Industry Briefs Aug. 6, 2021
CoreLogic: Affordable Beach Communities Top List of Metros with the Highest In-Migration
CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said its analysis of homebuyer migration trends in 2020 found coastal metro areas in Florida such as Lakeland and Tampa ranking highest, as many moved away from large coastal areas such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The company’s 2020’s Hottest Cities for Homebuyers report noted a mix of events during last year’s pandemic that included flexible work policies, low federal interest rates and increased need for financial savings led to a mass migration away from crowded, expensive metro areas.
“The pandemic created a perfect recipe for consistently employed Americans,” said Archana Pradhan, CoreLogic’s principal economist. “If it had been any other mix of events, for example, if low housing inventory was coupled with job inflexibility, we wouldn’t have had such a large group of homebuying consumers feeling empowered to make bold moves in their living situations.”
Metros that topped the list of highest in-migration activity had similar draws for homebuyers. The report notes that these top metros offer more affordability because of lower costs-per-square-foot, lower property taxes, and no state income taxes. Additionally, warmer, sunnier climates with strong outdoor lifestyle amenities were common in the top 15 metros for in-migration.
Black Knight: Forbearance Plans Up 31,000
Black Knight, Jacksonville, Fla., released its weekly McDash Flash daily loan-level forbearance data, showing a 31,000 increase in the overall number of active forbearance plans since last Tuesday. As of July 27, 1.9 million borrowers remain in COVID-19 forbearance plans, making up 3.6% of all active mortgages and 2.0% of GSE, 6.3% of FHA/VA and 4.4% of Portfolio/PLS loans.
The report said forbearances rose most significantly among loans held in bank portfolios or private label securities (+35,000), with FHA/VA mortgages seeing an uptick as well (+1,000) The 5,000 decline among GSE loans offset just a small share of the total weekly rise.
“While still low, new forbearance plan starts hit their highest weekly level since late March, with restart activity also remaining elevated,” the report said. “Roughly 2/3 of all starts over the past week were restarts.”
Removal volumes were the lowest since late May given the low volume of review activity at this time of month.
CoreLogic Taps Paradatec Technology for HMDA Reporting Tool
Paradatec Inc., Cincinnati, joined with CoreLogic to support CoreLogic HMDA Check, a loan auditing tool that leverages automation to help lenders comply with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.
CoreLogic HMDA Check leverages Paradatec’s optical character recognition data extraction technology to help automate HMDA reporting while enabling lenders to increase efficiency, improve data accuracy and reduce costs. Paradatec’s AI-based document classification and data extraction tools can scan hundreds of loan files and capture applicable HMDA data for reporting in seconds.
FHFA House Price Index Up 1.7 Percent in May; 18 Percent from Last Year
House prices rose nationwide in May by 1.7 percent from April, according to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index. House prices rose 18 percent from May 2020 to May 2021. The previously reported 1.8 percent price change for April was unrevised.
For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly house price changes from April to May ranged from +1 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +2.4 percent in the Pacific division. The 12-month changes ranged from +15.4 percent in the West South-Central division to +23.2 percent in the Mountain division.
“House prices continued their record-setting growth into May,” said Lynn Fisher, FHFA Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics. “This trend will likely continue around the country as busy summer homebuying months maintain the pressure being felt in already tight housing markets.”
First American: Affordability Declines for 3rd Straight Month
First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., released the May First American Real House Price Index, showing real house prices increased 0.7 percent between April and May. Year over year, real house prices increased by 8.9 percent.
The report said consumer house-buying power, how much one can buy based on changes in income and interest rates, increased 1.4 percent between April and May, and increased 8.4 percent year over year.
“Housing affordability declined on a year-over-year basis for the third month in a row in May, following a two-year streak of rising affordability,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American. “The drop in affordability was broadly felt as affordability declined year over year in 49 of the 50 markets we track.”
The report said markets with the greatest year-over-year decline in affordability were Phoenix (-22.7 percent); Seattle (-20.1 percent); Kansas City, Mo. (-19.6 percent); Tampa, Fla. (-17.8 percent); and Las Vegas (-17.2 percent).
Access Softek, ENACOMM Sign Referral Deal
Access Softek, Berkeley, Calif., an omnichannel digital banking provider, recently announced a referral agreement with ENACOMM, Tulsa, Okla., a fintech enablement company that enables banks, credit unions and credit card companies with affordable, data-driven platforms for improving the customer experience, fighting financial fraud and increasing operational efficiency.
Through this agreement, ENACOMM will refer its bank and credit union customers to Access Softek’s entire digital banking suite, which includes online and mobile banking, fraud prevention, video chat, wealth management and biometric authentication platforms. In the same way, Access Softek will refer its banks and credit unions to ENACOMM’s voice platforms for customer self-service, including intelligent interactive voice response and conversational voice banking.
Redfin: Pending Sales Post Smallest Increase More than a Year
Redfin, Seattle, said home-selling speed and competition have passed their record-high peaks, meaning the market is starting to feel slightly more welcoming to buyers. But most homes still sell within two weeks and for more than list price.
The report said pending home sales posted their smallest year-over-year increase (7%) since late June 2020. The supply of homes for sale continued to plateau as the number of newly listed homes for sale followed its slow seasonal decline. Home sale prices—a lagging indicator and a notable exception to the cooling trend—continued their steady ascent, up 19% year over year. Homebuying competition passed its lofty peak; the majority of homes are still finding buyers within two weeks and selling for above their asking price, leaving many buyers wondering when they may start to feel the chillier conditions. Some of those buyers have grown weary, with online home searches, in-person tours and mortgage applications all on the decline.
The report said the median home-sale price increased 19% year over year to $364,250, a record high. Asking prices of newly listed homes were up 12% from the same time a year ago to a median of $357,975, down 1.2% from their record high posted four weeks earlier.
“Home sellers are increasingly having to lower their expectations,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “The transition to this new slightly cooler phase of the housing market will happen unevenly depending on the location and the desirability of the home.”
