TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/134983
month in review Last month saw a trend of slides, collapses, and dips in all sectors of housing finance. MAY 1 Fannie Mae Reports Slip in March Business In May, Fannie reported numbers from March that showed there was a break in its growth streak, marking its lowest level in 10 months. The GSE's book of business shrank at a compound annualized rate of 1.5 percent, closing the quarter with a negative average monthly rate of 1.7 percent. The book totaled $3.177 trillion at the end of the first quarter. MAY 7 Hiring Drops 4.3% in March Report Both hiring and payroll job growth plunged according to the March report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month. Job growth was initially reported at 88,000—the weakest in nine months—but was later revised up to 138,000. More people were on the hunt for employment according to the report, with 2.0 jobseekers for every opening in March up from 1.7 in February. MAY 13 Bank Collapses Climb to 12 The last vestige of the financial crisis continues to take its toll on banks. The number of bank collapses in 2013 climbed to 12 during the first quarter. Analysts 16 | The M Report see this as natural fall off as the recovery continues. Pisgah Community Bank and Sunrise Bank—located in North Carolina and Georgia respectively—became the 11th and 12th banks to fail this year. MAY 15 Mortgage Applications Fall Under Weight of Lower Refi Demand Mortgage application volume turned down for the first time in more than a month as refinance demand plunged according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). For the week ending May 10, applications dropped 7.3 percent. The MBA's Refinance Index fell 8 percent week-over-week, the group reported, though the refinance share of total applications was constant at 76 percent. MAY 16 Housing Starts Drop Despite Improved Builder Confidence Despite the reports of improving builder confidence, housing starts plunged at the steepest rate in more than two years in April. The drop caught economists by surprise who thought that housing starts would fall from 1,021,000 to 969,000; not to 890,000. Total starts fell in three of the four Census regions, improving only in the Midwest.