For the 20th straight week, servicers’ forbearance portfolio volume dropped — this time a staggering 26 basis points, to 3.50% in the period ending July 11, per a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. According to MBA’s estimate, 1.75 million homeowners are in forbearance plans. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased eight basis points to 1.83% — after […]
Summary List Placement On May 18, a pro-Trump think tank called the Claremont Institute hosted a conference at a Ritz Carlton not far from the Pentagon. It featured talks by a small but influential faction of American conservatives including former Trump national-security advisor Michael Anton, Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, and “Hillbilly Elegy” author and […]
Blend Labs‘ life as a public company is off to a promising start. Late last week, Blend sold 20 million shares of Class A stock at $18 apiece, raising $360 million. Shares closed trading at $20.90, giving Blend a valuation of around $4.6 billion. Blend CEO Nima Ghamsari will control 100% of Class B shares, […]
Summary List Placement The White House just made it official: there’s a problem in the housing sector. Maybe it’s even a crisis. On Friday, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, and Council of Economic Advisers Chair Cecilia Rouse held a virtual event […]
Summary List Placement Even the people who want to sell you a house think it’s too expensive. The severe housing shortage in the US — caused by an underinvestment in housing construction — has led to spiking rent and home prices, and an “affordability crisis.” That’s the official opinion of the organization that represents 1.3 […]
Summary List Placement Teachers in South Carolina are being handed $2,500 “thank you” bonuses as schools struggle to retain staff after a tumultuous 18 months. Several states are using federal stimulus funds to pay teachers morale-boosting one-time bonuses to thank them for their work during the pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. South Carolina’s Marlboro […]
Summary List Placement It’s only been seven months into the year and markets have already witnessed a multitude of once-in-a-decade events. Retail traders flocked to no-fee brokerage apps and coordinated short squeezes against well-known hedge funds, while the US stock market has continually reached new all-time highs. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are up 15% […]
Summary List Placement June’s jobs report shows the economy is recovering, but the nation is still down 7.5 million jobs from over a year ago when the unemployment rate was less than 4%. Today, we are not near that number, and more than 42% of those unemployed have been that way for more than six […]
Summary List Placement If you’ve spent any time thinking about post-pandemic fashion, you may know that the social media skirmishes over skinny jeans, side parts, cargo shorts, and Crocs, all add up to one thing: nothing is universally cool anymore. The decline of “cool,” as mapped out by Vox’s Safy-Hallan Farah, is another economic trend […]
Summary List Placement Many states that are have almost recovered to pre-pandemic employment levels are led by GOP-governors that have recently cut federal unemployment benefits. New monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that several states that have cut the extra $300 weekly federal unemployment benefits are closer to pre-pandemic employment relative to […]
Summary List Placement Former Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams on Saturday said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should extend its mask requirements, amid the rise of COVID-19 variants. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky in late June said fully vaccinated Americans don’t need masks in most public places. Adams on Saturday said officials […]
Summary List Placement Indiana on Friday resumed paying pandemic unemployment benefits, including the weekly $300 enhanced federal supplement, after the state Court of Appeals denied the state’s attempt to continue halting the disbursements, according to The Indianapolis Star. Since the programs restarted, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development has already paid 25,000 people, with over […]
Summary List Placement President Biden’s massive infrastructure spending plan could widen up even more opportunities for pension funds — who are already pumping money into an asset class they’ve long seen as an attractive area of investment. Since June, Biden and a group of senators have been working on legislation that could infuse $1.2 trillion […]
Summary List Placement Not too long ago, you could pick up a worn but decent used car for something like $5,000 and hit the road. Those days may be long gone. Used-car prices have surged to never-before-seen highs during the pandemic, and the inflated prices may be here to stay for at least the next […]
Summary List Placement Some restaurants are cutting down their opening hours or temporarily closing for days on end because they simply can’t find enough workers to serve diners, amid the huge labor shortage hitting the hospitality industry. One even shut down for a day after rude diners swore at staff and made them cry. Central […]
