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Housing Market Continues to See First-Time Buyer Exodus
By: Carrie Bay First-time homebuyers continued to desert the housing market in July, according to a new industry study released Monday. Data compiled by Campbell Surveys and Inside Mortgage Finance, shows that first-time homebuyers accounted for only 39.1 percent of the home purchase market last month. That’s down from a peak of 48.2 percent as […]
Continue reading...NY Banking Department Issues New Regulations for Mortgage Servicers
23. August 2010
By: Heather Hill Cernoch In its efforts to protect homeowners and avoid another mortgage and foreclosure crisis, the New York State Banking Department has issued new rules regarding the business practices of mortgage loan servicers. The regulations, which go into effect October 1, implement provisions from 2008’s Mortgage Lending Reform Law to create consumer protections […]
Continue reading...As Servicers Shift Focus from HAMP, Completed Mods Near 1M Mark
19. August 2010
By: Carrie Bay The industry has completed about 975,000 permanent loan modifications so far in 2010, according to estimates released this week by the HOPE NOW Alliance. Of those, just over 331,000 have been processed under the umbrella of the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), while nearly 644,000 have been restructured using servicers’ […]
Continue reading...Industry Stakeholders Descend on Washington to Debate GSE Reform
18. August 2010
Will Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac still be here in three years? Or will they be replaced by a new federal mortgage agency? Will the government begin a grand exodus from the housing market and leave the American Dream to the private sector? These were the questions addressed Tuesday at the administration’s housing finance conference […]
Continue reading...Fed Issues New Mortgage Disclosure and Compensation Rules
17. August 2010
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Monday published a long list of new rules intended to protect consumers from what the central bank describes as “unfair, abusive, or deceptive lending practices.” The documents outline new requirements that will govern compensation to mortgage professionals and disclosures to borrowers regarding their home loans. The Fed announced final rules […]
Continue reading...Study Shows Foreclosure Lowers a Property’s Value by 27%
16. August 2010
By: Carrie Bay Foreclosed homes permeate the American landscape. According to data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), they make up about one in 12 houses with under $1 million left on the mortgage. These foreclosures drive down home prices, and MIT gives two reasons for their depreciating effect – because foreclosed homes add […]
Continue reading...Foreclosures Deviate from Downward Trend, Jump 4% in July
12. August 2010
RealtyTrac reported Thursday that foreclosure filings increased four percent in July – an abrupt departure from the previous three months, which saw consecutive declines in foreclosure activity. However, even with filings on a total of 325,229 properties during the month, July’s numbers represented a 10 percent decrease compared to July 2009. One in every 397 […]
Continue reading...Lenders Out $310M from ‘Preventable’ Short Sale Losses: CoreLogic
11. August 2010
By: Carrie Bay The number of short sales has more than tripled since 2008, with the estimated annual volume now at 400,000, according to the real estate data and analytics firm CoreLogic. The hard-hit housing markets of California, Florida, and Arizona, along with Texas, are seeing the most activity, CoreLogic said in its 2010 Short […]
Continue reading...Double-Dip Recession Threatens to Shave 20% off Home Prices: Moody’s
10. August 2010
By: Carrie Bay Could the U.S. economy slip back into the throes of the recession that nearly crippled the nation’s financial system and protracted any semblance of a housing recovery? The analysts at Moody’s Investors Service think so. “The risk of a double-dip recession is rising. We believe the odds of a near-term double dip […]
Continue reading...Zillow: Smaller Percentage of Homeowners Underwater in Q2
9. August 2010
By: Carrie Bay The percentage of borrowers underwater on their mortgage declined during the second quarter, but that welcome change of pace could come to an abrupt end as home values are again beginning to fall in markets across the country. The real estate data provider Zillow reported Monday that negative equity — which refers […]
Continue reading...Fannie’s Losses Narrow to $1.2B, with Taxpayers on the Hook for Less
6. August 2010
By: Carrie Bay Fannie Mae’s second-quarter losses narrowed considerably from the demoralizing financials of the past several years that found the nation’s largest mortgage financier underwater itself in a sea of red ink. The GSE reported late Thursday that it lost $1.2 billion during the second quarter of 2010, compared to a net loss of […]
Continue reading...Housing Markets Becoming Less Saturated with REOs: Reports
5. August 2010
By: Carrie Bay The nation’s REO stock fell 0.6 percent in May to 524,000 properties, according to analysis released by Barclays Capital. In addition, the research firm estimates that housing’s shadow inventory – which Barclays defines as the supply of homes that are 90 or more days delinquent or in the process of foreclosure, meaning […]
Continue reading...FHA’s Capital Reserves Fall as Agency Prepares for Higher Claims
4. August 2010
By: Carrie Bay The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has just $3.5 billion in its ‘capital reserve account,’ according to the agency’s quarterly report submitted to Congress this week. That’s lower than the $3.6 billion reserve balance last November when FHA informed officials that its cash cushion had fallen below the lawfully permitted threshold. The decline […]
Continue reading...Million-Dollar Mortgages Performing in Line with Smaller Loans: Moody’s
3. August 2010
By: Carrie Bay Mortgage borrowers with balances over $1 million are faring just as poorly, but not worse, than borrowers with lower balances, according to Moody’s Investors Service. According to the New York-based credit rating agency’s data of securitized private-label mortgages, as of June 2010, mortgages originated from 2005 to 2008 are 60 or more […]
Continue reading...Five More Community-Based Lenders Shut Down by Regulators
2. August 2010
By: Carrie Bay The nation’s failed-bank tally continues to climb. Regulators closed the doors on five more financial institutions over the weekend – two in Florida and one each in Georgia, Oregon, and Washington. That pushes the number of bank closings for the year to 108. In Florida, Port Saint Joe’s Bayside Savings Bank and […]
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24. August 2010
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