Tag Archives: HOUSING

Home price appreciation rates are pretty disparate across the nation, according to a new report released on Friday. In fact, while 16 percent of U.S. markets saw housing prices jump 40 percent since the year 2000, another 30 percent of cities actually saw prices decline over the same period. Nominally, prices rose in 97 out of the nation’s 100 biggest metro areas last year. A result of high demand and tightening supply, affordability is on the downslope, too. According to the report, about 19 million U.S. households spent more than half of their annual incomes on housing in 2015.

A former executive at Nomura, a financial holding company based in Japan, was found guilty of conspiracy on Thursday by a Connecticut jury. The defendant, Michael Gramins, allegedly added secret commission fees onto mortgage-backed security transactions he handled between 2009 and 2013, according to the verdict. Gramins wasn’t the only party involved—though he was the single person charged. The state’s case also named Nomura’s Ross Shapiro and Tyler Peters in the suit, which alleges the three defendants illegally added to their profit margins when handling RMBS transactions for their employer.

The ever-climbing housing prices don’t seem to be holding buyers back. In fact, according to recent data, three of the nation’s biggest cities—Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.—are all seeing steep sales inclines over the year. New data shows sales volume in Baltimore is up 10.2 percent since last May—a jump of more than $1.2 billion. In Washington, D.C., volume’s up 7 percent over the year, or $3.1 billion, and in Chicago, sales transactions rose 6.2 percent for the year. Days-on-market is another stat that has steep increase as of late. In Chicago, it fell from 87 to 77 over the year, while in Baltimore and D.C., it dropped to 19 and 10 days. Baltimore’s 19 days-on-market is the lowest monthly level the city’s seen in 10 years.

The digital evolution continues, as not one but three major financial players make moves toward a more FinTech-driven future. In a two-day span, Morgan Stanley, Misys, and D+H all announced initiatives that could shape the trajectory of the industry. At its Tuesday's Financials Conference, Morgan Stanley, a financial services and wealth management firm, announced it will launch a digital mortgage platform in 2018. Meanwhile, Misys, a financial software provider, and D+H, a financial technology distributor, announced the two firms will merge to form Finastra. Finastra will be the third-largest FinTech company in the world.

Housing inventory is so limited, even Google has taken notice. On Wednesday, the technology giant announced its own efforts to alleviate the ever-tight (and ever-expensive) housing market of Silicon Valley through an investment in modular housing. The company will purchase 300 modular home units from startup Factory OS, a deal Factory’s CEO says is worth $25 to $30 million. Housing prices in Google’s home base San Francisco have risen nearly 100 percent since 2009, and inventory has been dropping steadily over the past year, driving demand—and prices—even higher. Year-to-date, home prices in the city have appreciated 5 percent—the second-most of all major U.S. markets.

Without swift intervention, millennials could become “a lost generation of homeownership,” according to Dr. Ben Carson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In his opening remarks at the National Housing Symposium in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Carson called homeownership a “lost dream” for many millennials—even ones who are credit-worthy. Current and upcoming efforts by the FHA and Fannie Mae will likely open more doors for millennial buyers, Carson said.

Today’s ever-increasing home prices have made their mark: Buying a home is now unaffordable in more than half of the nation’s biggest markets. And in California? The straits are even more dire. According new analysis, the median price of homes for sale is historically higher than average in the majority of America’s largest metros, meaning buyers need to devote a larger-than-expected share of income toward mortgage payments and, more significantly, down payments.

The availability of mortgage credit has dropped more than a full percent over the last month, indicating lenders are continuing to tighten their credit standards. Overall mortgage credit availability fell 1.1 percent in May and 0.2 percent in April. Broken down by loan type, government credit availability saw the biggest drop, falling 1.9 percent over the month. Conforming credit dipped 0.3 percent, while conventional and jumbo credit availability headed the other direction, rising 0.2 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. Jumbo loan credit availability, which has risen 13 out of the last 15 months, has helped to offset falling credit availability in other sectors.

New survey results show urban, rural, and suburban American homebuyers have “drastically different” profiles. Aside from agreeing on the importance of homeownership, the three groups vary greatly on most homebuying-related topics. The biggest differences lie with the urban buyer, who is younger, more transient, more likely to be an immigrant, and has a bigger budget. The average urban buyer is just 38 years old—nearly a full decade younger than the average suburban and rural buyer.

A white paper released on Thursday claims the emergence of the Loan Originations System (LOS) as a stand-alone product has led to “technology sprawl,” wherein mortgage tech platforms are disparate, disconnected, and overall less effective. According to the paper, titled “Reducing the Sprawl in Mortgage Lending,” the mortgage industry is plagued by disconnected technology that slows the process down—and cuts into the bottom line. Lenders should move toward a singular, more comprehensive LOS that can handle the mortgage process from cradle to grave, the paper reports.