RealtyTrac recently reported that a total of 14% of residential sales in the last year derived from people or institutions buying 10 or more residential properties. This is the highest level since RealtyTrac began tracking home purchases two years ago. Forty-nine percent of last month’s home sales were all-cash, up from 40% in August and […]
Economists at the Goldman Sachs Group reported than more than 50% of all homes sold last year and throughout this year were bought mortgage-free and that all-cash sales have more than doubled since 2006. Before the housing bubble burst, only 20% of homebuyers made cash-only transactions. Goldman Sachs analysts determined the percentage of cash-only home […]
Dropping to its lowest level in a year and a half, refinance demands fell for a fourth continuous week, while, the mortgage rates continued to climb. It was the weakest demand for refinancing since November 2011. According to the weekly Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) survey, as the average interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped […]
The Mortgage Bankers Association announced that overall mortgage application activity fell 4% the week ending March 29 to the lowest level since March 15. The number of applications for home purchases — a leading indicator of home sales — rose 1.4% but those gains were negated by the seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications, which […]
MarketWatch recently reported that the Mortgage Bankers Association is predicting that — barring any “blockbuster” announcement from the Federal Reserve next month — mortgage rates will come out of their record lows, reaching above 5% by 2011. The MBA predicts that rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will average 4.4% in the fourth quarter of […]
For the second consecutive week, mortgage applications have dropped, Reuters reported today. The Mortgage Bankers Association said that, despite rock-bottom interest rates, mortgage applications for both home purchases and refinancing decreased 8.9% for the week ending September 10. The MBA’s seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications decreased 10.8% the same week, its lowest level since […]
Despite mortgage rates falling to their lowest levels in decades, applications for home loans remained stagnant, the Associated Press reported today. The Mortgage Bankers Association says that overall applications rose 0.6% from the previous week, according to the AP. Applications for refinancing and home purchases increased by seasonally adjusted rates of 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively. […]
The Associated Press recently reported that more people are dropping out of the Obama administration’s loan modification program — a sign, experts say, that foreclosures will rise and cause further damage to an already weakened housing market. The Treasury Department says that, of the 1.3 million homeowners who enrolled in the program since March 2009, […]
In a report released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage applications in the U.S. declined over the last week, even as the National Association of Realtors reported strong sales of existing homes during November, in a report released yesterday. The MBA’s survey, which covers about 50% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, found […]
Brian Leibowitz, CEO of Affordable Financial Services LTD, answers a few questions on current trends in the mortgage industry. What do you think is the reason for the recent rise in mortgage applications? Low interest rates have been the major catalyst in motivating homeowners to attempt to refinance. But due to recent cutbacks in major […]