Data

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their “Employment Situation—April 2015” report today, showing that the total number of non-farm payroll employment has increased by 223,000 in April, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged from the previous month at 5.4 percent.

Essent Group Ltd. more than doubled their net income for Q1. According to data released by the company, the net income for Q1 2015 was $38.4 million or $0.38 per diluted share, compared to $15 million or $0.18 per diluted share for Q1 2014.

There are many metrics by which to judge the current administration against those of the past. This week, ValueWalk ranked the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ presidents as judged by their homeownership rates. Making ValueWalk’s ‘best’ list were Presidents Clinton, Johnson (Lydon), and Carter who saw homeownership expand during their presidencies by 5.1 percent, just over 1.1 percent, and just under 1.1. percent, respectively. ValueWalk ranks President Obama as one of the worst presidents when it comes to homeownership numbers, followed by President Regan

Lower-priced homes stood a better chance at survival during the 2006-2009 housing crisis, according to an Urban Wire blog post by the Urban Institute and authors Jun Zhu and Bing Bai. Not only did cheaper homes recover more quickly from the bust, according to national averages and location data found by the Urban Institute, cheaper homes became more expensive during the boom as well.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications report, mortgage applications have decreased 4.6 percent from last week. The Market Composite Index, which measures the amount of mortgage loans, decreased 4.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending May 1. The Index experienced a 4 percent decrease compared to last week on an unadjusted basis.

Housing and economic activity has returned to or exceeded normal levels in 68 of about 360 metropolitan areas in the country (about 19 percent) as of the end of Q1 2015, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI) released Wednesday.

Interthinx released its quarterly Mortgage Fraud Risk Report, revealing that the National Mortgage Fraud Risk Index is 101 for Q4 2014, a 3 percent increase from the last quarter and the exact same as last year. Trends at the state, MSA, and ZIP-code levels reveal fraud triggers, according to Interthinx.

According to the March 2015 CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI), home prices, including distressed sales, have increased by 5.9 percent in March 2015 in comparison with March 2014. Short sales and REO transactions are both included in distressed sales.

According to a study released by Zillow, low income and rising home values have made homeownership unaffordable and unattainable for the country’s lowest paid workers. Over the past two years, one-third of Americans have not been able to afford homes due to low wages. As the housing market recovered, incomes did not.

The number of loan servicing, escrow, and payment-related complaints has been relatively stable with the volume of current inventory over the two-year period of 2013 and 2014. As of the end of 2014, the number of such complaints averaged less than one per every 10,000 current loans (0.77).