Origination

Mom-and-pop residential real estate investors are seeing more competition from citizens looking to buy homes than from their traditional competitors, large public institutional investors, according to a new survey from real estate data firm RealtyTrac.

Depressed Treasury yields have kept mortgage rates under 3% recently, but positive economic news could indicate larger increases will follow this week’s uptick.

Only $89 billion of the $362 billion in new single-family volume came from purchase mortgages.

“Low inventory has been a consistent problem,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR, said in a statement. “With mortgage rates still very close to record lows and a solid job recovery underway, demand will likely remain high.”

While the government passed sweeping measures last year to prevent mass homelessness among renters, there was no targeted help for mom-and-pop property owners who provide much of America’s affordable housing.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is dismissing claims that loose monetary policy has led to rising home values and shrinking inventory and insists that the market is buoyed by creditworthy borrowers and investors.

This is the first deal that serial acquirer FOA has announced since it went public on April 5.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has moved ahead with an earlier proposal to postpone the full adoption of the qualified-mortgage ability-to-repay rule, citing a need to maximize borrowers' credit access.

It would be available to homeowners making 80% or less of their area’s median income who weren't eligible to tap into low rates last year.

After a one-week reprieve, mortgage activity waned again with decreased demand for refinances and extremely low inventory for homebuyers.