Despite a jump in key mortgage interest rates, mortgage applications increased from one week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported this morning in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 18.
Category: News and Trends
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“The strong interest in homebuying observed this summer has carried over to the fall. Despite the uptick in rates, refinance applications increased around 9 percent and were almost 86 percent higher than last year. Both conventional and government refinance activity, and in particular FHA refinances, picked up last week.”
–Joel Kan, MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting.
MBA: Loans in Forbearance Fall to 5-Month Low
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey showed loans now in forbearance decreased by 8 basis points to 6.93% of servicers’ portfolio volume as of Sept. 13, compared to 7.01% the week before. MBA estimates 3.5 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
MBA, Realtors Voice Opposition to Potential VA Fee Increase
The Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors yesterday sent a letter to House and Senate leaders in opposition to possible legislation that could increase funding fees to veterans’ homeownership benefits.
Richard Ferguson: What We Can Do to Help Close the Homeownership Wealth Gap
Even when minorities do become homeowners, research shows that homeownership delivers fewer benefits than it does for white families—including significantly less home equity. Yet there are steps we as an industry can take toward leveling the playing field.
MBA Education Path to Diversity Scholar Profile: Sammy Ramirez
(One of a continuing series of profiles of participants in the MBA Education Path to Diversity (P2D) Scholarship Program, which enables employees from diverse backgrounds to advance their professional growth and career development.)
Mark Dangelo: Beyond Digital Transformation Part 2—Challenges of Digital Iterations
While advice and directions concentrate on the “next normal” inflicted by Covid-19, the underlying challenges facing financial services and banking organizations have been building long before its arrival. If banking and mortgage leadership are to adjust to an altered consumer and investment future, they must quickly determine how to build core competencies with digital leveraging—or risk becoming a statistic.
CFPB Extends Comment Period for Proposed Rulemaking on New ‘Seasoned QM’ Category
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday said it would extend the comment period on its notice of proposed rulemaking to create a new category of seasoned qualified mortgages by three days, from September 28 to October 1 to accommodate for the Yom Kippur Jewish holiday.
CoreLogic: Despite Pandemic, Homeowners Gain $620 Billion in Equity
CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said its 2nd Quarter Home Equity Report shows U.S. homeowners with mortgages—which account for 63% of all properties—have seen their equity increase by 6.6% year over year. This represents a collective equity gain of $620 billion and an average gain of $9,800 per homeowner from a year ago.
Dealmaker: VICI Properties Provides Caesars Forum Conference Center $400M Mortgage
A subsidiary of real estate investment trust VICI Properties Inc., Las Vegas, provided Caesars Entertainment, Reno, Nev., a $400 million mortgage secured by the Caesars Forum Conference Center in Las Vegas.