Data

As the U.S. homeownership rate continues to dwell near its lowest level in two decades, a new study from Zillow suggests more than five million additional households are waiting in the wings to step into the market as the economic recovery trudges forward.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment climbed to 86.9 in its final October reading, up from 84.6 in September and 73.2 last year. October's index was the highest since July 2007, the group conducting the survey reported.

As home equity grows, more Americans are tapping into that equity more often when refinancing their homes, according to the latest quarterly refinance analysis report from Freddie Mac. In fact, the share of borrowers tapping their equity by cashing out at the time of refinancing has doubled from the same quarter last year as house price appreciation has risen across the country.

The California Association of Realtors (CAR) reported a 2.6 percent increase in its Pending Home Sales Index, putting it a reading of 102.4 from 99.8 in August. The increase compares to a 0.3 percent uptick in the National Association of Realtors' national index, which measured 105 in the group's latest reading.

According to a snapshot of mortgage trends released this week by Guaranteed Rate, purchase loans accounted for 73 percent of all mortgage volumes last quarter, up from 63 percent a year prior. The increase came as refinancing numbers dropped off by more than a third annually—"indicative of the fact that the third quarter of 2013 was when the mortgage market began to account for higher interest rates," Guaranteed Rate said.

Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) was 3.98 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending October 30. Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist at Freddie Mac, attributed the climb in interest rates to fair news in the housing market, pointing to new home sales and ongoing increases in the S&P Case-Shiller price indices.

A new estimator of existing-home sales landed on Thursday, and it's calling for a slight pickup in transactions for October. Based on data collected for this month, Auction.com predicts existing-home sales will fall between seasonally adjusted annual averages of 4.97 and 5.38 million units, with a targeted prediction of 5.19 million.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in the United States increased at an annualized rate of 3.5 percent last quarter, according to an advance estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Economists surveyed by Econoday anticipated a growth rate of 3.0 percent. The GDP report comes a day after the Federal Reserve announced plans to close down its stimulative bond-buying program, signaling increased confidence in the economy's progression.

The highest percentage of residential mortgage loans that were seriously underwater in the third quarter were originated during the housing bubble between 2004 and 2008, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report for Q3 2014. The number of Q3's seriously underwater mortgages that were originated in the years following 2006 has declined steadily, though it has ticked back up in the last two years.

CoreLogic's latest Mortgage Fraud Report, released Tuesday, shows a 3.2 percent year-over-year increase in fraud risk among mortgages in the United States in the second quarter of 2014, as measured by the company's Mortgage Application Fraud Risk Index. The report also showed that in Q2 2014, mortgage applications representing approximately $3.3 billion in mortgage debt contained elements of fraud or serious misrepresentation.