MBA Newslink Monday 5-23-16

“Condo prices are garnering media attention as markets like Miami are beginning to lose some of their momentum.”–Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wells Fargo Securities, Charlotte, N.C.

MBA Newslink Friday 5-20-16

“Despite peak value concerns, the strength of Manhattan’s underlying economy and the robust demand for properties are enough to inspire optimism in the majority of New York City commercial real estate professionals.”
–William Jennings, Partner-in-Charge of Marks Paneth’s Real Estate Group. 

MBA Newslink Thursday 5-19-16

“Policies driven by the government appear to be geared toward expanding the credit box. But incentives within the system appear to challenge the ability of lenders to expand the credit spectrum…our challenge is to strike the right balance.”–Faith Schwartz, senior vice president of government affairs with CoreLogic, Washington, D.C.

MBA Newslink Wednesday 5-18-16

“We need to focus on how to make better credit decisions. Demographically, we have a lot more minority home buyers coming into the market and it’s going to force us all to figure out how to address these new households. In some cases, we will have multiple families living in the same house and we need to create products that appeal to those situations.”
–Dave Lowman, executive vice president of single-family business with Freddie Mac, McLean, Va.

MBA Newslink Tuesday 5-17-16

“When I think about the real estate market today, the one word I keep coming back to is opportunity. And this opportunity is built on a platform of protections, confidence and skill sets that exist to make sure we build a positive future for America’s next homeowners under the umbrella of the safest system in the world. Because of this opportunity, now is the time for leadership and perseverance.”
–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB.

MBA Newslink Monday 5-16-16

“The ongoing housing crunch appears unevenly felt by first-time homebuyers due to even lower inventory of entry-level homes. There are signs that the supply shortage and resulting price bidding are driving prices of entry-level homes to rise much faster than the median property on the market.”–Yanling Mayer, Housing Economist and Director of Research with FNC Inc., Oxford, Miss.

MBA Newslink Friday 5-13-16

“The delinquency rate of 4.77 percent has returned to typical pre-recession levels and is lower than the historical average of 5.4 percent for the period from 1979 through the first quarter.”–MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh.

MBA Newslink Thursday 5-12-16

“Homeowners are in the best financial shape they’ve been in since well before the start of the Great Recession. Moreover, the average interest rate on outstanding mortgage loans keeps falling as more and more homeowners refinance into rates below 4 percent, giving borrowers more spending capacity each month.”–Amy Crews Cutts, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist with Equifax, Atlanta.

MBA Newslink Wednesday 5-11-16

“We believe this is a far better way to fund an agency’s technology needs–rather than through an unprecedented off-budget fee that will undoubtedly be passed on the very borrowers FHA is designed to serve and ultimately raise the cost of homeownership.”
–MBA Senior Vice President of Legislative and Political Affairs Bill Killmer, in an MBA letter to House appropriators urging them to approve a bill that would block HUD from charging a fee to single-family lenders as a funding mechanism to cover FHA’s administrative costs.

MBA Newslink Tuesday 5-10-16

“Real estate market headlines have repeatedly documented the strong, potentially bubble-like recovery of the West over the past couple years, and this continued trend of performance doesn’t appear to be going away just yet.” –Alex Villacorta, vice president of research and analytics with Clear Capital, Reno, Nev.