CoreLogic’s Mortgage Application Fraud Risk [1] decreased by 8.7% in Q2 2020. The annual trend is down by 22.6%.
This represents the same level of risk when CoreLogic began measuring fraud risk in Q3 2010.
Of the cities studied, Springfield, Massachusetts, reported the highest quarter-over-quarter increase in fraud risk, rising 37% from Q4 2019 to Q1 2019.
Springfield was followed by Memphis, Tennessee’s, 12% increase and Palm Bay, Florida’s, 7% rise.
Conversely, the metro of Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormand Beach, Florida, saw fraud risk drop by 21% in Q1 2020 from Q4 2019. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida, reported fraud risk fell 16% and Scranton-Wilkes Barre-Hazelton, Pennsylvania, recorded a 12% decline.
CoreLogic reported that the nation’s fraud risk has declined during the same time the share of refinances and purchases is growing. Refinances accounted for 61.4% of all applications, which is up from 59.9% in the prior quarter.
“We continue to see slightly increased risk in conventional purchases and much greater risk in the investment purchase segment this quarter, but the lower risks in refinances and high refinance volume keeps the index low,” CoreLogic stated.
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported that mortgage application rose 4.1% weekly for the week ending July 17, 2020.
Refinances rose 4% and purchases jumped 2%.
"Mortgage applications increased last week despite mixed results from the various rates tracked in MBA's survey. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose slightly to 3.20%, but some creditworthy borrowers are being offered rates even below 3%. As a result, these low rates drove a 5 percent weekly gain in refinances and a robust 122 percent increase from a year ago," said Joel Kan, MBA's AVP of Economic and Industry Forecasting. "There continues to be strong homebuyer demand this summer, as home shoppers have returned to the market in many states. Purchase activity increased again last week and was up 19% compared to last year—the ninth straight week of year-over-year increases."