MBA Sees Higher Tech Spending; No Big Job Losses

"No massive layoffs" for the mortgage industry was the bottom line in MBA economist’s Douglas Duncan’s 2005 forecast delivered at the MBA technology conference in Orlando.Predicting $2.5 trillion total production for the year with interest rates topping off just north of 6%, Mr. Duncan quoted the Fed verdict of "robust underlying productivity growth" in support of his forecast. On the tech front, Hollister Group principal Rita Ballesteros, offered highlights of the second annual MBA Technology Study, showing modest gains in tech spending for 2004 over the previous year. The study showed LOS imaging and GLB as top priorities for lenders in spending technology dollars, with 92% of lenders saying they now use imaging at some stage of the process.