Today’s Top National News Dec. 19 2022

Here’s a summary of Top National News Items from major news sites and industry trade publications. To get started, click on the headline above:

Process of Buying a Home Must Be Modernized
Las Vegas Sun, Dec. 16, 2022–Diane Tomb, Bob Broeksmit, CMB
MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, and ALTA CEO Diane Tomb urge Congress to approve federal remote online notarization legislation.
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2022/dec/16/process-of-buying-a-home-must-be-modernized/

Mortgage Buydowns Are Making a Comeback
Wall Street Journal, Dec. 18, 2022–Gina Heeb, Nicole Friedman (subscription)
Soaring rates have revived interest in a product that fell out of favor after the financial crisis.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/mortgage-buydowns-are-making-a-comeback-11671314872?mod=hp_lead_pos3

Michigan Lender Sues Competitor for Raiding Florida Offices
National Mortgage News, Dec. 16, 2022–Andrew Martinez (subscription)
Success Mortgage Partners accuses Stockton Mortgage Corp. of unlawful solicitation and theft of trade secrets from its operations in Georgia, Michigan and Florida, according to the complaint filed last week. A summons was issued Monday to the Frankfort, Kentucky-based Stockton for the case in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
https://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/news/michigan-lender-sues-competitor-for-raiding-florida-offices

Why Returns on Digital Real Estate Don’t Compute
Wall Street Journal, Dec. 16, 2022–Spencer Jakab (subscription)
Data centers promise a heady combination of growth and income, but investors need to crunch the numbers. With interest rates rising, data-hungry tech startups folding and even stalwarts like Meta, Twitter Inc. and Amazon’s AWS tapping the brakes on cloud investments, remaining data center REITs don’t look as attractive.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-returns-on-digital-real-estate-dont-compute-11671128381?

Office Prices Have Dropped a Bit. But Investors Are Still Interested in Office Assets.
Wealth Management Real Estate, Dec. 15, 2022–Patricia Kirk
Despite multiple interest rate hikes this year and lingering economic uncertainty, the overall asking price per sq. ft. for commercial real estate properties marketed on CREXi, a commercial real estate marketplace, increased slightly in November, by 2.13 percent.
https://www.wealthmanagement.com/office/office-prices-have-dropped-bit-investors-are-still-interested-office-assets?

War Stories: Selling During a Divorce
The Housing Scene (UExpress), Dec. 16, 2022–Lew Sichelman
In a perfect world, a couple in the midst of a divorce would sit down together and calmly figure out what to do with their house. But, of course, this is not a perfect world.
https://www.uexpress.com/home/housing-scene/2022/12/16

Bad News for Refis: 94.5% of Agency MBS Has Current Interest Rates of 5.0% or Less
Inside Mortgage Finance, Dec. 16, 2022–John Bancroft
The supply of residential MBS in the market continued to expand in the third quarter, though the pace of growth is slowing.
https://www.insidemortgagefinance.com/articles/226533-with-uncertain-outlook-for-demand-mbs-growth-slows?v=preview

For Home Buyers, 2022 Was Brutal. Why ’23 Could Be a Bit Better
Yahoo! Finance, Dec. 15, 2022–Holden Lewis
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the National Association of Realtors all forecast a gradual decline in mortgage rates in 2023, with the 30-year mortgage averaging between 6.1% and 6.5% in the fourth quarter. The Mortgage Bankers Association forecasts a more abrupt decline, with the 30-year mortgage averaging 5.2% in the fourth quarter.
https://www.yahoo.com/now/home-buyers-2022-brutal-why-223143757.html

Long-Term Mortgage Rates Fall Again–Experts React
Mortgage Professional America, Dec. 16, 2022–Candyd Mendoza
Earlier this week, the Fed announced pausing its rate-hike cycle in December until early 2023. The central bank slowed its pace increases from 75 to 50 basis points.
“Perhaps more importantly for the mortgage market, they also signaled that they anticipate slower growth, higher unemployment, and higher inflation in 2023 than they had indicated at the September meeting,” said Mike Fratantoni, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association.
https://www.mpamag.com/us/mortgage-industry/market-updates/long-term-mortgage-rates-fall-again-experts-react/430919

The Next 100 Days are Key for Mortgage Pros
HousingWire, Dec. 16, 2022–Dustin Owens
For those of us in the mortgage industry, the next 100 days is meaningful as it will be a period that requires the most focus and greatest amount of perseverance.
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/the-next-100-days-are-key-for-mortgage-pros/

Housing Trends by Generation: Gen Z, Millennials, Boomers
National Mortgage News, Dec. 16, 2022–Courtney Hoff (subscription)
Just like their varying tastes in clothes and music, each generation of consumers today have unique preferences on where and how they want to live.
https://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/list/housing-trends-by-generation-gen-z-millennials-boomers