Featured

As millennials secure stable post-recession jobs, they are flocking to the Midwest—particularly Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Indiana—to purchase homes. Low inventory and high demand have created a seller’s market in almost every region across the three states. Sellers have even reported getting multiple offers without having to negotiate.

Fannie Mae's Book of Business increased at a compound annualized rate of 1.3 percent in April. Fannie Mae's Gross Mortgage Portfolio increased temporarily in April, at a compound annualized rate of 52.5 percent. The Conventional Single-Family Serious Delinquency Rate decreased five basis points to 1.07 percent

A recent survey of mortgage professionals shows that a majority are ready for regulation changes to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Most of those polled believe requirements for collecting, analyzing and reporting data, coupled with a lack of resources to manage the mortgage data, contributes to the rising cost of loans. Nearly a quarter share President Trump’s sentiment that policy changes to the mortgage industry would be beneficial to the lending market.

The mortgage industry has taken a big step toward diversification thanks to one its largest professional groups. On Wednesday, the Federation of REO Certified Experts—or FORCE, for short—announced the launch of its Diversity Council, a team dedicated to embracing and encouraging diversity in the REO, default servicing, and mortgage industries at large. The council will consist of six unique committees: Latino Professionals in FORCE, Asian Professionals in FORCE, Black Professionals in FORCE, Women Professionals in FORCE, LGBT Professionals in FORCE, and Veteran Professionals in FORCE.

Year-over-year pending home sales indexes are down across the country in April for a second straight month due to a lack of inventory and an increase in prices. However, home sales activity still remains historically high, even during the downturn. Experts believe the market is still on track to post end-of-the-year increases, especially once real-estate investors decide to unload their rental properties.

Elm Street Technology (EST), who offers a portfolio of real estate technology and marketing services companies for agents, teams, and brokerages, recently announced the acquisition of Consolidated Knowledge, a technology platform provider to the residential real estate and multi-family industries. EST aims to offer a single technology solution for lead generation. The acquisition is the next step in EST’s ongoing efforts to consolidate the real estate industry’s leading technology and marketing service providers.

On Tuesday, the S&P Dow Jones published its data from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, a trio of indexes that measure change in the prices of residential homes on a national composite average, a 10-city composite average, and a 20-city composite average. March’s data shows a slow but steady rise in the price of homes on all three of the indexes measured, a trend which David Blitzer, the Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones, thinks will continue in the months ahead.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has released its monthly index on mortgage interest rates, surveying 17 lenders and a total of 4,437 loans closed during the last 5 business days of April. Lenders report a decline of 14 to 15 basis points on all loan interest rates as well as a slight decline in the average loan amount. April marks the second straight month the FHFA’s survey has reported a drop in interest rates.

HouseCanary has integrated their appraisal software into a mobile application. HouseCanary Appraiser now allows appraisers to use the software without relying on web browsers. Appraisers can write reports from start-to-finish on site and cut down on time and costs.

According to the Redfin Housing Demand Index, the amount of customers requesting home tours and writing offers is on an incline. This large demand has lead to housing price increases and shortages in inventory, which has caused experts to wonder if the result will be a cooling of the market. Of the 15 markets Redfin covers, Seattle is currently on track to be the metro with the least inventory.