Data

The mortgage industry is practically holding their breath as 2015 comes to a close and 2016 is just a few weeks away, and with it may come a number of welcome and unwelcome surprises, causing pessimism and uncertainty to invade the market.

"This decline in repeat borrowers is strongest along the U.S. coasts, where the housing crisis diminished borrowers’ abilities to retain or gain equity in their current homes, reducing their likelihood of selling their existing homes and purchasing new ones," the report stated.

"This should put to bed any doubts about whether the Fed will announce a rate increase later this month. Barring something completely out of left field between now and then, liftoff will commence with a quarter-point rate increase to the target federal funds rate." - Curt Long, Chief Economist for the National Association of Federal Credit Unions

Freddie Mac’s total mortgage portfolio expanded for the ninth straight month and for the 14th time in the last 16 months in October 2015, according to the Enterprise’s October 2015 Monthly Volume Summary released on Thursday.

Auction.com' reported that existing home sales gains have not seen much activity since May, and are expected to be mostly unchanged from October to November.

As we prepare to enter into 2016, one can only wonder what the next year will bring in terms of housing. One thing is for sure though, the picture will look completely different as hot markets begin to cool down.

According to Zillow's Negative Equity Report, nearly one million homeowners were able to come out of negative equity in the third quarter, allowing them to sell or refinance their homes prior to the expected interest rate hike later this month.

The report showed that mid-sized metros experienced some of the largest price increases in the country, while larger metros saw home prices decline.

Rising home sales in seven of the Fed’s 12 districts—Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Chicago, and Kansas City—were largely responsible for the Fed’s reports of moderate growth in housing markets.

"The trend in the market indicates consumers appear more confident in the economy and are moving forward with their lives and borrowing money again." -Assad Lazarus, SVP, Product and Customer Experience at Equifax Personal Information Solutions.