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Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/1345021
M R EP O RT | 45 O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G DATA G O V E R N M E N T S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T THE LATEST ORIGINATION The 'Seasonal Lull' of Housing Starts Is Here Extreme weather, COVID-19, cost of materials, and other factors could lead to a continuing slowdown. T he latest U.S. Census Bureau report on new residential construction showed a somewhat- expected slow in the pace of housing starts for January, falling 6% after December's 8.2% growth. Single-family housing starts increased 12.2% over the month to 1.16 million annualized units, reversing December's spike. Single- family starts were up 15.6% from the year prior. "Despite the pullback in single-family starts, the pace of construction continues to be strong and was similar to the pace of October and November," Fannie Mae's Chief Economist Doug Duncan said. "We believe tight inventories of existing homes for sale and continued interest in suburban locations by many buyers bode well for new single-family construction going forward. He continues, "That said, mortgage rates are no longer declining, and we believe homebuilders are near their short-term capacity constraints. Comparative softness in the starts measure is partially due to the 'catch up' phase from the second half of last year subsiding. In part due to COVID-19-related shutdowns last spring, the pace of starts outpaced the normal relationship to total homes under construction. Now a more normal balance is occurring. Even though we believe the period of rapidly increasing starts has passed, we expect a continued strong construction pace going forward—the notable exception is that February's report may be affected by unseasonably cold weather and related power disruptions currently occurring in Texas and other states." Austin Niemiec, EVP of Rocket Pro TPO agrees a slowdown is typical for this time of year. "It seems the seasonal lull of building is upon us, as this is the first decrease in new home construction in more than half a year. Brokers must ensure their business is reinforced in the winter months to come out the gates swinging once purchase season starts back up again— which has been creeping earlier and earlier into the year as of late. This dip in building means there won't be as much new inventory as hoped, so brokers must assure their clients they can provide certainty a loan will close with them, since buyers are still competing for a limited number of homes." First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi also discussed the impact of housing- start stats on the overall market. "Mortgage rates are expected to remain low and millennials will continue to age into their prime homebuying years. Finally, the other half of the equation, supply, is beginning to accelerate to keep up with the pace of household formation," she said. "However, given the underbuilding that took place in the decade following the Great Recession, it will take years for builders to close the deficit." Lenders One Marks 20th Anniversary The cooperative adds members and introduces new benefits to strengthen its alliance experience. L enders One Cooperative, a national alliance of independent mortgage bankers, celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2020. The cooperative reported significant growth with the addition of 26 members and the development of new programs to help its members become even more profitable. Some highlights for the year included: » L1 Flood surpassed one million transactions » A 3600% increase in eClosing activity with more than 12,000 loans closed and 5,000 eNote transactions since Q2 » Launched the L1 Verifications program with over 50 members using it and growing » Over 20 members have joined the L1 Data Program, which was introduced in January, that provides monthly peer benchmarking for participants by aggregating and anonymizing data from the cooperative's large and diverse group of members » The National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America (NAMMBA), Rewire, Inc., Top of Mind, and Absolute Logic joined the National Programs platform » PollyEx, Spring EQ , TIAA Bank, and First National Bank of America (FNBA) were added to the Capital Markets platform Further strengthening the cooperative, Lenders One® hosted several thought-provoking and successful live and virtual events throughout the year: » The live Annual Summit took place in Miami March 1-4 with a standout number of attendees from across the Cooperative » One live and six virtual Advisory Council meetings discussed vital Lenders One matters » Four webinars presented pandemic-related challenges and solutions to the industry » Two virtual Executive Roundtables responding to pandemic concerns » First all-day virtual Basecamp with educational sessions and networking » A monthly Virtual Summit Series ran August to December » The Annual Meeting was held virtually in December Four new individuals were added to the Lenders One Advisory Council: Christina Brown, CMB, Chief Lending Officer of Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group; Alvin Shah, Managing Partner of First Option Mortgage; Taylor Stork, COO of Developer's Mortgage Company; and Matthew VanFossen, Chief Executive Officer of Absolute Home Mortgage Corp. In addition, Jon Gwin, COO of American Financial, Inc., was added to the Lenders One Board of Directors. "While 2020 was unusual and challenging, that didn't dampen the spirit of celebration for our 20th anniversary as a cooperative," said Brian A. Simon, President of Lenders One. "Working together with our growing alliance of members, we saw them achieve substantial successes through our existing and new programs. Looking ahead, we have several more initiatives and strategies planned. We're excited to help our members take their companies to the next level in 2021 and beyond."