Industry Briefs May 4, 2023: Peak Residential Lending Partners with LenderLogix

Peak Residential Lending Partners with LenderLogix

LenderLogix, Buffalo, N.Y., announced Peak Residential Lending implemented its application suite – LiteSpeed, QuickQual and Fee Chaser – into its existing tech stack to power a digital borrower experience.

LiteSpeed powers Peak Residential’s loan application process, delivering a simple borrower experience integrated with Encompass. LiteSpeed automatically curates a list of needed documents for the borrower to collect and upload. From there, QuickQual allows the borrower and real estate agent to run payment and closing cost scenarios based on parameters set by the loan officer and generate pre-approval letters instantly. Once the borrower moves from application to the underwriting phase, Fee Chaser extends the value derived from LiteSpeed and QuickQual through collection of up-front costs, such as appraisal fees.

Down Payment Resource Issues Q1 2023 Homeownership Program Index Report

Down Payment Resource, Atlanta, issued its Q1 2023 Homeownership Program Index. The analysis found an 0.5% uptick in the number of homebuyer assistance programs available to help people finance homes, raising the number of programs to 2,362.

The report said the majority of down payment assistance programs are forgivable; 57.8% of DPA programs — which take the form of grants, community second mortgages or a combination of the two —never have to be repaid as long as program conditions are met. Of all types of homebuyer assistance, 43.4% percent of programs are forgivable. The share of both categories of forgivable programs increased fractionally over last quarter.

The report also found incentivized programs are on the rise, with a 3% increase in programs geared toward public servants such as teachers and protectors, Native Americans, people with disabilities and veterans, among others — over the previous quarter. Programs with incentives now make up 17.5% of all available programs.

Programs that support multifamily homeownership saw a 2.2% increase over the previous quarter. These programs now make up 29.8% of all homebuyer assistance offerings. DPA programs without a first-time homebuyer requirement grew by 2% in Q1 2023; 39.7% of all assistance offerings do not feature a first-time homebuyer requirement.

The report can be found at https://downpaymentresource.com/professional-resource/q1-2023-homebuyer-assistance-program-trends/.

Fitch Ratings: Structured Finance Ratings Well-Positioned for a Downturn

Fitch Ratings, New York, said global structured finance ratings are generally well-positioned for an expected downturn as reflected in the share of ratings with Positive Outlooks (12%) exceeding Negative Outlooks. Of all SF ratings globally, 86% have Stable Outlooks.

Fitch said the rate of upgrades has slowed and the pace of downgrades has increased from a very low level over the past six months. This shift indicates a more negative credit environment, but we expect a limited impact on ratings given headroom in the form of structural credit protection boosted by strong asset performance and asset price appreciation in recent years.

“Asset performance has remained more resilient than we expected at the start of the year,” the report said. “However, some sectors exposed to lower credit quality borrowers are showing signs of deterioration, such as subprime auto loans and unsecured consumer loans. We expect performance for most asset classes to weaken through 2023 and 2024 as higher rates weigh heavily on consumer demand and home prices through 2023 and into 2024. Home prices are currently declining in each of the major RMBS markets. Commercial mortgage borrowers in the US and EMEA are expected to face elevated maturity defaults from higher refinance risk due to higher financing costs, a broad downturn in property values and deteriorating macroeconomic conditions.”

ACES Quality Management Launches ACES PROTECT Mortgage Compliance Testing Module

ACES Quality Management, Denver, added ACES PROTECT, a suite of automated regulatory compliance tests, to its flagship ACES Quality Management & Control quality control auditing platform.

ACES PROTECT enables lenders to reduce audit time and improve oversight by incorporating automatic compliance testing into their overall QC auditing environment. Through ACES PROTECT, ACES users can access a suite of compliance checks within the ACES platform, including certification of loan estimate/closing disclosure calculations, high-cost mortgage and high-price mortgage loan testing, TRID fee tolerance, Qualified Mortgage tests and other critical compliance tests. ACES users can run compliance tests without leaving the system and automate tasks and exceptions for any alerts, significantly increasing audit productivity.

Redfin: Dearth of New Listings Keeps Home Prices from Falling Further

Redfin, Seattle, said new listings of homes for sale fell 22.4% nationwide from a year earlier during the four weeks ending April 23, one of the biggest declines since the start of the pandemic.

