A report from Mortgage News Daily. “Black Knight’s latest Mortgage Monitor report was released this morning. One of the two key pieces of additional data is the average mortgage payment associated with the average-priced home. After all, rates are lower now than they were at the last price peak in 2006. Nonetheless, the difference in prices has now more than offset the difference in rates. The second key piece of data from Black Knight compares median incomes to average home prices to come up with a payment to income ratio. In other words, how much of the median family’s income is needed to afford the average-priced home (20% down, 30yr fixed)?”
“As the chart suggests, this ratio was only ever higher for a few years leading up to the mortgage meltdown and financial crisis of 2008.”
From Bankrate. “Prices in February rose by the fastest annual rates on many items that consumers regularly buy. Among them were service-based sectors, such as car repair costs and meals out at restaurants — adding to fears that inflation in motion tends to stay in motion. ‘We’ve had price stability for a very long time and maybe come to take it for granted,’ said Fed Chair Jerome Powell. ‘But now we see the pain.’”
From Consumer Affairs. “‘When we see a significant increase in calls from people calling about foreclosures, we know that it is going to have a negative impact on home sales, housing starts, and mortgage applications,’ said Legal Shield CEO Jeff Bell in an interview with ConsumerAffairs. He notes that this increase closely correlates with the expiration of eviction moratoriums and forbearance programs that were enacted years ago to minimize economic damage caused by the pandemic. Now that those programs have ended, the extent of the economic damage and consumer stress is being revealed.”
“‘It was a particularly regressive policy decision to tell people to shelter at home or to lock down,’ Bell said. ‘By that I mean people who can only make their living by leaving the home were adversely affected. It was especially hard on women.’”
The Business Times in Colorado. “Property foreclosure activity continues to pick up in Mesa County. Annette Young, the administrative coordinator at Heritage Title Co. in Grand Junction said 80 foreclosure filings and seven foreclosure sales were reported in the first quarter. That’s up from two filings and seven sales for the first quarter of 2021. While eye catching, the increase isn’t surprising, Young said. ‘This was to be expected as catch-up following the moratorium.’”
From Cal Matters. “When California legislators voted last June to again extend eviction protections, they promised the third time would be the charm. But the state’s rent relief program continues to lag. ‘Enough is enough,’ said Christine Kevane La Marca, CalRHA president. ‘By halting applications for those in need, and extending the eviction moratorium, rental housing providers are being forced to carry the financial weight of the pandemic and some of them will lose their properties as a result.’”
From Westfair Online. “A Hyde Park real estate development company that has $103 million in assets and only $14 million in liabilities has nonetheless filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Kenwood Commons LLC said it is facing an imminent foreclosure, according to a declaration by manager Jacob Frydman, but intends to reorganize the project either by refinancing or selling properties. Kenwood Commons is based at Frydman’s $45 million house in Hyde Park but the proposed development is at the former 75-acre campus of the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Albany.”
“Kenwood Commons bought the property for $18 million in 2017, according to news accounts, and the following year proposed a $500 million project with condominiums, townhouses apartment buildings, hotels, and an arts and cultural center. The project stalled as it was beset by overdue taxes, money owed to contractors and loan debt, according to a Historic Albany Foundation timeline.”
The Voice Online in Canada. “The NDP said that on Monday afternoon, BC Liberal MLA Bruce Banman said of BC’s housing market: ‘In my neck of the woods, I’ve talked to a few realtors… it’s cooling off.’ Banman was speaking against the BC NDP’s bill to introduce a Homebuyers Protection Period that would protect people who are buying a home in BC’s high-pressure market. Banman said the measure ‘really isn’t actually needed as much as people think it is’ because of the ‘cooling’ market.”
From Yahoo Finance. “‘People who overstretched themselves to get into the property market recently could feel the heat of the upcoming rate hikes,’ RateCity research director Sally Tindall said. ‘Many variable borrowers will have to put their expenses under the microscope to see where they can trim the fat.’ Tindall warned that borrowers who’d had a change in circumstances, like a new baby or change of career, could also struggle to make higher monthly repayments.”
“‘A lot of people who bought recently are already mortgaged to the hilt and the RBA is acutely aware of this,’ Tindall said. ‘The central bank is not going to hike the cash rate so far and so fast that people start defaulting on their mortgages en masse.’”
From Reuters. “Australia’s central bank on Tuesday opened the door to the first interest rate increase in more than a decade as it dropped a previous pledge to be ‘patient’ on policy, a major surprise that sent the local dollar to nine-month highs. ‘The retirement of the ‘patience’ mantra and is an acknowledgement that like the rest of the developed country complex, inflation in Australia has and will surprise with its magnitude and momentum,’ said GSFM investment strategist Stephen Miller. ‘The RBA wishes to avoid meeting an inflation target by causing a recession, or allowing high and potentially destabilising inflation to persist well into 2023.’”
From Stuff New Zealand. “The weakening trend was evident nationwide, and most areas had minor price declines or slight increases. CoreLogic head of research Nick Goodall said regional differences were showing through as the market downturn set in, and there had been an earlier than expected power shift to buyers. ‘Listings are higher, but it is not because significantly more are coming on to the market. It’s because properties are not selling at the same rate. As properties stay on the market longer and expectations of weaker conditions increase, buyers are ending up in a stronger position, with more time, choice and leverage than at any stage in the last couple of years. “
From Bloomberg. “China Evergrande Group agreed to pay the adviser fees of a bondholder group working with the cash-starved property developer to restructure debt, and to share more information with the creditors, according to people with knowledge of the agreement, who asked not to be named discussing private deal talks. The company’s offshore bonds are trading for pennies on the dollar on the cloudy outlook for a restructuring. Its 9.5% 2024 notes, the debt subject to the delayed payment in October, last traded around 13 cents on the dollar, according to Trace.”
The Charlotte Business Journal. “Movement Mortgage is staying mum on a report saying the company recently laid off more than 150 employees. A Housing Wire report said Movement is laying off operational staff nationwide, cutting about 170 employees in March, including those in processing, underwriting and closing. The report cited multiple company sources. It is unclear how many of those layoffs were at the local office.”
“This latest news presents a different picture from a few months ago. The company hired more than 520 loan officers in 2021 and funded $33 billion in home mortgages that year. Layoffs in the mortgage industry are a growing trend nationwide, as interest rates start to rise and origination volumes cool down.”