News

Mortgage Capital Management (MCM), a firm offering mortgage banking consulting and services, announced the hiring of Karen Herr as SVP for sales and marketing.

Pro Teck Valuation Services released this week its May Home Value Forecast, concluding that most metros remain very affordable for housing despite ongoing price gains. "With some modest improvement in employment and still historically low mortgage rates, housing as a whole is affordable," said Pro Teck CEO Tom O'Grady. "The real problem for many potential home buyers is other debt such as student loans for first time buyers and tight credit."

Cash sales declined year-over-year in Q1 in 102 of the 126 metro areas Zillow observes. "[I]t's heartening to see more buyers armed with traditional financing begin to enter the market," said Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow. "This is a critical step on the way back to a more normal, balanced housing market." Despite the recent trend, "it's pretty clear that cash is still king, especially at the lower end of the market," according to Humphries.

The latest National Housing Report from RE/MAX found that for the third month in a row, home sales in May rose higher than sales in the previous month. "We've now seen three straight months of increased sales over the previous month—although we may not match the growth rates we saw last year, we are seeing significant increases in both sales and prices and that's a positive sign," said Margaret Kelly, RE/MAX CEO.

HUD issued a new Mortgagee Letter warning lenders participating in the FHA's reverse mortgage program against using deceptive advertising regarding the program. FHA Commissioner Carol Galante explained the guidance "is intended to make sure lenders know we're keeping a watchful eye on their marketing and advertising practices that might steer borrowers toward reverse mortgage options that limit their available choices."

Drawing from a sampling of mortgage applications from its network, Ellie Mae calculated an overall loan closing rate of 57.8 percent, a bounce up from 55 percent in April. The figure represents applications initiated 90 days prior "[t]o get a meaningful view of lender pull-through," the company said. Of those closed loans, two-thirds were for home purchases, the highest share on record.

Despite a disappointing first quarter and a mediocre second quarter, Freddie Mac still expects the economy to improve throughout the second half of 2014. The company is, however, tempering its New Year's optimism. In its June U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook, released Thursday, Freddie offers a mid-year assessment that sees more humble growth across most sectors.

Leading home purchase lender Prospect Mortgage announced this week the appointment of Michael J. Williams as CEO, effective immediately.

A year ago, interest rates were on their way up on speculation that the Fed may soon start tapering its bond stimulus. Now that the central bank is on track to potentially end its stimulus purchases by the end of the year, rates have actually shown little movement, defying expectations. While the first quarter's economic contraction is partly responsible for rates staying put, analysts at Bankrate.com say developments overseas are also having an effect.

As the second quarter comes to a close, a new $1 billion Fannie Mae bulk residential mortgage servicing rights (MSR) portfolio has hit the market. The announcement of the sale was made by Interactive Mortgage Advisors (IMA), which is acting as exclusive broker. The company describes the offering as "an excellent opportunity to focus and bid on newly originated MSRs with below market interest rates."