The lack of new listings is driving an unseasonal decline in the total number of homes for sale, Redfin said. The dearth of inventory is also making some homes sell quickly. Nearly half of homes on the market are selling within two weeks, the highest portion in nearly a year. The share has increased throughout April, atypical for this part of the year. That’s in spite of elevated mortgage rates keeping some buyers on the sidelines, with pending home sales down 17% year over year.

Redfin noted buyers are battling for the few homes on the market, keeping home prices from falling more. The U.S. median sale price is down 2.8% year over year, similar to the price declines we’ve seen over the last month. Prices are falling more in some parts of the country and increasing in others.

“High mortgage rates have caused some homebuyers to bow out of the market. But there are still more people looking for a home than there are homes for sale,” said Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr. “That’s good news for the homeowners who want or need to sell their home now. In certain parts of the country where new listings are especially rare, sellers who price their homes in line with the market are attracting multiple offers. Propped-up home prices and values also bode well for the future of the housing market because they may eventually lure more prospective sellers off the sidelines.”

MCTlive! April Lock Volume Down

Mortgage Capital Trading Inc., San Diego, issued its monthly MCTlive! Lock Volume Indices for April, showing after an upward trend in March, lock volume decreased slightly across the board for the month.

Purchase lock activity was down 3% compared to March, rate/term refinance volume was down 2%, and cash-out refinance volume was down 3.6%. Lock activity in total was down 3% versus March. While there was a slight downturn in April, the report anticipated lock activity to begin to trend upward as the Fed reaches the terminal Fed funds rate. As it stands, total lock activity is still down 29.75% from a year ago. That is primarily due to a drop off in refinance demand, as purchase lock activity sits 24.6% lower than at the same point last year. Rate and term refinance volume is down 56.87% from one year ago, and cash-out refinance volume is down 65% over that same period.

Acra Lending Chooses LoanPASS

LoanPASS, Miami, announced Citadel Servicing Corporation d/b/a Acra Lending chose LoanPASS as its pricing and loan decisioning engine for its lending products.   

Irvine, Calif.-based Acra Lending operates in 40 states and offers programs and services through four distinct business channels: Wholesale, Consumer Direct, Investor and Correspondent Lending. The company specializes in a cross section of lending asset classes including Non-QM, Fix and Flip, Rental Financing, and Bridge Loans. LoanPASS will elevate Acra’s tech stack by consolidating a number of disparate pricing engines into one mobile and desktop application. 

Mortgage Cadence Launches MCP Version 3.0

Mortgage Cadence, Denver, released version 3.0 of its Mortgage Cadence Platform Loan Origination System. The company launched MCP in 2021, and with the release of 2.0 last summer, officially retired its legacy enterprise lending platform and migrated all existing enterprise customers to the new platform.

Version 3.0 includes dozens of improvements and new features, including improved data security, safer interactions with lender partners, and more power to expand their product menus. Version 3.0 provides lenders with the power to manage their own security protocols efficiently and in a manner that doesn’t slow down their businesses.

Delivered in the Microsoft Azure Public Cloud, MCP provides a secure, scalable system, accessible from anywhere and on any device. Inclusive of a leading point-of-sale through closing collaboration tools, MCP is configurable, offering rules-based workflow, UI designer tools and an open-architecture.

Redfin: 1 in 4 Homes for Sale in Austin and Seattle Cost Less Than They Would Have a Year Ago

Redfin, Seattle, said one-quarter of homes for sale in Austin, Texas (25.8%) have lower estimated monthly housing payments than they would have if they had been for sale a year ago, a higher share than any other major U.S. metropolitan area Redfin analyzed and more than triple the nationwide share of 7.1%.

Seattle is close behind, at 23.6%, followed by San Francisco (18.8%), New York (18.3%) and Pittsburgh (15.6%).

“We’re seeing a little more movement among homebuyers in Austin right now,” said local Redfin Premier real estate agent Andrew Vallejo. “There’s this group of house hunters that has been waiting on the sidelines for prices to come down, and they’ve decided to start buying this spring. They’re taking their time though; mortgage rates are still volatile and they know they have some negotiating power.”

