Tag Archives: Investors

Homebuyer interest diminished somewhat in June, according to Redfin's Real-Time Demand Pulse. According to the brokerage, the number of customers taking tours fell 1.9 percent month-over-month in June, sinking even further than the 1.5 percent drop recorded last year. For the last week of the month, Redfin reported a 2.7 percent decline in tour requests from the prior week (compared to a 2.3 percent decline the same week in 2012). With closed sales typically peaking each year in June, Redfin expects continued monthly declines.

Adding new pressures for the Federal Reserve, the nation's economy added 195,000 jobs in June, leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 7.6.percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday. Economists had forecast payrolls would grow by 165,000, and that the unemployment rate would dip to 7.5 percent.

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), the fourth largest wholesale mortgage lender in the United States, announced the rollout of a new program designed to give brokers the option to waive escrows up to 90 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) on all conventional products.

Stewart Lender Services (SLS) announced the appointment of Jessica Thorne as SVP and strategic relationship manager.

With headlines announcing rapid gains in home prices--some even detailing double-digit gains--Moody's Analytics says "there is little wonder that many fear a new housing bubble is developing despite the hard lessons of the Great Recession." However, Celia Chen, senior director of economic research at Moody's, dispenses these fears in her article, "Popping Housing Bubble Fears," published in the firm's most recent report. Even if prices do decline, Chen says the result would be "less damaging to the broader economy" than the market burst in 2008.

According to data taken from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and compiled by Capital Economics, total application volume plummeted 22.5 percent in June.

The Federal Reserve Board announced its approval of a final rule to implement the Basel III regulatory capital reforms and other changes required by the Dodd-Frank Act.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell for the fourth time in the last five weeks, dropping 5,000 to 343,000 for week ending June 29, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The four-week moving average of first-time claims dropped 750 to 345,500. The four-week moving average of continuing claims declined 9,500 to 2,969,250 for the period ending June 22.

Forty-five of the top 50 metropolitan markets will experience yearly price increases during the second half of the year, according to Clear Capital's Home Data Index Market Report.

Nationstar Mortgage announced it is revising losses on loans with principal forbearances acquired in 2012 from Aurora Bank FSB and Aurora Loan Services.