Tag Archives: Service Providers

Asking prices rose 12.5 percent year-over-year in October blue metros and 11.1 percent in red metros, according to the Trulia Price Monitor.

Freddie Mac announced its multifamily division has received an initial commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) master servicer rating of CMS2 from Fitch Ratings--the highest initial rating ever assigned by Fitch for a master servicer.

Bill Griffin, EVP at Lender Processing Services (LPS), has been elected to serve on the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) board of directors, the company announced.

The nation's economy performed well above expectations in the third quarter, according to an advance GDP estimate released Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). BEA's report shows third-quarter growth rose to an annual rate of 2.8 percent, beating the second quarter's 2.5 percent. The median forecast among economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 2.0 percent growth. Real residential fixed investment, a measure of housing's contribution to the economy, increased 14.6 percent.

The national homeownership rate stands at 65.3 percent as of the end of the third quarter, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter, but down 0.2 percentage points from last year, according to the Census Bureau. While the quarterly rise has some analysts expressing hope that housing has reached a turning point, others focused more on the slow pace of growth as a sign that young adults still aren't in a position to create their own households.

Fitch Ratings stated unabashedly a fear that has been whispered across the industry for the past several months--a looming bubble in some markets.

ReverseVision, Inc., announced the availability of its latest product: ReverseVision University, an online education platform to teach mortgage professionals about the reverse mortgage industry.

Mortgage application volume increased throughout October, but a substantial decline recorded in the month's final days has experts at Capital Economics doubting that the trend will continue for the time being. Using application numbers released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), Capital Economics calculated a 7.5 percent increase in applications in October, pulling activity up from a five-month streak of declines. However, for the week ending November 1, MBA reported a 7.0 percent drop.

Freddie Mac announced Tuesday it has priced a $630 million offering of Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) debt notes, marking the second STACR offering in which private sources--not taxpayers--took on the credit risk. "STACR is part of Freddie Mac's strategy to share credit risk with private investors while also fostering an agency credit market," said David Lowman, EVP of single-family business for the GSE.

LendingTree released on Tuesday its rankings for the top 10 customer-rated lenders in its network for Q3, showing a number of new names and a shift among those who appeared in the second quarter's rankings. The rankings are based on a weighted average of the ratings and volume of reviews, with customers judging the companies on mortgage rates, fees and closing costs, responsiveness, customer service, and their overall experience. California's Pacific Beneficial Mortgage Company took the No. 1 spot.