ATTOM: Optimal Time To Sell a Home Proves to Be Spring and Summer

ATTOM, Irvine, Calif., released its annual analysis of the best days of the year to sell a home, which shows that based on home sales over the past 12 years, May, June and April offer seller premiums of 10 percent or more above market value – with the top 16 best days to sell in the month of May alone.

The analysis of more than 51 million single-family home and condo sales from 2011 to 2022 suggests that waiting for the weather to warm up before selling a property can result in higher seller premiums. The data indicates that the spring and summer months are the most active for home buying, making it an ideal time for sellers to list their homes if they are considering selling soon.

Months realizing the greatest seller premiums were as follows: May (12.8 percent); June (10.7 percent); April (10.3 percent); March (9.7 percent); July (9.6 percent); February (8.7 percent); August (8.2 percent); September (8.0 percent); January (7.5 percent); October (6.8 percent); December (6.8 percent) and November (6.3 percent).

Williston Financial Group’s Patrick Stone, Economist Bill Conerly Host May 25 Economic Outlook Webinar

WFG’s Q2 Quarterly Economic Outlook webinar will feature Chairman and Founder Patrick Stone and Economist and Forbes contributor Bill Conerly on Thursday, May 25 at 1:00 p.m. ET.  

Registration is free and can be accessed at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4l1YJWu3SkudhLl0hviaIg.

Freddie Mac Clarity Data Intelligence Enhanced with MBS Portal

Freddie Mac, McLean, Va., announced enhanced access to mortgage-backed securities analytics data through its Clarity Data Intelligence tool.

Key data on the MBS portal includes the New Daily Prepayment Report, with Cumulative Daily Voluntary Payoffs by Cohort; Affordable and Green MBS Issuance Volume; and Structured Transaction Issuance Reports.

Ginnie Mae Shares Further Details Transition of LIBOR Classes of Ginnie Mae Multiclass Securities

With publication of Multiclass Participants Memorandum 23-01, Ginnie Mae announced it will transition all outstanding LIBOR Classes of Ginnie Mae Multiclass Securities after June 30 to CME Term SOFR plus tenor spread adjustment in accordance with the Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act and the related regulations, and the recommendations of the Alternative Reference Rates Committee.

The ARRC, in its Best Practices last updated on May 4, 2022, recommended the use of Term SOFR rates published by the CME Group Benchmark Administration Limited (CBA) plus the applicable spread adjustment as a fallback for legacy LIBOR adjustable-rate mortgages and the use of SOFR averages for new originations.  Ginnie Mae has chosen to follow ARRC’s best practices recommendation. Ginnie Mae will publish additional Participant Memoranda relating to the LIBOR/SOFR transition in the coming weeks. The announcement can be found at https://www.ginniemae.gov/investors/multiclass_resources/pages/mpmslib.aspx.

Procore Integrates with Plans4Less

Procore Technologies, New York, announced integration with Plans4Less, a blueprint platform for ordering and shipping plans nationwide. The integration provides the Procore user with the ability to use Plans4Less, via the new Plans4Less App, to order and ship hard copy blueprints through an embedded experience within their Procore account.

The integration allows access to Plans4Less using a Procore login credentials with a single sign-in. Procore connects all stakeholders across the entire construction lifecycle, enabling efficiency, better communication and a single dependable information source.

Clear Capital Expands Relationship with CoreLogic

Clear Capital, Reno, Nev., announced an expanded relationship with CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., to assist lenders in modern valuation and appraisal readiness. Through an existing integration, Clear Capital’s recently launched Universal Data Collection (UDC) product is now available to be ordered and fulfilled through CoreLogic’s suite of Valuation Workflow Solutions.

CoreLogic’s platforms make workflow and order management easier for lenders, and with UDC, lenders can ensure that both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae data standards are met. This provides quick and easy transfer to the agency with the loan program that best meets the borrower’s needs.

Clear Capital’s UDC property data collection platform provides interchangeability and less complexity in management of loans, as well as ease of adoption by integrating with CoreLogic’s Valuation Workflow Solutions. In addition to the flexibility provided, UDC is available at a fraction of the cost of a traditional appraisal, and completed in half the time.