Tag Archives: Investors

Bank of America released Wednesday its third-quarter earnings report, showing healthy growth despite an expected weakening in its mortgage banking operations. According to the earnings release, BofA took in $2.5 billion in Q3, a significant increase from the $340 million reported in the year-ago quarter. However, the bank's Consumer Real Estate Services division reported a net loss of $1.0 billion, faring even worse than last year's loss of $857 million.

Builder confidence fell again in October but remained north of neutral, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported Wednesday in its Housing Market Index (HMI) report. Despite declining for the second straight month, the index has hovered above the neutral mark for five consecutive months now, and NAHB reports seeing signs of pent-up demand in many markets across the country. Furthermore, the association believes October's drop represents a temporary blip.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Market Composite Index increased 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending October 11.

On a monthly basis, home prices rose 0.6 percent in August, according to FNC's Residential Price index (RPI), a measure of price changes in the country's 100 large metropolitan areas. On a yearly basis, the increase is 5.3 percent. The monthly gain in August was smaller than the gains accrued over the two previous months--a sign that the recovery remains uneven across the nation, FNC says. With seasonal trends usually putting a drag on housing measures, the deceleration can be expected to go on.

With Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Acting Director Edward DeMarco considering lowering loan limits for the GSEs, congressional and industry leaders are speaking out against such a plan, saying it poses a threat of hindering the housing recovery. In the last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Federal Credit Unions, and 66 House representatives have all written to DeMarco, decrying the potential move and even questioning its legality.

Freddie Mac has made available a Spanish version of CreditSmart, the company's free online tutorial designed to educate families on building savings and personal credit, making wise financial choices, and becoming successful homeowners.

Homebuyer interest picked up slightly in September, but the number of customers willing to pull the trigger on purchasing declined substantially, Redfin reported in its latest Real-Time Demand Pulse. The number of buyers requesting home tours from Redfin agents rose 0.2 percent from August, turning up from a steady downward spiral that started in May. Meanwhile, the number of homebuyers submitting offers fell 11.8 percent, the largest monthly drop Redfin has recorded all year.

Robert Shiller--the man who lends his name to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices--has been awarded the 2013 Nobel prize in economics.

Multifamily lenders provided a total of $146.1 billion in new mortgages for apartments with five or more units--a 33 percent increase from 2011, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). "In many ways we were in a golden age of multifamily finance in 2012, that to a large extent continues today," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's VP of commercial real estate finance. "Low interest rates, strong property fundamentals and increasing multifamily property prices are all supporting a very favorable lending environment."

LoanLogics, a Pennsylvania-based company specializing in loan quality management and performance analytics, announced new enhancements to its LoanDecisions pricing and eligibility platform.