Tag Archives: Investors

On Tuesday the nonprofit data subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), MISMO, announced the appointment of senior executive Gabe Minton to a seat on its six-member board of directors. Gabe will provide excellent leadership for MISMO as it drives the development of technology standards for both the residential and commercial real estate finance industries, Michael D.

On Tuesday the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported a slight 0.8 percent rise in home prices from March to April, representing a positive note in a brittle housing market.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released research on this week indicating a greater-than-expected drive to high conforming jumbo mortgages (HCJMs) by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, raising questions about the long-term impact their buying spree may have on private markets. According to the research, the government-sponsored enterprises walked away this year with approximately 55 percent of HCJMs in 10 of the nation's high-cost counties, a number totaling approximately 50,000 mortgages worth over $30 billion.

Firing another salvo at the new Dodd-Frank regulatory regime, House Republicans submitted an appropriations bill last week that proposes slashing $350 million from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's budget for 2012. Released by the House Committee on Appropriations, the bill offers to cap funding for the CFPB at $200 million, keeping to a minimum the sweeping powers that Dodd-Frank invested in the new regulatory agency. Provisions also threatened to kneecap the Obama administration's 2011 fiscal year budget.

Recent analysis by the Mortgage Bankers Association revealed that commercial and multifamily mortgage debt remained relatively fixed in the first quarter of 2011, down by only 0.1 percent from the fourth quarter.

RE/MAX issued a report this week that yields a net gain in month-over-month statistics for home sales and prices in May, aligning with an expected seasonal drive by homebuyers, investors, and foreign buyers to real estate. Adding to a three-month trend on the upside, the company says home prices climbed 3.7 percent between April and May, while closed sales transactions rose 3.2 percent. RE/MAX says activity appears to be coming back in line with the seasonal trends expected this time of year.

The real estate information marketplace Zillow has expanded its database of homes, leveraging user-submitted data to add more than 25 million new home valuations generated from the company's proprietary Zestimate algorithms, which are Zillow's own market value estimates based on various details available about individual properties. The company says it now has data, Zestimates, and Rent Zestimates on more than three-quarters of all homes in the United States.

Representing a nudge in the right direction for the origination market, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a 13 percent swell in home loan applications submitted last week, up from the record low reported just one week earlier. It was the biggest gain recorded in three months. Michael Fratantoni, MBA's VP of research and economics, says low rates are driving consumers back to loans. Rates have dropped over eight of the last nine weeks - a primary driver for homeowners looking to refinance. MBA's Refinance Index jumped 16.5 percent.

The health of the labor market has a far-reaching impact on many areas of housing. When the economy is growing and the number of employed rises, so do home sales and mortgage originations. According to the research firm Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, there's also a definitive link between employment and home prices. The firm's analysts examined metro area job data juxtaposed with price trends for new homes, and their conclusions illustrate that jobs and housing "are joined at the hip."

MountainView Servicing Group, a subsidiary of MountainView Capital Holdings, announced Monday that it will serve as the exclusive advisor for a $188 million Ginnie Mae servicing portfolio. The portfolio is comprised entirely of fixed-rate mortgage loans, 98.1 percent of which are Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, with 99.9 percent retail origination and a weighted average interest rate of 5.95 percent.