Tag Archives: Attorneys & Title Companies

Fixed mortgage rates took a major leap up last week amid news of a growing economy led in part by the recovering housing market.

Personal income jumped a staggering 2.6 percent in December, almost four times the 0.7 increase economists forecast, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday. Part of the December increase, BEA said, was due to "accelerated bonus payments and other irregular pay in private wages in anticipation of changes in individual income tax rates." Personal consumption spending rose 0.2 percent, slightly below the expected 0.3 percent increase. The increase in personal spending--$22.6 billion --came primarily in spending on services.

On an annual basis, 2012 was the strongest year for originations since 2007, according to Lender Processing Services' December Mortgage Monitor.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance jumped 38,000 to 368,000 for the week ending January 26, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected a smaller increase to 350,000 from the prior week's 330,000 initial claims. The weekly jump in initial claims was the first in three weeks. It reflected, in part, a drop in the seasonal adjustment factor the Labor Department applies to the raw data, which includes holiday workers whose jobs were eliminated.

As the multifamily sector continues to flourish, Freddie Mac also announced it hit record volume for its multifamily business in 2012.

Federal Housing Administration commissioner Carol Galante announced Wednesday a series of changes to be issued this week that will allow the agency to better manage risk and strengthen its anemic Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund. The announced changes include consolidating FHA's reverse mortgage program, raising of mortgage insurance premiums, and requiring borrowers to continue paying annual insurance premiums for the entire life of their mortgage loans.

With a nod to the report the nation's economy had contracted in the fourth quarter, the Federal Open Market Committee ("FOMC") voted Wednesday to continue its program of purchasing $40 million a month of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and to maintain the target Fed Funds rate at 0 to 0.25 percent. The FOMC vote was 11-1 with only Kansas City Fed President Esther George (in her first meeting as a voting member of the committee) voting "no."

McLean Mortgage Corporation, a privately held full-service mortgage lender based in Fairfax, Virginia, announced that the company closed more than $1.5 billion in mortgage volume in 2012, a 140 percent increase in production levels over 2011.

Irvine, California-based CoreLogic announced the availability of CoreLogic Bond Tracker, a new bond assessment service for non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).

The average credit score among online mortgage shoppers is rising and is well above the overall national average, according to a recent study by MortgageMarvel.com.