MBA Newslinks Archive

“In the first quarter, we saw good positive household growth compared to a year before, about two-thirds was in owner-occupied and one-third was in renter-occupied housing. So we’re seeing some stability. That’s pretty good news. It brings a little bit of relief to some of the excess demands we have seen in the multifamily market and it brings some security to the homeownership market.”–MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell.

“Put simply, super-priority statutes allow HOAs to eviscerate first-in-time mortgages often worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to satisfy later-incurred debts typically amounting to a few thousand dollars. Such schemes contravene bedrock principles of property law and threaten to destabilize the real-estate finance system itself. The ultimate consequence of super-priority regimes is less credit for homebuyers because there is less security for lenders.”–From an MBA/trade group amicus brief in support of a Supreme Court review of a Nevada homeowners association “super-lien’ statute.

“The current strength of the remodeling market can be attributed primarily to economics–low mortgage rates, strong existing home sales, the bull stock market run, good job gains and now more recently, wage gains. Yet, as the economic cycle matures over the next few years, rates increase and full employment translates to less robust job growth over time, demographic trends will play a bigger role in driving demand for remodeling.”–Mark Boud, Chief Economist with Metrostudy, Washington, D.C.

“For-sale price increases remain strong, but sellers are still cutting prices to move homes off the market and doing so at an accelerating rate. This suggests that if price cuts are predictive, home prices soon could flatten. On the other hand, accelerating home prices could just be making it more difficult for sellers to price their home right from the get-go.”–Felipe Chacón, housing economist with Trulia, San Francisco.

“The e-commerce share has been rising for years and shows little signs of slowing, leading big-box retailers to either close or downsize many of their stores. Hedge funds have increasingly been shorting real estate investment trusts and bonds tied to shopping malls, adding even more fuel to the already powerful headwinds facing the sector.”–Ten-X Chief Economist Peter Muoio.

“We saw an increase in foreclosure starts for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2014, but this increase was accompanied by a sizable drop in loans that were 90 days or more past due. It is likely that legacy distressed loans were held in the late stage-delinquency bucket by factors such as resolution attempts and state-specific requirements, before eventually going into foreclosure status. All 50 states and the District of Columbia saw a decrease in the 90-day or more delinquency rate.”–MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh.

“With weather distortions now comfortably behind us, the strength we are seeing in home buying reflects a real fundamental improvement in housing demand. Demand for single-family homes is being driven by stronger job growth and a rising supply of millennial buyers.”–Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wells Fargo Securities, Charlotte, N.C.

“For the first time this year, mortgage applications for new homes in April were lower than the same month a year ago. A relatively strong March may have pulled forward some applications from April, exacerbating the normal seasonal fall-off.”–MBA Vice President of Research and Economics Lynn Fisher.

“I have said repeatedly, and I want to reiterate, that these conservatorships are not sustainable and they need to end as soon as Congress can chart the way forward on housing finance reform.”–Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt, in testimony yesterday before the Senate Banking Committee.

“Foreclosure activity continued to search for a new post-recession floor in April thanks in large part to the above-par performance of mortgages originated in the past seven years. Meanwhile we are seeing an elevated share of repeat foreclosures on homeowners who often fell into default several years ago but have not been able to avoid foreclosure despite the housing recovery.”
–Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif.