Daily Dose

A new group has launched on the side of shareholders in the ongoing debate for the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Calling itself the “Coalition for Mortgage Security,” the group describes itself as a bipartisan, grassroots organization with the goal of reforming housing finance “in a way that benefits and fairly treats current and future homeowners, taxpayers, and investors across the country.”

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) delivered some good news Monday in that 59 of the 350 metro markets have returned to or exceeded their last normal levels of economic and housing activity. In the NAHB/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI), the national average is running at 88 percent, with 11 metros gained year-over-year.

Fannie Mae released Monday its most recent National Housing Survey, revealing a slight softening in the housing recovery as monthly indicators remain volatile. “The housing recovery continues to proceed in fits and starts,” said Doug Duncan, SVP and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “Rising mortgage rates and a lack of supply have dampened housing market momentum.”

Black Knight Financial Service’s Mortgage Monitor Report shows the effective loan modification efforts have shown far fewer defaults, which helps those underwater already in homes. However, those looking to get a home that have had some trouble in the past may hit a brick wall as only 30 percent of loans last year went to borrowers with credit scores below 720, which isn’t even close to the subprime score of 620.

In the nation’s largest cities, a median income is not sufficient to purchase a median-priced home. In fact, even households with two median incomes cannot afford median-priced homes in the 40 largest cities in the United States, according to a Redfin survey released last week. Redfin’s findings concur with data from Zillow revealing median-income earners in Southern California cannot afford more than half of homes for sale in their market.

Vacation home sales rose in 2013 as investment purchases retreated from levels observed in previous years, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented that as market conditions return to normal, investors must now evaluate their purchases more carefully—and judiciously.

As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2013, the homeownership rate among those under 25 was 36.8 percent, according to the Census Bureau—only a little more than half the national rate of 65.2 percent. Compare that to as recently as 2008, when the rate among young adults was at or above 41 percent. Generation Y remains, as ever, a difficult group to nail down.

The Department of Labor reported 192,000 new jobs in March, down slightly from February’s revised growth of 197,000 (from 175,000 originally reported). January’s employment growth was also revised, receiving a bump up to 144,000 from 129,000 reported last month. Despite last month’s apparent strength, the overall unemployment rate stubbornly stayed at 6.7 percent.

Recovery in the housing market is not without its side effects, particularly in major metro markets on the West Coast and in Florida. A look into 35 major markets by Zillow reveals that buyers making the median income in Southern California, the Bay Area, Portland (Oregon), Denver, and Miami face markets where more than half the available homes are beyond their price range—which could mean the beginning of a new housing bubble.

In an interview with National Mortgage News, Ellie Mae president and COO Jonathan Corr revealed the company's suspicions that a recent cyber attack carried out on its servers may have been launched by people with knowledge of the industry. Ellie Mae has hired Stroz Friedberg, a cyber-security and digital forensics firm, to look into the attack as well as any possible data or security breaches.