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Meanwhile, year-over-year growth in the number of clients touring homes increased from 21 percent to 33 percent, as the share of clients making offers rose from 15 percent to 24 percent. Despite reports of consumer confidence waning, Redfin customers seemed relatively unfazed by Washington's affairs. "My clients think the ugly showdown we saw in October is unlikely to happen again," reported Philip Gvinter, a Redfin agent based in Washington, D.C. "After putting their home search on hold during the shutdown, they are ready to get back out there." Of course, with the government funded only through mid-January and the debt ceiling lifted until the first week of February, it remains to be seen whether the nation will have to sit through a rerun of October's political drama. Home Value Appreciation Set to Ease Over the Next Year Fast-paced home price appreciation has carried some local markets close to housing bubble territory, but deceleration over the summer months has Zillow analysts breathing a sigh of relief as the bubble threat deflates. Home value appreciation declined steadily for three months as of September, according to Zillow, with half of the nation's 20 largest metros experiencing negative appreciation for the month. "Far from being a negative sign, we're relieved to see more noticeable signs of cooling in the market," said Stan Humphries, chief economist for Seattle-based Zillow. "If home values continued to rise as they have, relatively unchecked, we would almost certainly be headed into another bubble cycle, and nobody wants that." At 1.2 percent, home value appreciation in the third quarter was about half that of the second quarter, according to the U.S. Zillow Home Value Index. Year-over-year, home values increased 6.4 percent in Q 3. Zillow's Home Value Index is now $163,000. While some markets continue to struggle, a few California markets—despite having escaped the worst of the housing crisis—have experienced fast-paced price gains over the past year. Rising prices threatened affordability in these markets as income growth lagged behind. 94 San Diego, California; Los Angeles, California; and San Francisco, California—all posting monthly price gains around 3 percent a few months ago—experienced price depreciation at the end of the third quarter. Zillow detected monthly declines of -1.2 percent in San Diego, -1.1 percent in Los Angeles, and -0.1 percent in San Francisco. "This is more proof that the market recovery is entering a new phase, transitioning away from the bounce off the bottom we've been experiencing and finding a more sustainable level," Humphries said. While half of the 30 largest metros experienced price declines over the month of September, none experienced annual declines, Zillow says. The company expects annual home price appreciation to continue to ease over the next year, reaching about 3.8 percent by September 2014. KNOW THIS IN THE NEWS GSEs Issue Notice of Updated Deed of Trust Form for West Virginia Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have updated the West Virginia Deed of Trust (Form 3049) to reflect changes in applicable state law. Lenders may begin using the revised form immediately and must begin using it by April 1, 2014. The updated security instrument can be found on the GSEs' websites. Spanish translations of the document are not yet available but will be posted at a later date. KNOW THIS Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have extended the acceptable foreclosure time line in Washington by 30 days to 360. As of September month-end, Lender Processing Services reports 9.7% of West Virginia's outstanding mortgages were delinquent or in foreclosure. West Virginia Wisconsin 90+ Day Delinquency Rate 90+ Day Delinquency Rate rank: 32 Foreclosure Rate September 2013 2.3% rank: 29 Unemployment Rate 1.4% 6.2% Foreclosure Rate September 2013 2.5% 1.9% year ago 2.3% 2.0% 7.6% 2.7% 3.2% -18.4% Top County -8.4% -41.2% Foreclosure Rate September 2013 2.7% Monroe CounTy 90+ Day Delinquency Rate September 2013 2.9% year ago 4.5% 2.8% year-over-year change 137.0% 3.9% year-over-year change -39.8% Top Core-Based Statistical Area 5.4% 21.9% Top Core-Based Statistical Area HunTingTon-ASHlAnd, WV-ky-oH 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate September 2013 90+ Day Delinquency Rate 2.3% 3.5% 2.5% Monroe, WI 2.7% year ago 1.7% 3.4% year-over-year change 3.1% Foreclosure Rate September 2013 year ago 2.2% Foreclosure Rate 4.8% year ago 1.7% -4.3% Top County Brooke CounTy 3.9% 6.9% year-over-year change -29.5% 90+ Day Delinquency Rate 6.6% year ago year-over-year change -2.2% Unemployment Rate 4.5% year-over-year change 47.2% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the September 2013 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary September 2013 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. 3.3% -38.8% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the September 2013 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary September 2013 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics.

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