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THEMREPORT.COM The Top 5 1. Can't Get No Satisfaction: Why Real Estate Companies Struggle in Consumer Surveys There are some things we tend to take as fundamental truths. Just a few examples might include the law of gravity or how Treasury debt—even in the face of credit downgrades—remains beyond reproach for inves- tors. Or how, given the choice between making safely innoc- uous remarks and off-the-cuff zingers that land him (and his boss) in hot water, Vice President Joseph Biden will probably choose the latter, if we take one recent gaffe as proof positive of the trend. Nowadays, people may add to their roster the idea that home buyers and sellers seem to downright dislike their real estate companies. According to a recent report by J.D. Power and Associates, homebuyer satisfaction with national real estate compa- nies fell to its lowest level in the history of the five-year- old survey, a record low on par with mortgage rates. 2. Are Mortgage Rates Returning to Normalcy? Could mortgage rates be on their way back? That's what today's numbers just may suggest. Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mort- gage ticked up by a few basis points to arrive at 3.62 per- cent, up from 3.59 percent during the week of August 6. 8 | THE M REPORT The GSE also found interest rates for the 15-year home loan averaging 2.88 percent, with five-year and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages crawling to 2.76 percent and 2.69 percent, respectively. Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist with Freddie Mac, said in a statement that "[t] he latest economic indicators point toward low inflation but gradually stronger economic activity, which placed further upward pressure on long- term Treasury yields and, in turn, fixed mortgage rates." He noted that inflation "remains in check" as impor- tant economic signals, like industrial production rates and retail sales, hover at reasonable rates. 3. Climbing the Ladder: Initial Jobless Claims Move Up First-time claims for unem- ployment insurance edged up 2,000 for the week ended August 11 to 366,000, accord- ing to the Labor Department. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected 365,000 initial claims, and the prior week's total was revised up to 364,000 from the origi- nally reported 361,000. Continuing claims—report- ed on a one-week lag—fell 31,000 to 3.305 million from the prior week's 3.336 million revised from the originally reported 3.332 million. The increase in first-time claims was the third in the last six weeks offering no clear picture of the stutter- step labor market. Initial claims have alter- nated rising and falling in the last six weeks, but on net, the level is up 14,000 from the beginning of July. According to the Labor Department detail, also reported on a one-week lag, the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 4 were in California (+3,069), Pennsylvania (+2,534), Illinois (+1,165), Ohio (+1,018), and Missouri (+935), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (-4,157), New York (-2,653), Puerto Rico (-1,394), Tennessee (-318), and Florida (-300). 4. Declining Affordability Could Mean a Boost for the Market After reaching a record high of 77.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, housing affordability declined to 73.8 percent in the second quarter of this year, according to the Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB ) Wells Fargo. Despite the decline, "inter- est rates and overall housing affordability remain very favorable on a historic basis," said Barry Rutenberg, chair- man of NAHB and a home- builder in Gainesville, Florida. The rate has remained elevated above 70 percent since the start of 2009. The primary contributing factor to the decline in afford- ability in the second quarter was rising home prices across the nation. "A full 92 percent of metros covered in the latest HOI saw their median home prices rise between the first and second quarter," accord- ing to a press release from NAHB. 5. Housing Starts on 'Slippery Slope' Despite continuing improvement in builder confidence, housing starts slipped in July to 746,000, with single-family starts ac- counting for the decline, the Census Bureau and HUD are reporting jointly. Housing permits, though, im- proved to 812,000, the highest level in almost four years. MReport's online readers played favorites this month, gravitating toward five headlines that focused on significant market statistics and borrower feedback. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected 750,000 starts and 766,000 permits in July. Total housing completions in June rose to 668,000, the highest level since June 2010. Even with the dip in starts— down 8,000 from June—total starts are up 21.5 percent from July 2011. Single-family starts, by contrast, dropped 35,000 to 502,000 in July, the lowest level since March. Two-to-four-unit activity improved 7,000 in July and five-plus-unit starts were up 20,000. Despite the one-month drop, the trend in single-fam- ily starts remains positive. In the last six months (February to July), single-family starts have averaged 502,000 compared with 462,000 in the previous six months and 419,000 in the February-to- July period in 2011. Are you an origination news junkie? Go to TheMReport.com and sign up to receive MReport news daily! We feature the top headlines and stories breaking daily via the MReport Daily newsletter, webcasts, and social media. If you need more, follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.