Home Price Report Defies Odds; Rates Lower Ahead of Fed; Ocwen Restructuring; Homeownership Stumbles

Home prices measured by CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI) posted their largest gains in nearly a year in March, continuing to confound the company's own forecasts. The HPI, which includes sales of distressed properties, was up 1.6 percent from February to March. This was the biggest monthly jump since the index gained 1.8 percent from March to April 2016. The January to February increase was 1.0 percent. On an annual basis, the CoreLogic HPI was up 7.1 percent compared to a 7.0 percent year-over-year change in February. The March's increase fell short of December's 7.2 percent advance, the largest advance of 2016. The company is projecting a 0.6 percent appreciation in home prices from March to April and that prices will increase by 4.9 percent on a year-over-year basis from March 2017 to

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/5/2/2771

Rates' Disproportionate Impact on Refi Pool; Action-Packed Week; Construction Spending Rises

It wouldn't be surprising to find both lenders and consumers suffering from whiplash following the first quarter of 2017. Mortgage rates, which shifted by as much as 30 basis points in either direction during the quarter, took the refinanceable population along for the ride. That population is defined by Black Knight Financial Services in its Mortgage Monitor as homeowners who can both qualify for refinancing and have the motivation to it. In any given week during the quarter, Black Knight says, "relatively small interest rate movements have increased or decreased the size of the refinanceable population by as much as 20 percent." For example, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped below 4.0 percent on April 20 and that increased the refinance pool to 4.1 million, up 46 percent from the 2

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/5/1/2769

CoreLogic Sees Signs of Credit Cracks; Rates Unchanged Ahead of Fed Week

Here we go again? Sam Khater, CoreLogic's deputy chief economist, says loan performance is beginning to show some cracks in what has been a near perfect veneer. This might be an early signal of a downturn in the credit cycle. Khater is not issuing a warning, merely alerting those who should be watching such things to pay attention. He writes, in an article in the CoreLogic Insights blog, that a typical economic expansion and recession are strongly driven by loan performance. When times are good, lenders take on more marginal borrowers then tend to become more conservative when loan performance begins to deteriorate. That often exacerbates an economic downturn. Loan performance across the four major types of loans (agricultural, business, personal consumption, and real estate) all improved throughout

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/4/28/2765

Rates Fight to Stay Low; Painfully Low Inventory Saps Pending Home Sales

Mortgage rates moved lower today, following a policy announcement from the European Central Bank (ECB). Some investors were concerned the ECB might begin sprinkling in clues about rate hikes or an early end to bond buying programs, but there was no such drama in the announcement or the press conference that followed. If you're not familiar with the ECB, it's essentially Europe's version of the Federal Reserve. Both wield tremendously large balance sheets (used to control supply and demand in rates markets, and thus, rates themselves). While central banks can only truly control the shortest term rates, investors who trade the bonds that drive longer-term rates (like mortgages) are nonetheless paying very close attention . Bottom line: with the ECB not sending any threating messages about shorter

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/4/27/2763

Rates Hold Ground After Tax Plan; Refinance Volume Improves; Another GSE Plan; Flood Insurance Developments

Mortgage rates were relatively unchanged today, but only after averaging the disparate changes from various lenders. That means some lenders are in much better shape versus yesterday while others are noticeably worse. This sort of disparate movement isn't typical of mortgage rates across lenders, but it can happen when underlying bond markets experience volatility on back-to-back afternoons. That was indeed the case over the past 48 hours. Bond markets weakened (which pushes rates higher) yesterday afternoon, but only a handful of lenders issued reprices (new, higher rates, in response to intraday market movement). Today's volatility was in our favor resulting in several lenders issuing POSITIVE reprices. Bonds made gains into the afternoon after Trump's tax plan was released. Stock markets

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/4/26/2761

Fannie's Big Student Loan Changes; at 2 Week Highs; New Home Sales Surge; Prices Not Cooling

Mortgage rates moved moderately higher again higher today, as global financial markets continued reacting to recent geopolitical flashpoints (like the French election, discussed yesterday). Markets are also moving in anticipation of future flashpoints (like tomorrow's tax reform announcement). In general, investors have piled back into riskier assets like stocks because the French election reduces long-term risks to the European Union. Investors previously were more willing to buy bonds--a safe haven asset frequently used to insulate investors from increased risk. The prospects for tax reform have a similar effect in that they encourage investors to favor riskier assets at the expense of bonds . When demand for bonds decreases relative to supply, rates move higher . To be clear, we can't have

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/4/25/2759

Home Prices Hit Post Crisis Peak; Unexpected Impact of Tax Season; French Election Pushes Rates Higher

Home prices in February rose at their fastest pace since last June, up 0.8 percent on a month-over-month basis. Black Knight Financial Services said its national-level Home Price Index (HPI) hit $268,000 during the month, a new post-crisis peak. Prices are now up 5.7 percent compared to March 2016 and have risen 1.0 percent since the first of this year. Washington State had the largest monthly gain, up 2.2 percent. Colorado and Oregon followed with 1.6 percent and 1.5 percent growth respectively. Prices did not fall in even the worst performing of the states: West Virginia and Connecticut, were unchanged from January. They were followed by Rhode Island and Ohio with, each with 0.1 percent gains. For the third month in a row Tuscaloosa was the poorest performing metropolitan area. Prices there

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/4/24/2757