The Lede

Bankrate.com, Sept. 4, 2019--Sarah Foster"Job openings remain at high levels and the unemployment rate is low," says Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. "But while the job market is currently very healthy, we expect that overall economic growth will slow in 2020."

WTOP (Washington, D.C.), Sept. 3, 2019--Jeff Clabaugh"On average, the industry is taking anywhere from 40 to 60 days for an application to close," said Joel Kan of the Mortgage Bankers Association. "Our estimate is for high volume to close in the third quarter with some of that being pushed into the fourth quarter just because of the high volume of applications we're seeing come in right now."

American Banker, Sept. 3, 2019--Penny Crosman (subscription)A year ago, the three major credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion - stopped including public information about unpaid taxes and court debts in consumers' credit reports. A year later, some say the absence of this data is contributing to poor lending decisions.

Bloomberg, Sept. 3, 2019--Reade PickertThe Institute for Supply Management's purchasing managers index fell to 49.1 in August, weaker than all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists, data released Tuesday showed. Figures below 50 indicate the manufacturing economy is generally shrinking. The group's gauge of new orders dropped to a more than seven-year low, while the production index hit the lowest since late 2015.

National Mortgage News, Sept. 3, 2019--Bonnie Sinnock (subscription)More loans with high debt-to-income ratios were approved last year, but a lot were denied as well, which suggests lenders' willingness to underwrite them may have its limits.

Wall Street Journal, Sept. 3, 2019--Esther Fung (subscription)Amid a maturing property market cycle and rising uncertainties in geopolitics and the global economy, foreign investors have sold more U.S. commercial real estate than they bought in a quarter for the first time since 2013.

Houston Chronicle, Sept. 3, 2019--R.A. SchwartzAs low mortgage rates have driven a surge in refinances, lenders have seen their profits on mortgage underwriting skyrocket, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported.