Eye On Housing
Author Archives
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Home Purchasing Reaches Highest Level in Over a Decade
For the week ending September 18, 2020, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Weekly Application Survey showed a jump in application activity, both in purchasing and refinancing, as its Market Composite Index increased 6.8% from the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis. Most notably, the Purchasing Activity reached its highest level since January 2009, when it was only 5.3% higher…. Read More ›
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Home Values, Owners’ Equity Rise in 2Q20
As the novel coronavirus took hold in the second quarter, households’ market values continued to rise, per second quarter 2020 Federal Reserve Flow of Funds report. In the second quarter, the aggregate value of all household mortgages rose by $80 billion to $10.6 trillion, while the aggregate value of the households’ market values, i.e., that of all owner-occupied real estate… Read More ›
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Despite Weekly Declines, Refinancing Year-over-year Gains Remain Strong
For the week ending September 11, 2020, the Mortgage Banker’s Association’s (MBA) Weekly Application Survey indicated a decrease in its Market Composite Index, a measure of both purchasing and refinancing, of 2.5% from one week earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis. The Purchasing and Refinancing Indexes decreased by 0.5% and 3.7%, respectively. The survey’s tracked 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate remained… Read More ›
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Multifamily Construction Gains for Lower-Density Markets
The Q2 2020 NAHB Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) reveals a notable multifamily construction shift to the suburbs/exurbs. This is similar to HBGI findings reported for single-family construction. A driver of this broader impact is COVID-19, which thus far has had larger impacts on higher density neighborhoods. These geographic changes will ultimately generate market share gains for smaller multifamily structures,… Read More ›
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Refinance Poised for Further Rate Declines
The latest results from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Application Survey for the week ending September 4 show an increase of 2.9% in the Market Composite Index from the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis. Purchasing and refinancing activity increased from the previous week by 2.6% and 3%, respectively. MBA’s tracked contract rate of the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage… Read More ›
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Open-Ended Credit Slowly Recovers in July
The Federal Reserve’s latest G.19 Consumer Credit Report shows trends in consumer credit, excluding loans secured by real estate, through July 2020. Consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.6% from the previous month, with revolving debt1 decreasing by slightly less than 0.5% and nonrevolving debt2 increasing by 4.8 percent. Consumer credit totaled $4.1 trillion on a… Read More ›
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Treasury-Mortgage Spread Decreases in August
The month of August, in terms of the spread between the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate and the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate, was characterized by weekly declines, only to rise slightly by the first week of September. The 10-year U.S. Treasury rate is the rate that the U.S. government is willing and obligated to pay on the 10-year Treasury note, thus… Read More ›
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Mortgage Application Activity Tapers in August
The last weeks in August finished with subdued mortgage activity, per the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Weekly Application Survey. However, demand remains strong: Overall mortgage activity was 35% higher than what it was the same week one year ago. For the week ending August 28, 2020, the Market Composite Index decreased 2% from one week prior on a seasonally adjusted… Read More ›
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Suburban Shift for Home Building in Q2 2020
The Q2 2020 results of NAHB’s Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) show geographical trends of the home building industry as the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, spread quickly through the United States. Although the pandemic caused widespread economic impacts for many businesses, housing has weathered the economic storm, rebounding quickly from an April slump. Moreover, data from the second quarter NAHB HBGI… Read More ›
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Q2 2020 National Delinquency Survey
Amid widespread job losses and other economic hardship resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, all the U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia experienced quarterly percentage increases in home loans past due, according to the seasonally adjusted Q2 2020 results of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Q2 2020 National Delinquency Survey. In the second quarter of this year, on… Read More ›