The second big mortgage joint venture announcement this week is a meeting of the Glenns. Glenn Sanford’s eXp World Holdings announced Thursday a mortgage joint venture with Glenn Stearns’s Kind Lending, called Success Lending. The declaration comes 48 hours after Compass and Guaranteed Rate told of a definitive agreement to begin their own mortgage joint […]
Real estate platform OJO Labs is expanding into Canada, the company announced this week. Canadian customers can now work directly with the OJO concierge team to connect with local agents and mortgage professionals from Royal Bank of Canada, said Natalka Falcomer, who was named president of OJO Home Canada. “OJO Labs provides intuitive, personalized consumer […]
As Chief Operating Officer at First Guaranty Mortgage Corp, Sarah Gonzalez has modernized the FGMC brand, recruited top talent and implemented operational efficiencies that significantly reduce the cost per loan across all production channels. During her third year at FGMC, Gonzalez was recognized by HousingWire as a 2020 Vanguard. The HW Vanguard awards program recognizes C-level […]
Summary List Placement The pandemic has upended the market for new and used cars, sending prices skyrocketing and inventories dwindling. A buying frenzy — coupled with soaring prices and a historically low supply of vehicles — has turned car salespeople into enemies, one dealership employee told Bloomberg. “It’s really cutthroat,” Jared Luner, a salesman at […]
Summary List Placement It’s not just you – some grocery products are getting smaller. Ingredients and manufacturing are getting more expensive thanks to inflation, and if they can’t cut costs, companies have two main choices – hiking up prices or making their products smaller. Many of these size changes are subtle, like making candy bars […]
Summary List Placement In the first-of-its-kind state initiative, California just approved a program to distribute monthly checks to its residents, marking a step toward a universal basic income in the country. On Thursday, California’s state legislature unanimously passed a $35 million guaranteed income program funded by taxpayer dollars, in which residents can receive up to […]
Summary List Placement After President Joe Biden reached an agreement with a bipartisan group of senators on an infrastructure plan, many Democrats criticized how the deal cut out many care-economy measures, like eldercare and affordable housing. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York doubled down on those criticisms on Thursday, promising that progressives will “tank” the […]
Summary List Placement Americans spent $621.3 billion at retail stores and restaurants last month, according to the Census Bureau. That’s up 0.6% from the Bureau’s revised estimate of $617.9 billion in May. Economists expected a 0.4% decline over the month, according to Bloomberg. The US economy is mainly a consumer economy, with personal consumption amounting […]
Summary List Placement American Airlines is canceling extended voluntary leave for about 3,300 of its flight attendants as it prepares for a surge in travel demand, which will last beyond the summer. Returning cabin crews will restart flights in November and December, and two-thirds will need to be retrained, the airline told employees in a […]
The low mortgage rates that propelled the housing market throughout the COVID-19 pandemic will rise later in the year, but they’ll do so gradually, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its quarterly outlook. That will give more homeowners a final opportunity to refinance their mortgages. The gradual rate climb has led Freddie’s economists to increase their […]
Summary List Placement While the economy is showing promising signs of recovery, adding 850,000 payrolls in June, inflation is also on the rise, concerning some economists and executives. To balance it out, CEOs are saying they will have to raise prices on their goods. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Consumer Price Index release showed […]
Mortgage credit availability dipped 8.5% in June to 118.8 — indicating that lending standards are tightening, per the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index. It’s the lowest MCAI level — which uses 100 as a benchmark — since September of 2020, and ends more than six months of increasing credit supply, according to Joel […]
Summary List Placement The country is reopening and the economy is recovering from the pandemic, and while COVID-19 cases are down, prices for goods and services are on the rise. President Joe Biden’s administration says this phenomenon, known as inflation, is not a cause for concern, but CEOs of major companies are warning that they’ll […]
Online mortgage marketplace Morty announced the close of a $25 million Series B financing round, pushing the total company valuation to $150 million. Morty’s marketplace has processed more than $500 million in loans in the past 12 months, and saw revenue grow 800% year over year. The company is currently licensed in 36 states and Washington D.C., […]
Summary List Placement This summer is looking a lot brighter for teen employment compared to last year. Pew Research noted that in 2020, teen summer employment “plunged to its lowest level since the Great Recession, erasing a decade’s worth of slow gains.” However, the employment-to-population ratio, or the share of teens who have a job, […]
