Commentary

“The mortgage delinquency rate fell to its lowest level for any first quarter since MBA’s survey began in 1979 and was the second lowest quarterly rate overall, just 11 basis points above the survey low in the third quarter of 2022,” said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s VP of Industry Analysis.

Completed residential projects in buildings with five or more units jumped 60% year over year on a seasonally adjusted basis to 484,000 in March—the most recent month for which data is available.

A new survey found that 50% of respondents cannot or would not borrow against their homes due to the current interest rate environment.

About 7% of the 221 metropolitan areas tracked by the National Association of Realtors reported double-digit price gains in Q1, falling from 18% from Q4 2022.

“This month’s increase in the HPSI was the largest in over two years, primarily driven by consumers’ more optimistic mortgage rate expectations,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s SVP and Chief Economist.

The number of homes that went under contract within two weeks rose 2% from March. While that jump may seem small, it’s notable because the share of homes selling in two weeks typically falls in April after peaking in March.

Attorneys T. Robert Finlay and Jonathan D. Fink explore a recent court ruling where a lender’s settlement agreement with its defaulting borrowers violated California’s usury laws by including a provision for interest at a higher rate than that allowed by state law.

As expected, the Federal Reserve raised rates again at the end of their May meeting by a quarter point—this is now the tenth-straight increase.

While annual home price growth fell to lows not seen in a decade, growth still increased for the 134th consecutive month in March 2023.

Inflation and rising rents are leaving renters little to work with after paying their monthly dues.