TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
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Stand Out as Industry Leader and Present Your Company in the Premier Publication in Mortgage Banking. month in review Rocky Road The month had instability from the government, but the market still performed positively in spite of the troubles on the Hill. OCTOBER 4 Asking Prices Slow in Hottest Markets Upcoming MReport Editorial Trulia reported a monthly slowdown in home prices—and trends indicated yearly gains may cool before year's end. "Asking home prices give us the first look at where home sale prices are headed, and they point to a slowdown," said Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko. "After rising rapidly in the first half of 2013, asking prices in two-thirds of the largest metros are cooling. In fact, asking prices are falling—not just rising more slowly—in 11 of the 100 largest metros, the most markets to see prices slip in six months." December OCTOBER 11 Feature: CFPB Penalizes Two Institutions for HMDA Violations The Servicing Issue The best in class in mortgage servicing. Special Section: Due Diligence Bonus Distribution: » CMBA Western States Legislative, Regulatory, QA and Compliance Conference The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered two mortgage banks to pay civil penalties for violating the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) with allegedly inaccurate applications from 2011. According to a release from the agency, Mortgage Master (a nonbank headquartered in Walpole, Massachusetts) and Washington Federal (a Seattle-based bank) failed HMDA reviews when it was determined "that their compliance systems were inadequate and that they had severely compromised mortgage lending data." October 16 theMReport.com Advertise now! Call 214.525.6700 or connect with us online at TheMReport.com. 14 | The M Report Market Makes Strides Toward Equilibrium The once-volatile housing market is making strides toward equilibrium, according to a new report from Realtor.com. However, the report finds patchy progress across the country. In September, about 1.9 million properties were listed for sale in the United States. The median number of days on market for these properties was 93, and the median list price was $199,500. "[I]mminent economic factors could pose a significant threat to these improvements," said Errol Samuelson, president of Realtor.com. October 17 Purchase Loan Share Climbs to 58% in September Purchase share continued to inch up in September as refinances receded, according to data presented by Ellie Mae in the company's Origination Insight Report." The share of purchase loans continued to grow in September 2013, climbing 1 percent to 58 percent of all loans even in the face of higher interest rates and seasonality," said Jonathan Corr, president and COO of Ellie Mae. "This was the eighth consecutive month that the purchase loan percentage has increased or stayed steady." October 18 Fannie Downgrades Forecast in Response to Consumer Sentiment Overall, Fannie's outlook is "largely unchanged from the previous forecast," although "fiscal uncertainties associated with the federal government shutdown, the protracted negotiations to raise the debt ceiling, and the timing of the Federal Reserve's tapering of its asset purchase program, pose significant downside risks to economic activity in the current quarter," said Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. As such, the GSE is revising its forecasted GDP growth for this year from 2 percent to 1.9 percent.