Headlines

First American’s Real House Price Index (RHPI) for February 2017 showed home prices remaining strong. The low inventory has meant that home prices have remained high. Additionally, the RHPI noted that rising wages have offset the impact of rising home prices and mortgage rates on affordability. Wages have grown by 2.8 percent in February.

HouseCanary has partnered with RE/MAX to provide its agents with powerful pricing insights. As a part of the partnership, RE/MAX agents can now access HouseCanary Value Reports through the organization’s Approved Suppliers portal. The reports offers accurate home valuations and three-year pricing forecasts.

Earlier this month, Mortgage Cadence acquired BeesPath Inc.’s ClosingBridge platform, now branded as Collaboration Center. Currently the platform will be offered as a standalone product, but in the future will be fully incorporate into Mortgage Cadence’s platform.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI covers 20 metropolitan areas across the U.S., and is released on the last Tuesday of every month. The previous HPI, covering January 2017, showed home prices at a 31-month high. During January, home prices were up 5.9 percent year-over-year and 5.7 percent month-over-month.

Though mortgage rates and applications are falling, home prices are rising. Freddie Mac’s House Price Index has shown a steady increase in prices over the last several months. The S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller Home Price Index has shown a similar trend. January’s Index reflected a 31-month high in home prices. During January, home prices were up 5.9 percent year-over-year and 5.7 percent month-over-month.

In its Q1 results, SunTrust Bank noted that higher mortgage-related income and investment-related income pushed the noninterest income up by $32 million. Mortgage servicing income posted a strong quarter, with a net income of $53 million over the previous quarter’s $25 million. Still, this was a decrease from the previous year’s Q1 income of $62 million.

According to new data, the mortgage industry costs the world 264,000 trees every year, thanks to its largely paper-driven processes. When the number of applications that don’t result in closings is considered, that number could even be conservative. The industry also consumes significant amounts of water, energy, and wood and results in greenhouse gas emissions.

BNY Mellon and S&T Bancorp both released their Q1 earnings reports on Thursday. Together, they represent a mixed bag of insights—particularly for the mortgage industry. While BNY Mellon’s residential mortgage earnings were down, S&T’s were up—both over the quarter and the year.

A new report shows refinancing is continuing its downward trend, declining for the third month in a row this year. Just 37 percent of all closed loans in March were refinance loans. The report also shows closing times down and FICO scores up, particularly on conventional loans.

A new JPMorgan Chase Institute report highlights the link between interest rate changes and consumer spending for homeowners with adjustable-rate vs. fixed-rate mortgages. The study, released on Thursday, could provide valuable insight to housing policy makers regarding how their actions affect the type of mortgage a homeowner chooses as well as how they impact the consumption habits of homeowners with ARMs, compared to those with fixed rates, throughout the business cycle.