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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 60 January 2024 J O U R N A L Florida(5.3%). They fell most in Tacoma (-35.1%); Nassau County, New York (-20%); and New York (-19.7%). » Prices: Median sale prices rose most from a year earlier in Rochester, New York (17.9%); Anaheim (17.7%); and Fort Lauderdale, Florida (13.5%). They fell most in Austin, Texas (-8.8%); San An- tonio (-6.2%); and New Orleans (-3.7%). » Listings: New listings rose most from a year earlier in North Port (34.1%); Omaha, Nebraska (29.3%); and Cape Coral (22.5%). They fell most in Honolulu (-18%); Atlanta (-15.3%); and Greensboro (-13.9%). » Supply: Active listings increased fastest in Cape Coral (50.7%); North Port (39.2%); and New Orleans (24.2%). They decreased the fastest in Las Vegas (-34.7%); Stockton, California (-28.1%); and New Brunswick, New Jersey (-24.6%). » Competition: In Rochester, some 70.4% of homes sold above their final list price, the highest share among the metros Redfin analyzed. Next came Newark, New Jersey (62.2%) and Buf- falo (59.7%). The shares were lowest in West Palm Beach (8.9%); Cape Coral (10.1%); and New Orleans (11.5%). » Speed: In Rochester, roughly 66.2% of homes that went under contract did so within two weeks—the highest share among the metros Redfin analyzed. Next came Buffalo (52.8%) and Cincin- nati (51.4%). The lowest shares were in Honolulu (5.7%); Knoxville (9.3%); and Lake County, Illinois (10.1%). While some homebuyers and sellers have come to terms with today's econom- ic uncertainty, that same uncertainty is causing many of them to get cold feet, Stein said. Even though mortgage rates have dropped, housing affordability remains strained, meaning a lot of buyers still get nervous when they see their monthly payments on paper. Overall, economic woes are keeping many people out of the housing market altogether. Many Americans feel that the economy is in a bad place despite economic growth, rising wages, and low unemployment. One obvious culprit is the housing market, which is in its least affordable year on record. REPORT CLAIMS LENDING INEQUITIES AT NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION T he nation's largest credit union— Navy Federal—has been accused of alienating African American veterans and consumers when they apply for home mortgages, denying them at rates much higher than other banks reported, according to research by CNN. Navy Federal—which primarily lends to military servicemen, veterans, and their families—approved more than 75% of borrowers who identified as white for new conventional home mortgage purchases in 2022 (the last year with published data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), but less than 50% of African American borrowers who applied for the same type of loan were approved. While the racial lending gap is nothing new among banks due to long-held biases even after new legislation and programs within banks to offset these sentiments, the 29-percentage point in Navy Federal's approval rate was the largest among the top 50 mortgage lenders in the country. Worse, the disparity remains even among white and Black applicants when they reported similar income and debt- to-income ratios. Notably, Navy Federal approved a slightly higher percentage of applications from white borrowers making less than $62,000 a year than it did for Black borrowers making $140,000 or more. A further analysis made by CNN found that black applicants were more than twice as likely to be denied by While the racial lending gap is nothing new among banks due to long-held biases even after new legislation and programs within banks to offset these sentiments, the 29-percentage point in Navy Federal's approval rate was the largest among the top 50 mortgage lenders in the country.