After a one-day break, the market rally resumed on Thursday with a vengeance, as both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 hit all-time highs. And that enthusiasm also applied to mortgage stocks, as 13 of 17 Mortgage Industry Equity Composite members closed higher than they did
Leading the pack was
Bank of Hawaii, on the other hand, was down 2.69%. Next was PHH, down 1.15%; Astoria Financial Corp., down 0.69%; and Hudson City Bancorp., down 0.52%.
Conforming loan limits are determined using a home price index. A congressman is proposing a switch to an income-based metric, creating more jumbo mortgages.
The effective tax rate, measuring taxes relative to home prices, also increased to its highest mark in five years, according to Attom's analysis.
The California-based lender announced Wednesday the addition of One Goal Mortgage, a branch serving the Omaha, Nebraska, metro area and Southwest Iowa.
Better is focusing on its U.S. mortgage unit, which reported higher-than-expected preliminary loan volumes and priced a stock offering.
A new Basel III proposal offers mixed results for warehouse lending, with some risk-weight relief for banks but tougher terms that could crimp credit availability for nonbank mortgage lenders.
Roughly a third of homeowners with a mortgage rate less than 6% would not give up their rate for any reason, according to a survey of 1,000 mortgage holders.
