Here in the Milwaukee area (yes, the autumn colors are stellar), I attended a Newrez joint venture event and one of the conversation topics (besides lenders either saying “no mas” and exiting or being purchased, more below, or NAR’s legal events, more below) is the changing landscape of down payments and down payment assistance programs. STRATMOR’s current blog is titled, “Mind the Down Payment”. Despite high mortgage rates and low buyer demand, home prices are still at record highs in many parts of the country leading to higher down payments. LendingTree analyzed data from more than 580,000 users of our platform who lived in one of the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas. A down payment on a home across the nation’s 50 largest metros averages $84,499. While down payments vary significantly by location, no metro in this year’s study has an average of less than $47,900. California is home to the three metros where down pa
Inflation and price increases can be widespread and impact many, like gasoline or flour, or can be very specific and impact only a small portion of the population, like guitar strings or limoncello. Continued rent increases impact many, not the least of which are the roughly 50 million tenants themselves along with their potential loan originators who could help them finance a house. Word has it that owners stay in their homes 13 years, although this source says 16 years, whereas tenants stay in their rental about 3 years for a house and 2.5 years for multi-family/apartments. There is a lot of hope being placed by lenders in tenants who move into ownership, as volume stinks. According to Curinos, August 2023 funded mortgage volume decreased 26 percent YoY and increased 8 percent MoM. In the Retail channel, funded volume was down 31 percent YoY and up 8 percent MoM. The average 30-year conforming retail funded rate in August was 6.82 percent, 13bps higher than July and 124bps higher tha
Everyone is watching the value of their 401(k) plan go down. You should be watching it go down from “across the pond,” sitting at a sidewalk café in Paris. Anyone traveling in Europe is rejoicing at the exchange rate: Things are more affordable for American tourists this summer, with the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar now about equal. It's the first time since 2002 (in the early years of the euro's existence) that the ratio came close to 1:1, but could come at a cost of global economic stability. The Fed is on track to continue hiking interest rates by 75 bps per meeting to conquer inflation, in comparison to the European Central Bank, which is still hesitant to get too aggressive. EU recession fears are more pronounced than they are in the U.S., especially given the grim energy outlook and the shutting of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for annual maintenance. (We all have a chance at listening to the MBA’s Dr. Mike Fratantoni di