Crash, Flatline, or Grow? – Experts Weigh in on the 2024 Real Estate Market
Newsletter - November 2023 This year delivered some shocking developments most homeowners, investors, and buyers were not expecting to deal with. Mainly the massive increase in interest rates, which are at a 20-plus year high of 8%, sent the housing market into a standstill. Due to the concurrent record-breaking inflation…
Read MoreReal Estate Industry Freezes as Mortgage Rates Skyrocket to 7.3%
Newsletter - October 2023 Prospective homebuyers are facing more hurdles to jump through as the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 7.3% this month. Freddie Mac reported the increase from 7.19% to 7.31%, which is the highest average long-term interest rate in 23 years. In 2022, the average rate…
Read MoreAmericans Default on Credit Cards and Car Loans amid Inflation and Record Consumer Debts
Newsletter - September 2023 Credit card balances and interest rates are soaring as Americans continue to grapple with inflation. Credit card debt has exceeded $1 trillion for the first time according to the New York Federal Reserve, and there are also more credit card accounts open now than in 2019.…
Read MoreAmericans Draw on Home Equity Lines of Credit as Personal Savings Empty
Newsletter - August 2023 Americans' personal savings have fallen to lower levels than before the pandemic began Barchart reported in a July tweet. The financial data company reported losses of 5.5 trillion since April of 2020. The significant drop likely correlates to inflation and overspending after the pandemic. While families were…
Read MoreHow Artificial Intelligence and New Tech is Impacting the Mortgage Industry
Newsletter - June 2023 Visiting the local bank to acquire a mortgage might be a thing of the past. With the massive rise in digital mortgage lenders and artificial intelligence (AI), Americans might be skipping the trip to brick and mortar establishments these days. Are AI and digital lending providers…
Read MoreNew Policies Make Home Buying More Accessible for Some, Raises Fees for Others
Newsletter - May 2023 Back in May of 2022, President Biden announced a series of initiatives to ease the burden of housing costs for Americans both renting and buying. One aspect of the Housing Supply Action Plan was to "deploy new financing mechanisms to build and preserve more housing where…
Read MoreWhat Recent Bank Failures Mean for Fluctuating Mortgage Rates
Newsletter - April 2023 Predictions for this year's mortgage rates and real estate trends shifted this week after the second-largest and third-largest bank failures in history occurred. Investors quickly withdrew their funds from banks across the country causing changes in the Fed's plans to reduce inflation. The Federal Reserve had…
Read MoreRising Household Debt Leads Homeowners to Tap into Home Equity
Newsletter - March 2023 As inflation continues to affect the country, many Americans are turning to credit cards and home equity lines of credit (HELOC) in order to find relief from the rising costs of basic needs, like groceries and gas. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,…
Read MoreMillennials priced out of housing market (or maxing their budgets)
Newsletter - February 2023 Millennials and other first-time home buyers have been hit particularly hard by one of the most expensive housing markets in U.S. history. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, high demand driven by low inventory and even lower interest rates sent home prices skyrocketing. Many millennials lost bidding…
Read MoreUpside-down mortgages on the rise as market corrects
Newsletter - January 2023 U.S. home prices increased by 10.1% annually in October compared to 11.4% in September. That's the lowest year-over-year increase since early 2021, and the trend is expected to continue. One in 12 U.S. homes purchased in 2022 now have upside-down mortgages, according to Black Knight's October…
Read MoreRefinance activity ends year on a low note
Newsletter - December 2022 There were no surprises when real estate data agency ATTOM released its Q3 Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report last month. Mortgage originations were down 47% from Q3 of last year-the sixth quarterly decrease in a row and the steepest annual drop since 2001. Mortgage rates that…
Read MoreHousing market cooling, Realtors feeling the heat
Newsletter - November 2022 There's a chill in the air, and not because it's autumn. The housing market is cooling off fast, and some experts say winter is coming. Mortgage rates topped 7% last month while originations plummeted, and things aren't expected to turn around this year-or next. The Mortgage…
Read MoreAre a Housing Crash and Recession Imminent?
