With job growth continuing on a strong track, a growing number of housing economists anticipate a comeback in homeownership—particularly among young adults—in the months and years ahead. However, a recent study from Freddie Mac turned up some discouraging results to throw some cold water on economists' high hopes.
Read More »First-Time Homebuyer Share Inches Up in January
First-time buyers accounted for nearly half of homebuyers taking out mortgages in January, improving just slightly from December, according to a metric released by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Isolating only the pool of purchase mortgages guaranteed or insured by the GSEs or the government, AEI estimates the share of first-time buyers was slightly higher at 56 percent.
Read More »Mortgage Balances Rise in 2014
According to a report released Wednesday by credit reporting firm TransUnion, the average mortgage balance per consumer increased to $187,139 by the end of last year's fourth quarter, up from $185,496 in Q4 2013. The greatest increase in mortgage balances came in the super prime risk category.
Read More »Mortgage Applications See Another Drop as Interest Rates Rise
The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) weekly measure of mortgage application numbers fell a seasonally adjusted 13.2 percent for the week ending February 13, the group reported Wednesday.
Read More »Former FHFA Policy Analyst Joins Collingwood Group
The Collingwood Group, a business advisory firm based in Washington, D.C., announced Tuesday that veteran housing finance policy expert Bonnie McCloskey has joined the company as VP.
Read More »Zillow, Trulia Complete Acquisition Deal
Days after getting the nod from the Federal Trade Commission, Zillow has finally completed its $2.5 billion acquisition of Trulia, the companies announced jointly Tuesday afternoon.
Read More »Housing Starts, Permits Fall in January
Homebuilders broke ground on new homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.07 million in January, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. January's rate of new construction was 2.0 percent below December's revised estimate of 1.09 million units annually but 18.7 percent above the year-ago pace of 897,000 units.
Read More »Home Sales Slow to Start New Year
Analyzing transactions from 53 major metros nationwide, RE/MAX's latest National Housing Report showed home sales plunged 32.1 percent from December to January, more than wiping out the prior month's 14.4 percent gain.
Read More »Household Debt Climbs in Q4, Led by Mortgages
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Tuesday that outstanding household debt increased $117 billion from the third quarter of last year to the fourth, putting total indebtedness at about $11.8 trillion as of the end of 2014. Balances went up across most categories, led by a $39 billion increase in mortgage debt to a total of $8.2 trillion.
Read More »Report: DOJ May Charge Individuals for Roles in Mortgage Meltdown
Attorney General Eric Holder has given U.S. attorneys across the country 90 days to judge whether or not they want to bring cases against specific individuals for their alleged roles in 2008's mortgage crisis, according to reports.
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