Daily Dose

Despite the fact that 30-year fixed mortgage rates dipped below 4 percent in October, the number of buyers looking to tour homes cooled off. At the same time, the rate drop triggered a hefty increase in signings last month, according to Redfin, which released its latest look at homebuying activity on Friday.

Wells Fargo, the nation's top mortgage lender, had agreed to sell $39 billion worth of mortgage servicing rights to Atlanta-based Ocwen, the nation's largest non-bank mortgage servicer, early this year. In February 2014, the transaction was delayed indefinitely by Benjamin Lawsky, head of New York's Department of Financial Services.

FNC's Residential Price Index dropped 0.3 percent in September, despite strong home sales and continued improvement in the labor market. It was the first time in 30 months that values did not rise, though home prices in the third quarter overall were up 1.8 percent over the second quarter.

According to Interest.com's 2014 Home Affordability Study, middle-income families can afford a median-priced home in fewer than half of the country's 25 largest metros as house prices and mortgage rates outpace wage growth. While home price gains have slowed to a more reasonable rate of 4 percent nationally over the past year, that increase is still well ahead of the 2 percent pickup in incomes.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported that 61.8 percent of new and existing homes sold from July through September were affordable to American households earning the median U.S. income of $63,900. That was down from the 62.6 percent of homes sold that were affordable to median-income earners in the second quarter.

According to data released Thursday by CoreLogic DataQuick, sales statewide—including all sales of single-family houses and condos—totaled 36,830 last month, up 1.4 percent from 36,316 in September. A year ago, sales in the Golden State came to 36,468, down 1.0 percent from the most recent data.

MBA released on Thursday its Builder Applications Survey for October, revealing an 8 percent monthly pickup in new home purchase applications after a flat September. Mike Fratantoni, chief economist for the group, noted that the biggest increase came in applications for higher-priced homes.

Freddie's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, shows the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) coming in at an average interest rate of 4.01 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending November 13, just down from last week's average of 4.02 percent.

Mortgage finance customers in the last year rated their experience as a C-plus, according to a recent report from J.D. Power, with overall satisfaction averaging 786 on a 1,000-point scale. That compares to a rating of 771 in the company's 2013 survey.

Speaking at an investor conference in New York, BofA chief Brian Moynihan said his firm—frequently listed among the top five mortgage lenders in the nation—has little incentive "to try to create more mortgage availability where the customers are susceptible to default."