Featured

U.S. payrolls for November surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts, increasing at the highest rate in more than two years, according to a government estimate.

The enhancements are designed to make monthly mortgage payments affordable for homeowners in MHA who are struggling, to strengthen the safety net for homeowners facing financial hardships, and to help stabilize communities most affected by the financial crisis by helping homeowners in MHA build equity in their homes.

While rising home values have pushed down the share of underwater mortgages, the sheer number of upside-down borrowers remains massive—nearing four million—according to an update from Black Knight Financial Services. Those four million underwater homeowners combined for about $157 billion in negative equity in October.

Home lenders took in an average profit of $897 on each loan they originated over Q3, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Thursday. That average was down from $954 in the second quarter but still a vast improvement from an average per-loan loss of $194 in the first quarter.

The level of optimism for the housing market in the United States is at its highest point as it has been at any point during the recovery, according to a recent survey conducted by Trulia. Of those surveyed, 74 percent said that homeownership was part of the American Dream, tying its post-recession high set in Q4 2013.

According to a new index released Wednesday by the American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) International Center on Housing Risk, an estimated 46 percent of mortgages made from October 2013 through October 2014 were for first-time homebuyers. Looking only at government-guaranteed loans, that share is closer to 52 percent.

Based on weekly application data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), macroeconomics firm Capital Economics calculated a 0.3 percent increase in mortgage applications last month. The meager uptick compares to a 10.1 percent surge in October.

In his 2015 outlook, Zillow's chief economist, Dr. Stan Humphries, predicts millennials will take on a much greater presence in the housing market, overtaking Generation X as the largest group of homebuyers.

Real estate information firm CoreLogic reported a 0.5 percent monthly uptick and a 6.1 percent annual gain in its October Home Price Index (HPI). As of October, 27 states and the District of Columbia were at or within 10 percent of their home price peaks, and nine had achieved new record highs.

As the mortgage market prepares for bubble-vintage home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) to come out of their draw period, multiple firms have issued warnings about the imminent wave of new HELOC problems. In a new blog post, however, CoreLogic deputy chief economist Sam Khater says the impact from HELOC resets will be more like a ripple.