Data

It is no surprise that the home market has favored the seller this buying season, but what is interesting is how millennials have treaded the challenging and sometimes expensive market. Ellie Mae’s April Millennial Tracker showed steady increases in home loans among the demographic. Certain metropolitan areas saw a larger boom than others.

New survey results show urban, rural, and suburban American homebuyers have “drastically different” profiles. Aside from agreeing on the importance of homeownership, the three groups vary greatly on most homebuying-related topics. The biggest differences lie with the urban buyer, who is younger, more transient, more likely to be an immigrant, and has a bigger budget. The average urban buyer is just 38 years old—nearly a full decade younger than the average suburban and rural buyer.

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.

While much buzz has been surrounding the presumed passing of the Financial Choice Act (H.R. 10), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan analysis for the U.S. Congress, released the budgetary effects of enacting the amended bill Tuesday. The original CBO estimate, released May 4, 2017, said enacting the legislation would reduce federal deficits by $24.1 billion over the 2017-2027 period, but the recalculated estimate said budget deficits would be significantly more than originally estimated. The House of Representatives is set to vote on the bill Thursday.

A new report shows that most millennials believe now is a good time to buy a home—and more than half of them are actually ready to take the plunge. About 51 percent of those surveyed said they are either extremely likely or very likely to buy within the next year. According to experts, impending mortgage rate hikes are likely causing the uptick in urgency. Still, roadblocks like scarce inventory and a lack of knowledge around the homebuying process could pose a problem for millennials.

A Purchase Sentiment Index was released Wednesday by Fannie Mae based on answers to six NHS questions that solicit consumers’ evaluations of housing market conditions and address topics that are related to their home purchase decisions. The index ultimately reports on whether consumers think it is a good or bad time to buy or sell a house, what direction they expect home prices and mortgage interest rates to move, how concerned they are about losing their jobs and whether their incomes are higher than they were a year earlier. Findings show patterns only seen twice in the surveys history.

According to a new study from the CFPB, consumers in lower-income parts of the country are more likely to establish credit history through negative means, like debt collection or public records. About 27 percent of low-income area consumers establish their history through what are called “non-loans,” while just 7.9 percent of consumers in high-income areas establish credit via non-loans. The study found that consumers in higher-income areas more commonly establish credit with a credit card or through co-borrowing.

According to a recent ranking published on Tuesday, secondary homes—particularly on the waterfront—may be more affordable than most homeowners believed. That is, if they know where to look. Florida, New Jersey, and Texas are great places to start searching.

The 2017 Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report for Q1 was released on Tuesday and reported that independent mortgage banks were having a rough start in the first quarter of 2017. Per loan, gains and production costs are down, resulting in lower net profits. Q1 was also a record breaking quarter for two statistics since its inception in 2008.

Blockchain is a big buzzword in technology right now. But when Jason Nadeau talks to customers, it quickly becomes clear that many people don’t fully understand what blockchain is—or how to use it. To help shed some light on what you really need to focus on as you consider the adoption of a blockchain strategy for the coming year, review these three points.