Market Studies

As refinance activity declines and housing prices keep rising, lenders are clamoring to attract what few purchase buyers are still out there. But they’ll need to up their game in order to stand out from the pack. What’s the best way to do that? A new report released on Monday has the answer.

According to new analysis, it costs significantly more to live in the country’s most popular neighborhoods—which are scattered across the West Coast and Southern U.S. But exactly how much more do homes run in these areas? The numbers might surprise you.

It seems the nation’s white-hot seller’s market may be starting to cool off—at least if a recent analysis is accurate. San Francisco, New York City, Miami, and other major cities are all showing subtle signs of slowing down, but does it spell the end of the seller’s market? And more importantly, will it become a nationwide trend? Only time will tell.

American homeowners aged 62 and older saw a significant jump in home equity. What could be driving this increase, and is it poised to continue?

Renters are finally setting their sights on homeownership, according to an analysis released on Thursday. In Q1 of 2017, the share of home shoppers who were either non-homeowners or renters rose markedly over years past. Will the trend continue? And what does it mean for lenders and multi-family property investors?

Mortgage lenders are taking increased credit risks similar to those of the early 2000s, according to a new report released on Tuesday. The level of credit risk taken by lenders in Q1 of 2017 was about the same as the average risk taken between 2001 and 2003. According to the report, the shift toward riskier lending standards is a result of declining refinances, rising mortgage rates, and increased investor, condo, and co-op share of purchase loans.

Home price appreciation rates are pretty disparate across the nation, according to a new report released on Friday. In fact, while 16 percent of U.S. markets saw housing prices jump 40 percent since the year 2000, another 30 percent of cities actually saw prices decline over the same period. Nominally, prices rose in 97 out of the nation’s 100 biggest metro areas last year. A result of high demand and tightening supply, affordability is on the downslope, too. According to the report, about 19 million U.S. households spent more than half of their annual incomes on housing in 2015.

The ever-climbing housing prices don’t seem to be holding buyers back. In fact, according to recent data, three of the nation’s biggest cities—Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.—are all seeing steep sales inclines over the year. New data shows sales volume in Baltimore is up 10.2 percent since last May—a jump of more than $1.2 billion. In Washington, D.C., volume’s up 7 percent over the year, or $3.1 billion, and in Chicago, sales transactions rose 6.2 percent for the year. Days-on-market is another stat that has steep increase as of late. In Chicago, it fell from 87 to 77 over the year, while in Baltimore and D.C., it dropped to 19 and 10 days. Baltimore’s 19 days-on-market is the lowest monthly level the city’s seen in 10 years.

Today’s ever-increasing home prices have made their mark: Buying a home is now unaffordable in more than half of the nation’s biggest markets. And in California? The straits are even more dire. According new analysis, the median price of homes for sale is historically higher than average in the majority of America’s largest metros, meaning buyers need to devote a larger-than-expected share of income toward mortgage payments and, more significantly, down payments.

A white paper released on Thursday claims the emergence of the Loan Originations System (LOS) as a stand-alone product has led to “technology sprawl,” wherein mortgage tech platforms are disparate, disconnected, and overall less effective. According to the paper, titled “Reducing the Sprawl in Mortgage Lending,” the mortgage industry is plagued by disconnected technology that slows the process down—and cuts into the bottom line. Lenders should move toward a singular, more comprehensive LOS that can handle the mortgage process from cradle to grave, the paper reports.