Are homebuilders too pessimistic?
On July 11, Rick Palacios had less a Twitter thread and more a group therapy session. Palacios posted messages about homebuilder sentiment – sentiments roughly equivalent to the feelings you have upon realizing your wallet is in the car, and the car just got towed. “Someone turned out the lights on our sales in June,” […]
Selling to Gen Z – what you need to know
A couple of decades ago, the idea of kids owning houses would have raised a few eyebrows; today, not so much. Gen Zers register far less restraint than preceding generations and it shows in their thirst for home ownership. Granted there are far fewer of them on the charts right now, but the indications are […]
How to generate seller leads in a tight inventory environment
It’s no secret that the housing industry is facing inventory challenges right now. The most recent data from NAR indicates there is a 2.6-month supply of inventory in the US. A balanced market is 4.5 months, which means most areas will have to increase active listings by nearly two-fold to return to normal industry levels. […]
Single-family housing starts plummet, and it’s going to get worse
Housing starts fell 2.0% month over month in June to the lowest rate since April 2020, reflecting the increased pessimism among homebuilders. Housing starts dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.559 million in June, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The rate […]
HUD’s small-dollar mortgage plan still hazy
The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it is “looking very hard” at how to make it easier to finance small-dollar mortgages, but has yet to spell out how it will accomplish that goal. In April, HUD signaled it would take on the issue. But a senior HUD official in mid-July stated the obstacles […]
Higher mortgage rates, economic uncertainty behind declining home purchase applications
New home purchase applications dropped 12% year over year in June due to higher mortgage rates and economic uncertainty, according to the builder application survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Month over month, application volume dipped by 10%. New residential construction and permitting activity weakened from March through May, which reduced the number of […]
Budgetary Projections: Here Today, Forgotten Tomorrow
By Thomas P. Miller In late June, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) updated its recent series of 10-year estimates of federal subsidies for health insurance coverage for Americans under age 65. The latest guesstimates did not draw much attention overall but buried in the numbers were several “Oops, They Did It Again” miscalculations of the […]
FHFA opens fintech office and seeks feedback on mortgage fintech
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator imagines a future where, perhaps through artificial intelligence and machine learning, errors in mortgages are identified in real time before a loan is closed. Automating compliance could make eligibility, as well as pricing and pooling decisions, and verify and validate that information. But that scenario is a long way […]
Stewart Louisiana expands support for commercial title, hires underwriting counsel
Stewart Title of Louisiana is expanding its support for commercial real estate transactions, through the addition of Ashley Coco as the firm’s Louisiana underwriting counsel, it announced Tuesday. Representatives of Stewart said Coco with provide title agents within the Stewart Trusted Provider Network with underwriting support and solutions for their title insurance transactions within the […]