Housing markets

With millions of Black and Hispanic consumers likely to become new homeowners over the coming decades, the lending community stands to benefit if they are willing to combine expanded underwriting with direct outreach.

A Fannie Mae survey-high 86% of prospective buyers said it was a bad time to buy a home in May.

The Massachusetts House passed a bill that would ease the process for property owners looking to build accessory-dwelling units.

Observers say the stronger-than-expected Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data could leave the Fed pondering when, or even if, to cut short-term rates this year.

Still, the expected year-over-year pace of home price increases in 2024 is faster than what the first quarter Fannie Mae Home Price Expectations survey has predicted.

Both purchases and refinances dipped as rates failed to help borrowers, but government lending picked up a rising share of loan volume, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The changes that affect how buyer broker commissions are paid go into effect on Aug. 17, but there's much uncertainty about carrying them out, said Ryan Tomasello of KBW.

Despite the surge of inventory, the number of available homes is still below pre-pandemic levels, while price movements show wide regional variations, ICE Mortgage Technology said.

An index of contract signings from the National Association of Realtors dropped 7.7% to 72.3, the lowest reading since the early months of the pandemic.

With home prices also climbing up faster than expected for the time of the year, median new loan payments headed higher by more than 2%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

An uptick in interest rates kept borrowers on the sidelines, as both purchases and refinances dropped, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Over 54% of borrowers with a mortgage say they only got one mortgage offer, a LendingTree survey said.

Prices in a measure of 20 cities increased 7.4% from a year earlier, larger than the 7.3% annual gain in February, an S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index shows.

Fannie Mae economists suggest home sales will remain resilient amid anticipated dips in both home loan volume and consumer spending.

Contract closings decreased 1.9% from a month ago to a 4.14 million annualized rate, according to National Association of Realtors data released Wednesday.

Application volumes increased, as interest rates slid down to their lowest mark in almost two months, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Understanding the peril is important for both primary and secondary mortgage market pricing of loans and risk, experts in a panel to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Secondary Conference said Tuesday.

Horton, who stepped back from an executive role at his company D.R. Horton in October, died suddenly on Thursday.

The April and May announcements from the U.S. government, down payment assistance firms and lenders on easing the homeownership affordability crunch.

Roam Boost eases the path for FHA and VA mortgages held by sellers to be assumed by the buyer.