Tag Archives: mortgage

U.S. home prices made quite a jump over the last year, according to recent data. However, the price increases are highly dependent on geography, with some regions experiencing minimal upticks—or even declines—and others seeing more significant jumps in recent years. So where are prices rising most? And which regions offer the more stable housing costs?

Renters are finally setting their sights on homeownership, according to an analysis released on Thursday. In Q1 of 2017, the share of home shoppers who were either non-homeowners or renters rose markedly over years past. Will the trend continue? And what does it mean for lenders and multi-family property investors?

Most mortgage borrowers don’t shop around for a lender, according to a recent survey. In fact, 36 percent of borrowers only looked at one lender when buying their home, while the remaining 64 percent only compared two. The reason for the lack of research is likely because of referrals and existing relationships. Nearly 80 percent of borrowers used their existing bank, a referral from their real estate agent, or a personal referral when choosing a mortgage lender. A mere 9 percent used an internet search.

Mortgage lenders are taking increased credit risks similar to those of the early 2000s, according to a new report released on Tuesday. The level of credit risk taken by lenders in Q1 of 2017 was about the same as the average risk taken between 2001 and 2003. According to the report, the shift toward riskier lending standards is a result of declining refinances, rising mortgage rates, and increased investor, condo, and co-op share of purchase loans.

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.

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.

International Document Services, Inc., a Mortgage document preparation vendor, announced it has incorporated a new document preview feature into its integration with LendingQB’s cloud-based loan origination solution. The feature allows LendingQB users to preview mortgage documents, such as the Loan Estimate or Closing Disclosure, before they are submitted to fulfillment. This enables lenders to spot and correct errors before the creation of the final document.

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.