Summary List Placement Even in an increasingly vaccinated America, dining out just isn’t the same as it was two years ago. At many restaurants, you can no longer linger past dessert as late as you once could and you might end up forking over more dollars for your meal. It has a lot to due […]
The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell two basis points from the week prior to 2.88%, according to mortgage rates data released Thursday by Freddie Mac‘s PMMS. According to Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, the decline provides modest relief to those who are looking to buy homes in a tough market, with scant inventory and […]
Summary List Placement Initial unemployment claims came in at 360,000 for the week ending July 10, below the previous week’s revised read of 386,000. That reading matched the consensus forecast among economists, according to Bloomberg. The decline in the seasonally adjusted number resumes the overall downward trend of the volatile data series after an unexpected […]
Summary List Placement A frothy M&A environment helped to boost profits at the big banks in the second quarter, as did large releases of loan loss provisions firms had stored away in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. But as revenues in fixed-income trading fell short of those seen during last year’s volatile […]
A shareholder sued Rocket Mortgage, the Detroit-based mortgage behemoth, for allegedly making misleading disclosures to conceal adverse market conditions. The class action-seeking lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District Of Michigan’s Southern Division, alleges that Rocket was aware of factors that were already taking a toll on its business, while touting its future performance […]
Summary List Placement If you’re eager to return to the office, this data isn’t for you. But, if you’re one of the nearly 40% of workers who wants to keep working from home so much that you’d consider quitting your job rather than return to the office, Goldman Sachs has some data that could help […]
Summary List Placement For the nation’s minimum-wage workers, even working two full-time jobs sometimes isn’t enough to afford rent, according to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The average minimum-wage worker would have to work 79 hours a week to afford a modest one-bedroom rental and 97 hours a week to […]
Summary List Placement The much-expected wave of inflation amid an unprecedented post-pandemic economic reopening is here, but how long it will stay with us is an open question. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday that the Consumer Price Index, which measures changes in the prices of a basket of common goods and services, rose […]
Summary List Placement Consumer prices are rising, ticking up by 0.9% last month. That’s the largest increase in more than a decade, according to the latest US government figures. But that figure is just a summary of the overall price picture for American households — the important stuff is in the details. To see how […]
Summary List Placement As the school year approaches, some children will say goodbye to virtual learning and hello to a lot of new back-to-school clothes, shoes, and other items needed for in-person learning. A recent Deloitte report found parents are gearing up to spend more on back-to-school shopping than in 2019, and that they are […]
Summary List Placement For Americans, early July marks Independence Day. This year, it also marks independence for hospitality workers. A record number of hospitality workers are simply quitting their jobs with no intention of ever going back, declaring a certain kind of independence. And those still on the job just gained independence from daily housekeeping as […]
After several consecutive weeks of drops, mortgage applications jumped 16% for the week ending July 9, 2021, according to the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The prior week‘s report showed a 1.8% drop in applications to the lowest level since January 2020. The sudden increase in applications was driven “heavily” by increased refinancing as […]
Summary List Placement In today’s topsy-turvy car market, people are shelling out thousands more for used cars than they did just a year ago, with prices jumping more than 10% in June alone. And although prices appear to have peaked, it’ll be a long while before you’ll be able to pick up a secondhand set […]
Summary List Placement Senate Democrats on Tuesday announced they struck a deal on a $3.5 trillion price tag for a Democrat-only infrastructure package that will expand Medicare and strengthen social safety net programs — and skirt Republicans staunchly opposed to more federal spending. Combined with a $579 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal, the party-line agreement would […]
Guaranteed Rate has found another dance partner. And Compass is borrowing from the playbook of its most visible direct competitor. Guaranteed Rate, the Chicago-based mortgage lender, and Compass, the New York City-headquartered residential real estate brokerage, “entered into a definitive agreement to form OriginPoint, a new mortgage origination company,” according to a press release Tuesday. […]