Bureau reported yesterday, to its highest level since February.
Andrew Foster: CMBS Market Musings
Taken together, the analysis from industry thought leaders indicates that CMBS will continue to have challenges with existing loans through 2021 as new issuance remains robust for agency MBS and at a tepid pace for conduit transactions. Challenges with maturing loans are starting as well; however, 2022 will bring a major wave of those loans.
Mortgage Applications Drop in Latest MBA Weekly Survey
Mortgage interest rates jumped back over 3 percent last week, resulting in a decrease in mortgage refinance applications, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported this morning in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 14.
Quote
“The housing market remains a bright spot in the current economic recovery and these results, combined with July data on housing starts and homebuilder optimism, suggest that housing supply could be increasing to better meet the strong demand for buying a home.”
–Joel Kan, MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting.
Leah Sommerville and Chris Lewis: RON–The Last Mile in the eClosing Marathon
As consumers make efforts to significantly limit in-person interaction, the demand for remote online notarization eClosings, which allow borrowers to join real estate closings from the comfort of and, more importantly, safety of their homes, has increased exponentially. This begs the question: Why isn’t everyone closing every loan with RON?
MBA: Loans in Forbearance Fall 9th Straight Week
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey reported loans now in forbearance decreased by 23 basis points to 7.21% of servicers’ portfolio volume the week of Aug. 9 from 7.44% the previous week. MBA estimates 3.6 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
MBA: Mortgage Delinquencies Spike in Second Quarter
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s released its Second Quarter National Delinquency Survey, showing the delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties increased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 8.22 percent of all loans outstanding.