Tag Archives: Refinance

While the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) estimates about $482 billion of originations in Q1, FBR--citing comments from industry contacts--believes first-quarter volume to be closer to $400 billion, a drop of nearly 25 percent from the $525 billion of originations in Q4 2012. Though the year may have started slow, the investment banking advisory firm attributes the drop-off in activity to seasonal slowdown and forecasts growth throughout 2013 as low rates and government expansion efforts keep up interest in refinances.

Lenders are more bullish on the housing recovery now than they have been in the last several years, according to FICO's quarterly survey of bank risk professionals.

While the refinance boom "is coming off the boil," mortgage application data for March has Capital Economics confident that home purchase application volume is in the early stages of a sustainable comeback. Applications for purchase loans rose 4.5 percent from February to March and 11.4 percent over the past year--indicating an upward trend, even if volume is still low by historical standards. March's final week saw a 1 percent bump in the Mortgage Bankers Association's measure of purchase application volume.

Mortgage originations in the New England region hit a five-year high in 2012, The Warren Group reported.

A drop in mortgage rates paved the way for a rise in applications last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported.

Ally Bank has reached an agreement with Quicken Loans to sell the last of its remaining mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) portfolio.

Ellie Mae released its Origination Insight Report for February, revealing that the closing rate for loan applications initiated 90 days prior--in November--was 56.8 percent.

If projections hold out, home values will rise 22 percent cumulatively by the end of 2017, according to Zillow's first-quarter Home Price Expectations Survey. On average, the panel forecasts price growth of 4.6 percent in 2013 and 4.2 percent in 2014. More moderate growth is expected after that, with annual appreciation rates between 3.6 percent and 3.8 percent for 2015, 2016, and 2017, leading to an average 4.1 percent growth annually for the next five years.

Following Elizabeth Duke's comments on the impact capacity constraints are having on the housing market, Capital Economics released an update with a similar focus.

Women are less likely to be approved for mortgage loans than their male counterparts, even when loan-to-income ratios are equal, according to a new study from the Woodstock Institute, a Chicago-based, nonprofit research and policy organization. The findings reveal an 8 percent disparity between the likelihood of a woman and man with similar loan-to-income ratios receiving a purchase loan and a 21 percent disparity among approval rates for male and female refinance applicants.