Tue, Jun 30 2015, 11:33 AM
"One." That is the extra second that June 30 th
has today to correct clocks for the earth's rotation. "330,820." That
is the number of times Amer...
Mon, Jun 29 2015, 11:19 AM
I
doubt the average U.S. household is sitting around worrying about
interest rates. It's probably more like earthquake preparedness than
anythin...
Mon, Jun 29 2015, 1:37 PM
Pending home sales hit their highest level in over nine years in May,
indicating that the strong existing and new home sales announced last week are
...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 3:48 PM
Even as homeownership rates remain at
historic lows the mortgage debt on single family homes is increasing, ending
seven years of decline. Freddie ...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 3:42 PM
Free
DU? You bet - Fannie couldn't let Freddie offer LP at no charge and not
respond. "Beginning June 1, Fannie Mae will align DU and Desktop
Or...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 12:03 PM
The good news in housing continued this morning with a
report on May new home sales. According
to the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing a...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 10:31 AM
Prices across the U.S. rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally
adjusted basis in April compared to March the Federal Housing Finance Agency
(FHFA) said t...
Mon, Jun 22 2015, 11:07 AM
Maybe this time it is for real - the recovery
of the housing market that is. Coming on
top of excellent residential construction news last week t...
Mon, Jun 22 2015, 9:46 AM
Hopefully
all the dads out there had fun Sunday. The U.S. Census Bureau tells us
in 2008 there were 70.1 million fathers in the U.S. and in 2014 2...
Fri, Jun 19 2015, 10:47 AM
The
Census Bureau reports that as of Q1, the percentage of Americans who
own their homes fell to the lowest level in 20Ys (to 63.8%). Tighter
le...
Mon, Jun 15 2015, 10:55 AM
Builder's demonstrated the highest confidence in the market
for newly built homes in nearly a year this month as the Housing Market Index
(HMI) publ...
Thu, Jun 11 2015, 10:43 AM
Applications for the purchase of newly constructed
homes fell in May, a decline which the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)
attributed at least in ...
Thu, Jun 11 2015, 3:10 PM
Despite over two years of declines cash
sales continue to constitute more than one-third of total home sales. CoreLogic reported today that the shar...
Mon, Jun 8 2015, 4:59 PM
The recent improved employment statistics which included an
acceleration in average hourly earnings and a reported increase in personal
income (a Ma...
Mon, Jun 8 2015, 2:08 PM
The percentage of total home sales coming from distressed
inventories continues to drop. CoreLogic
said on Monday that short sales and sales of own...
Thu, Jun 4 2015, 2:37 PM
Enforcement of compliance with the new RESPA/TILA disclosure
forms has been postponed . As appeared
inevitable after almost unanimous testimony ...
Tue, Jun 2 2015, 10:45 AM
Some
in the industry are focused on Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf's recent
comments saying that cybersecurity and an evolving payments industry are
...
Tue, Jun 2 2015, 4:51 PM
For some time
conventional wisdom has held that home price increases are slowin g and would
continue to do so, but the CoreLogic Home Price Index (...
Mon, Jun 1 2015, 2:52 PM
The old adage might be "go West" but new home buyers aren't listening. A recent analysis by CoreLogic shows that the
strongest new home sales marke...
Fri, May 29 2015, 10:52 AM
According
to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are now ten cities that have a
population of greater than 1 million with California and Texas each home...
Thu, May 28 2015, 10:45 AM
April saw the highest number for pending sales in nearly nine years the
National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said today. The Pending Home Sal...
Tue, May 26 2015, 11:00 AM
New home sales beat most analyst expectations in April,
rising 6.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 517,000 units and
posting a 26....
Fri, May 22 2015, 11:22 AM
Yes,
I know it is the Friday before a 3-day weekend, after which it is okay
to wear white shoes to formal events. (And yes, there will be a
comm...
Fri, May 22 2015, 1:42 PM
Fannie
Mae's economists used their May economic and strategic summary to downgrade
expectations for 2015 growth but at the same time painted a slig...
Thu, May 21 2015, 11:01 AM
Existing home sales in April failed both to match their
corresponding numbers in March and to live up to the consensus of analysts in
advance of thi...
