Daily Dose

Working with a public polling firm, New Jersey-based TD Bank released results Thursday from a survey it conducted with more than 150 Realtors around the United States. Most said they considered closing loans on time the most important quality in a lender and felt it was easier to work with banks focused on helping homebuyers. Two in five said they looked for banks that put buyers ahead of the lending process.

RealtyTrac's latest report on housing affordability shows that 96 percent of U.S. housing markets are still affordable for recent graduates making the median household income, even those with student loans. RealtyTrac found that the minimum amount of income needed to purchase a median-priced home, with and without student loans, was feasible in 475 out of 494 counties with a population of at least 100,000.

A new report from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies and AARP posits that the population of adults age 50 and above will reach 132 million by 2030, a jump of more than 70 percent since the year 2000. But while their numbers are rapidly increasing, the amount of housing that is affordable, physically accessible, and located well is not, the report said.

While the state of Alabama has been slow to recover economically since the recession officially ended five years ago, the housing market's recovery in the state has struggled along with the rest of the nation so far this year, according to a commentary from Wells Fargo's Economics Group.

Mortgage interest rates stayed fairly level this week, settling in ahead of Friday's August jobs report. Freddie Mac released on Thursday the results of its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, showing the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) coming in at 4.10 percent (0.5 point) for a third straight week, the lowest level seen so far this year.

MBA's Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), a gauge of credit access based on borrower profiles and underwriting criteria at lenders nationwide, slipped to 116.1 last month from 116.4 in July, the group reported. A decline indicates tighter standards overall in the market. Both the conventional lending and government-focused indices edged down as well, each declining less than a percentage point from July.

Looking at the stock of homes for sale in its network of markets, national brokerage Redfin reported that, among the "mid-range" of home prices ($130,000–$375,000) available supply has actually fallen 17 percent over the last three years to a total of 668,000 as of July. In the lowest quartile of the market, the shortage is even more severe, with supply down nearly 50 percent since 2011.

In a note sent earlier this week, equity research analyst Richard Bove at Rafferty Capital Markets warned clients of a potential mortgage crisis in the making, according to a report from CNBC. With the Federal Reserve on track to end its monthly bond purchases, Bove cautions that the loss of one of the tools used to help lift housing out of its post-recession rut could hurt the market, especially as interest rates start to tick back up.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency proposed a rule to amend financial institutions' requirements for application and membership retention in one of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. The revision was proposed to ensure that members stay committed to housing finance and that only those eligible will have access to membership benefits and advances from one of the Federal Home Loan Banks.

After a poor reading earlier in the month, consumer sentiment in August recovered more than expected, despite concerns about the economy's future direction. The University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters Index of Consumer Sentiment climbed to 82.5 in the final August reading, slightly better than July's final value of 81.8 but a sharp upturn from a mid-month reading of 79.2.