Daily Dose

An audit conducted by the inspector general for the Justice Department found that, despite public statements to the contrary, mortgage fraud isn't a highly prioritized issue. FBI field offices visited by the Office of the Inspector General, including Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York, listed mortgage fraud to be a low priority—if it was listed as one at all.

The University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters Index of Consumer Sentiment slipped to 79.9 in a preliminary March report after finishing February at 81.6. A consensus forecast from economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected a slight climb to 81.8. Even with the latest decline, “[c]onsumer sentiment has been weathering the winter rather well,” said Chris Christopher, director of consumer economics for IHS Global Insight.

Home sales declined for the fourth consecutive month with sharp drops in West Coast markets, according to the latest Real-Time Price Tracker from Redfin, a national real estate brokerage. With the spring selling season about to get underway, the company says March and April should offer insight into buyers’ willingness and ability to adapt to higher costs—as well as sellers’ ability to price appropriately, a skill some are having to relearn to stay competitive.

In 19 of 20 large metros surveyed by Zillow and Pulsenomics, more than 5.0 percent of local residents indicated they wanted to buy a home in the next year, with current renters showing the greatest interest in ownership. While this optimistic total from Zillow suggests interest is high, actually purchasing a home should prove to be a challenge in the upcoming year.

Redfin released Thursday its Real-Time Demand Pulse, a monthly analysis of home tour requests and signed offers across 23 surveyed markets. According to the company, the number of home tour requests among thousands of its customers grew only 1.9 percent between January and February, falling short of a 6 percent increase over the same months in 2013. Meanwhile, signed offers increased 17.8 percent compared to a 20 percent jump last year.

Real estate tech firm FNC Inc.’s Residential Price Index (RPI) continued to accelerate in January—and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. According to the company, the index, which measures price movements with distressed sales excluded, jumped up 9.0 percent annually in January following an 8.7 percent boost in December. On a monthly basis, the index’s national composite increased 0.4 percent, beating December’s 0.3 percent gain.

Last week’s improved (though still not great) jobs report brought a little bit of comfort to the financial markets, pushing mortgage rates up for the week. According to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) came up nearly a tenth of a percentage point to 4.37 percent (0.6 point) for the week ending March 13. Meanwhile, Bankrate.com’s weekly national survey showed increases all around.

Builder application data from February suggests another increase in new home sales, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Thursday. According to MBA’s Builder Applications Survey (BAS), which tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of homebuilders, applications for new home purchases increased 12 percent in February, pointing to a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 533,000 (up 1 percent from January).

In recent months, institutional investors seem to prefer buying non-performing loans instead of more solvent ones, according to David LeBlanc, managing director of capital markets at DebtX. LeBlanc said that this action is thought to be caused by the decreasing margins available in real estate acquisitions. These types of loan sales are expected to increase as a result of new regulations that are forcing depository institutions to shed their bad loans to avoid increased holding costs and reserves.

In a blog post, CoreLogic's Mark Fleming notes that as of the most recent numbers, mortgage applications are down 54 percent compared to a year ago, with much of that decline stemming from a plunge in refinances (down 65 percent year-on-year). However, while rising interest rates have removed some of the incentive homeowners had to move or refinance, improving home prices have created a greater space for home equity loans. "This is good news for the home improvement industry and mortgage lenders who focus on home equity lending, as both will benefit from the resurgent consumer demand," he said.