Thu, May 21 2015, 10:41 AM
Hundreds
of capital markets folks have returned, bleary-eyed, to their roosts
around the country. Unfortunately, as Cantor Fitzgerald's Dave Gottf...
Tue, May 19 2015, 2:00 PM
That headline question is the focus of the May Economic and Housing Outlook produced by
Freddie mac's Office of the Chief Economist.
The economic...
Mon, May 18 2015, 12:10 PM
While they were discussing different vintages, home sellers
have a slightly more upbeat outlook on home sales then do the builders of those
homes. ...
Mon, May 18 2015, 9:40 AM
The
last seven days has involved a little travel for me: Oregon, Incline
Village in Nevada, and now Manhattan for the MBA's Secondary Marketing
...
Fri, May 15 2015, 10:53 AM
It's all relative. The Mortgage
Bankers Association (MBA) said that applications for the purchase of newly
constructed homes rose a scant 0.3 perc...
Wed, May 13 2015, 10:57 AM
The influence of cash sales on the residential real estate
market continued to decline in February with those sales accounting for 37.9
percent of...
Mon, May 11 2015, 2:20 PM
Home price appreciation accelerated in
many metropolitan areas in the first quarter of 2015. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) again
sa...
Thu, Apr 30 2015, 10:43 AM
I
travel around a fair amount, spending time with lenders, Realtors, and
TSA personnel. A major concern among the first two groups is whether or
...
Wed, Apr 29 2015, 10:39 AM
First
off, let me apologize for having the incorrect site in yesterday's
commentary regarding the funny history of the term "escrow" - this is th...
Wed, Apr 29 2015, 10:16 AM
Momentum appears to be building toward a
healthy spring market according to data released today on March pending home sales. The National Associat...
Mon, Apr 27 2015, 10:59 AM
Although a press release last week about a Gallup
survey showed Americans view real estate as a better long term investment
than stocks, gold, s...
Mon, Apr 27 2015, 9:07 AM
Many LOs are watching rent prices . Increasing
rent is a two-edged sword, of course, simultaneously moving households
to stop renting and buy a p...
Fri, Apr 24 2015, 9:55 AM
Filling key positions in our industry is not
an easy task sometimes, but as one banking vet I know likes to say,
"give me someone with a little bi...
Thu, Apr 23 2015, 10:17 AM
Home prices nationally are now within 3 percent of the peak
they reached in March 2007. The Federal
Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its pu...
Thu, Apr 23 2015, 9:58 AM
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that nearly 10 percent of U.S.
residents are not happy with their current housing, neighborhood, local
safety or p...
Thu, Apr 23 2015, 2:25 PM
New home sales settled down a bit in March after a dramatic
surge in the Northeast in February that drove national sales figures up nearly
8 perce...
Wed, Apr 22 2015, 11:40 AM
The spring housing market blasted in across the county last
month and existing home sales jumped 6.1 percent from the February level to the
highes...
Wed, Apr 22 2015, 10:59 AM
Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 nd and this year marks the 45 th
anniversary. Leave it to the Census Bureau
(known as "The Bureau with a ca...
Mon, Apr 20 2015, 9:31 AM
There is a lot going on in terms of upcoming events. In no particular order...
Due to the high demand, Genworth has grown its live RESPA-TILA we...
Wed, Apr 15 2015, 12:43 PM
The index measuring building confidence in the market for
new single family homes stopped its three month slide in April, jumping four
points from...
Fri, Apr 10 2015, 10:36 AM
In its Economic and Housing Outlook
for April Freddie Mac's economists point out that the spring homebuying season has
become familiar territory. ...
Fri, Apr 10 2015, 10:26 AM
Sales of new homes appeared to have surged in March. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association
(MBA) mortgage applications for new home purchase...
Tue, Mar 31 2015, 3:03 PM
Nationwide said on Tuesday that the overall housing market
is healthier than at any time since 2001 , the earliest point for which data is
availabl...
Mon, Mar 30 2015, 10:59 AM
Contract signings in the Midwest and South in February drove
pending home sales to their highest level in nearly two years. The National Association...
Mon, Mar 30 2015, 9:38 AM
In
like a lion, out like a lamb? Usually folks say that about March's
weather, not the economy. But economic data so far in the first quarter
ha...
