A housing market marked by relatively high interest rates and tight inventory — and punctuated by the practice of home inspection waivers to sweeten offers — are taking a bite out of business for home inspectors, who play a key role in the sales process by ensuring that buyers are not being sold a lemon […]
The mortgage-servicing rights (MSR) market remains robust as we turn the corner into 2024, and though it is expected to slightly underperform 2023, the market is still projected to notch healthy trading volumes in 2024 — hovering near the $1 trillion mark for the fourth year in a row, market observers forecast. But the MSR […]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in the spotlight again over the role some housing-industry experts say they could play in reducing mortgage rates if they resumed a more active investor role in the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market. That’s a role those government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) have not played since prior to entering into conservatorship in the wake of […]
Home-equity lending overall found its wings in 2023 as a number of independent mortgage banks ramped up product lines over the course of the year — despite a bump in the road in the third quarter when mortgage rates surged past 7%. The popularity of home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) and closed-end second (CES) […]
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as of Jan. 1, 2024, is accepting beneficial-ownership information reports from existing and newly created companies, a mandate that applies to many real estate-related entities. FinCEN, part of the U.S. Department of Treasury, has been authorized to collect the reports, a requirement established under the Corporate Transparency Act of 2021. The law, enacted to curb […]
The year ahead promises to offer the housing industry some relief, compared with a grueling 2023, but it is likely to be only a small bounce forward toward a healthier market. The housing industry, including the secondary market it feeds, is still likely to be sluggish in 2024, with marginal improvements in some sectors as […]
As 2023 winds to a close, so too does a brutal year for the housing market, a year marked by rising rates, steep home prices, scarce inventory and anemic mortgage originations, compared with the boom years of 2020 and 2021. It also has been a brutal year for the secondary market that creates liquidity for […]
