Consumers who are discouraged to apply for a mortgage because of fear of rejection increased to 7.1% from 5.7% in October of 2016, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s February 2017 survey. That means that more consumers are not looking for homes, or applying for refinancing because they believe they won’t get the mortgage. Not surprisingly, the…
Despite rising mortgage rates and increasing home prices, many consumers are feeling good about housing going into the spring buying season. As evidence, Fannie Mae’s monthly index of homebuyer sentiment rose to its highest level since 2011. That’s great news. Woo-Woo! According to Doug Duncan, Chief Economist at Fannie Mae, Millennials showed strong increases in job confidence and income growth.…
Two recent reports, one by Fannie and another by Trulia, an online marketplace, indicate that consumers may be a little less optimistic when it comes to homeownership. The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index declined for the fourth straight month in November by about a half a percent (not much). This included information gathered both pre and post-election. Interestingly, Trulia…
Beginning in 2019, lenders must report an additional 24 loan data elements under HMDA, collected for loans originated in 2018. This means lenders must be prepared by January 1, 2018, to capture these data elements. A complete list of the required data can be found at HMDA. Lenders have expressed concerns with the additional consumer information being captured. Does this…
Recently, we’ve read and heard much about what needs to be done to improve homeownership opportunities. A recent survey shows that many Americans are concerned with the housing market and believe the presidential candidates need to address this issue. The surveys say the lending industry and the government need to do more. Is this true or is it that consumers…
Recent surveys conducted by Wells Fargo, Ipsos Public (a global market research company) and Chase reveal that although many consumers think they know and understand the home buying and mortgage process, there is still quite a bit of misunderstanding (Unaware). They think they know, but they don’t know what they don’t know. The good news is that the majority of those…
