Late last year, real estate firm Zillow reported that renters living in the United States paid a cumulative $441 billion in rents throughout 2014, a nearly 5 percent annual increase spurred by rising numbers of renters and climbing prices. Results from a more recent survey conducted by Zillow and Pulsenomics suggest that rent prices will continue to be a problem for the aspiring homeowner for years to come.
Read More »Applications Point to Jump in January New Home Sales
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Thursday that new home purchase applications rose 29 percent from December to January, not including any seasonal adjustments. The group pulled its data from its monthly Builder Application Survey, which tracks application volumes from mortgage subsidiaries of homebuilders.
Read More »Continued Job Growth Lifts Mortgage Rates from 2015 Lows
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending February 12 shows the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) was 3.69 percent (0.6 point) this week, up a full 10 basis points from last week's 2015 low of 3.59 percent.
Read More »DocMagic Implements MISMO 3.3 Ahead of Integrated Disclosures Deadline
With months to go before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Integrated Disclosure Rule takes effect, California-based DocMagic says its entire solution set is now aligned to transition into the new requirements.
Read More »Home Prices Up 6% in 2014’s Fourth Quarter
The national median price for existing single-family homes in the fourth quarter of 2014 was $208,700, up 6.0 percent from the same quarter in 2013, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That was better than the third quarter, which saw 4.8 percent annual growth.
Read More »Firms Announce Class Actions Against Ocwen Spin-Off
Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP alerted HLSS shareholders on Tuesday about the suit, which targets HLSS for not being open about the company's close relationship with Ocwen, which has suffered from wave after wave of regulatory setbacks in the last year.
Read More »Cash Sales Share Continues 23-Month Declining Streak
According to CoreLogic, cash sales made up 36.1 percent of total home sales in November, down from 38.8 percent a year prior. The drop marks the 23rd straight month of year-over-year declines, CoreLogic said. Compared to October, the cash sales share was up about half a percentage point, "as is typical for the fall and winter months."
Read More »Mortgage Applications Reverse Course as Interest Rates Tick Up
Mortgage applications, including both purchase and refinance volumes, fell a seasonally adjusted 9.0 percent week-over-week for the week ending February 6, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Wednesday.
Read More »International Document Services Names First-Ever CEO
International Document Services (IDS), a mortgage document preparation vendor operating out of Salt Lake City, has promoted former EVP Mark Mackey to CEO.
Read More »Average Down Payments Rise in Q4
According to the company's most recent data, the average down payment on conventional, 30-year fixed-rate loan offers made to LendingTree borrowers last quarter was 17.59 percent, up from 16.01 percent in the final months of 2013.
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