Tag Archives: Jobs

Bank shares lifted in the enthusiastic market response to news that European Union states reached a grand bargain to save the euro, but analysts speaking with MReport pare jubilation with forecasts for fewer refinance applications and home purchases. After two years of time spent in a debt crisis, European leaders cobbled together a third bailout measure to salvage debt-ridden Greece and prevent further peril for the continent├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós common currency.

Mortgage application volume leapt forward by 4.9 percent from the week earlier despite flailing numbers for purchase applications. The Mortgage Bankers Association released the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for last week, with findings that include a seasonally adjusted 4.9-percent increase and an unadjusted 4.8-percent increase in terms of total mortgage application volume. Mike Fratantoni, VP with the MBA, tells MReport that application volume remains historically low due to low job growth, among other things.

New single-family home sales snagged a September updraft to crest at their highest perch in nearly half a year, but remain below sales seen during the same period last year. The Commerce Department reported that new residential home sales ticked up to an annual rate of 313,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, reflecting a 5.7-percent revision above the 296,000-unit rate from August. The median sales price for a new house sold over September came out to $204,400, with the average for the same cresting at $243,900.

A declaration by President Barack Obama to end the war in Iraq helped drown other news Friday, including apparent moves by the White House to float a housing finance stimulus plan in the next few weeks. Some of the initiatives currently under wraps include an expansion of the Home Affordable Refinance Program and a selloff in mortgage-backed bonds by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invite private-sector investment back into the housing finance system. The Federal Housing Finance Agency plays a major role for either proposal.

Still-tight credit and failed contracts helped scuttle more hopeful forecasts for total existing-home sales, which fell by 3 percent this month according to NAR's survey.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle introduced a bill in the Senate that would require mortgage lenders to consider energy costs for borrowers when underwriting their federally insured loans. Sen. Michael Bennett and Sen. Johnny Isakson introduced the bill, titled the Sensible Accounting to Value Energy Act, as a way to restore energy cost calculations for government-backed mortgages. Sources in the know tell MReport that the bill could save billions for homeowners and create 83,000 jobs by 2012. A broad coalition backs the legislation.

Rising mortgage rates led to 15-year lows for mortgage application volume last week, with lower purchases following uncertain macroeconomic activity and a rush to rentals by prospective first-time homebuyers. In releasing the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the Mortgage Bankers Association found purchase applications plunging by 8.8 percent from the week earlier ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô the lowest on record since 1996. The trade group reported declines in overall loan volume by 14.9 percent on both a seasonally adjusted and seasonally unadjusted basis.

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae gives the U.S. economy equal chances for a second recession and recovery by the end of next year. Podcasting the 2011 October Economic Outlook, titled Economy at a Crossroads, the company forecasted that GDP will stay below 2 percent for the remainder of 2011 into next year. Among other reasons, the GSE's internal think tank cited trouble in the financial and labor markets, given the euro debt crisis, weak jobs reports, and low consumer confidence. The outlook follows several other similar reports.

Minorities and seniors are growing their share of the national population more than ever, William H. Frey, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, told attendees at the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention and expo Chicago Wednesday. There is also a continuing population shift out of the heartland states to what Frey classifies as the new Sunbelt.

Governors sitting on the board of the Federal Reserve pressed their fellow central bankers for more bond purchases, an idea the institution ultimately rejected in favor of $400 billion in short-term Treasury purchases to offset worries about a new recession. The minutes portray the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, held in early September, as one carefully assessing the current economic climate and an array of fiscal and monetary measures needed to sustain a national recovery.