News

Fixed mortgage rates moved down slightly this week, reflecting a lack of much solid news for markets to latch on to. Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey shows the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaging 4.42 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending December 12, a decrease from 4.46 percent last week. The same time last year, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.32 percent. Bankrate.com reported even smaller changes in its weekly survey. According to the finance site, the 30-year fixed averaged 3.55 percent this week, unchanged from the last report.

Applications for new home purchases plummeted from October to November, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) estimates in its latest Builder Application Survey (BAS).

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) published on Wednesday new guidelines for lenders to use when manually underwriting loan applications for borrowers applying for FHA-insured mortgages. Chief among the changes is a set of "compensating factors" for lenders to use when considering borrowers whose debt-to-income percentages exceed established ratios (31 percent for housing costs and 43 percent for total discretionary debt).

An increasingly cautious outlook for the economy has put a crimp in the housing market's forward momentum, according to Fannie Mae's latest National Housing Survey. Doug Duncan, SVP and chief economist at Fannie Mae, said: "We continue to see caution as the defining feature of Americans' attitudes toward the economy and their personal financial situation. In this environment, the housing recovery is likely to improve, but only at a gradual pace."

Tom Lewis, founder and CEO of Arizona-based homebuilder T.W. Lewis Company, is the first-ever inductee in Professional Builder magazine's National Housing Quality (NHQ) Award Hall of Fame, the company announced.

DataQuick, a real estate information solutions firm headquartered in San Diego, announced it has expanded its Standard Recorder layout to provide a more comprehensive view of properties and transactions.

The University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters Index of Consumer Sentiment climbed to a five-month high of 82.5 in a preliminary report, increasing more than seven points over November's final reading and beating a consensus forecast of 75.5. Both of the components measuring confidence in current and future conditions increased. The Current Conditions Index rose to its own five-month high of 97.9 from November's 88.0, while the expectations index increased to a four-month peak of 72.7 from 66.8.

Mortgage applications recovered slightly during the first week of December, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported. MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey showed a 1.0 percent increase in loan application volume (seasonally adjusted) for the week ending December 6. The previous survey's results had included an adjustment for the Thanksgiving holiday. Unadjusted, the index increased 43 percent. As applications rose, so did mortgage rates.

While the nation's negative equity rate continues to diminish--falling an estimated 7.4 percentage points since the start of the year through October--Lender Processing Services (LPS) says a new threat looms in the form of home equity loans. According to LPS' data, the average credit score for a borrower with a home equity line of credit (HELOC) originated in 2007 has fallen about 20 points since then, posing a threat to lenders who "are often on the hook for almost all of 2nd lien losses."

In 1998, the top ten mortgage loan originators held around 40 percent of the market. By 2010, their share increased to nearly 80 percent; since then, it's dropped down to around 60 percent. Why the decrease? Because only five of the top 20 single-family mortgage originators in 2006 remain active today. So what's driving the big guys out--market cycles or market restructuring? And will the current trend of favoring smaller lenders last forever? Fannie Mae's Gerry Flood and Patrick Fischetti explored the topic in a recent commentary.