Mortgages

Activity is down 20% from one year ago, driven by a 65% falloff in rate and term refinancings, Black Knight said.

However, the seven institutions in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency study service 13% fewer loans compared with the third quarter of last year.

While over 112,000 loans exited plans in the past week, there is only a modest opportunity for continued improvement in the near term, Black Knight said.

Canada’s national pension fund struck its first partnership to build and rent out single-family homes in the U.S., joining a rush to capitalize on a housing shortage.

But rising rates and tightening affordability are slowing appreciation rates, Black Knight found in its latest Mortgage Monitor report.

The U.S. Treasury Department will begin developing regulations that could expand reporting requirements for all-cash real estate purchases as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to cut down on global corruption, according to two senior administration officials.

Similarities between the current rate of appreciation and what took place between 2004 and 2006 are mitigated by changes in the housing market.

In November, employment increased by 1.14 million in the household survey but payrolls rose by just 210,000 in the employers survey, the biggest gap since October 2020.

Besides making the deduction permanent, the bill doubles the income threshold for those eligible to claim it.

Axylyum, which recently released information about its first named client, offers an alternative to other forms of risk sharing for private companies originating income-producing mortgages.

Some 75% of the loans, or a count of 38, are partial term interest-only (IO) loans, and just six, or 22.9% of the pool are full-term IO loans. Just one loan, has an amortizing balloon.

Acting Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson and the Housing Policy Council say the new amounts are not good for affordable housing.

Though unlikely to derail a hot housing market, another surge in COVID-19 cases could cloud the outlook for economic growth, analysts said.

Like the stock market rout around news of the Omicron variant, the recent increase in payment suspensions suggests financial troubles associated with the pandemic may not be over.

However, the median monthly expense associated with financing is still lower than that for a lease.

But in November, home buyer demand reached its highest level since RedFin began compiling the data in 2017.

However, capacity issues, the suspension of the government-sponsored enterprise purchase caps and higher conforming limits all could affect activity, KBRA said.

The sponsors got the portfolio through multiple acquisitions from May through October.

The loan pool’s volatility score is high but its diversity of properties is a plus.

The decline in late payments recorded in a trade group survey raise hope that many servicers will bear up under a wave of tighter enforcement coming from regulators.