Newsletter - July 2022 After two years of a red-hot housing market fueled by low inventory and even lower interest rates, things seem to finally be cooling down. As the 30-year fixed rate hovers near 6%, "fewer people are getting mortgages, homes are sitting on the market for longer, and…
Read MoreAre Increasing Adjustable-Rate Mortgages a Red Flag for Today’s Housing Market?
Newsletter - June 2022 With interest rates climbing and home prices still sky high, adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are on the rise. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 5.30% last month - compared to 3% a year ago - significantly increasing the cost of financing a home. In May 2021, the…
Read MoreFHA Adds 40-year Loan Modification to COVID-19 Recovery Options
Newsletter - May 2022 Mortgage servicers can now offer a 40-year loan modification as part of the COVID-19 Recovery waterfall. For now, only borrowers with FHA Title II forward mortgages who were financially affected by the pandemic are eligible, and the option must be used in conjunction with a partial…
Read MoreHousing Market 2022: No Relief in Sight for Buyers
Newsletter - April 2022 Virtually every real estate firm predicted that home price growth would slow down this year, but just a few months in, that consensus has fallen apart. Home prices surged an unsustainable 18.8% last year, fueled by a depleted inventory and record-low mortgage rates. But with interest…
Read More2022 Forecast: Rising Mortgage Rates Ahead
Newsletter - March 2022 The 30-year mortgage rate topped 4% last month for the first time since 2019, and is expected to go higher before the year's over. Experts point to three factors behind rising mortgage rates: a recovering economy, the Fed winding down the buying of mortgage-backed securities, and…
Read MoreInvestment in Mortgage Tech Critical for 2022 and Beyond
Newsletter - February 2022 By now, most lenders have adopted mortgage tech that enables homebuyers to apply for loans online, but a shifting market demands even more investment in automation. The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts the 30-year fixed-rate could reach 4% before this year is over, which will reduce the…
Read MoreHome Prices in 2022: Going Up, Says Zillow
Newsletter - January 2022 The hot housing market we saw in 2021 doesn't appear to be cooling off anytime soon. According to the Zillow Economic Research team, home prices in 2022 will continue to rise, keeping homeownership out of reach for some would-be homebuyers. Zillow predicts the price of homes…
Read MoreStill No Spike in Foreclosure Rates as 2021 Winds Down
Newsletter - December 2021 Despite the federal moratorium ending months ago, foreclosure rates increased by just 2.6% in October, according to Black Knight's First Look report. Meanwhile, fewer homeowners are behind on their mortgage payments, with around 2 million loans at least 30 days past due in October - 1.45…
Read MoreWill the New CFPB Director Bring Back the Bad Old Days?
Newsletter - November 2021 That sound you heard on Sept. 30 was the collective groan of the mortgage industry upon learning the Senate confirmed Rohit Chopra as CFPB director for the next five years. Experts in consumer finance expect Chopra to step up the agency's enforcement activities after Kathy Kraninger's…
Read MoreWant to Pay Your Mortgage in Bitcoin? You Could Soon
Newsletter - October 2021 If you're one of the 13% of Americans who invests in cryptocurrency and you'd like to use it to make your mortgage payments, you're in luck. United Wholesale Mortgage, the second-largest mortgage lender in the country behind Rocket Mortgage, are aiming to let borrowers pay their…
Read MoreSupreme Court Ends Federal Eviction Moratorium
Newsletter - September 2021 It's finally over. The federal eviction moratorium - initially set to expire more than a year ago - was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last month after a challenge from a coalition of landlords and real estate groups. The ban, which was passed as…
Read MoreForeclosure Ban Ends With Millions Still Behind on Mortgage Payments
Newsletter - August 2021 The federal eviction and foreclosure bans officially expired July 31, but protections are still in place to prevent people from losing their homes - or at least delay it for a bit longer. At the end of July, the Biden administration announced new loan modification and…
Read MoreCFPB’s New Foreclosure Rule a “Bridge” for Borrowers
Newsletter - July 2021 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a new foreclosure rule last month that throws delinquent borrowers with federally backed loans a lifeline when federal forbearance programs end July 31. Effective Aug. 31 through Dec. 31, 2021, the new rule will give the 2 million homeowners who are…
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