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“Higher fees for high-balance conforming loans and second-home loans should provide an opportunity for the GSEs to lower fees on the mission-centric portions of their businesses that primarily serve first-time and low- to moderate-income borrowers. The use of pricing as a tool to manage loan deliveries is more reasonable than previous efforts that featured percent-of-delivery thresholds, and the extended implementation period will protect consumers and lenders from cost increases on loans already in process.”
–MBA President & CEO Robert Broeksmit, CMB.

Survey: Pandemic Continues to Influence Moving Decisions

United Van Lines, St. Louis, released its 45th Annual National Movers Study, showing Americans were on the move to lower-density areas and to be closer to their families throughout last year.

Housing Affordability Concerns Intensify

Reports from First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., and ATTOM, Irvine, Calif., show rising home prices and inflation are taking a bigger bite out of housing affordability entering the new year.

MBA Chart of the Week Dec. 23 2021: Percent of Current Loans

According to the MBA Monthly Loan Monitoring Survey, the share of loans in forbearance dropped to 1.67 percent of servicers’ portfolio volume as of November 30, after climbing to a monthly peak of 8.53 percent as of May 31, 2020. As many borrowers have moved out of forbearance and into permanent loan workout solutions since 2020, the question becomes: How are they faring?

FHFA: GSE Delinquency Rate Falls to 1.55%

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released its third quarter Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, showing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 180,566 foreclosure prevention actions during the quarter, raising the total number of homeowners who have been helped to 6,210,485 since the start of conservatorships in September 2008.

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“The average wage earner can still afford the typical home across the United States, but the financial comfort zone continues shrinking as home prices keep soaring and mortgage rates tick upward.”
–Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM, Irvine, Calif.