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92 CALIFORNIA Clayton Holdings Opens New Silicon Valley Office Clayton Holdings LLC, a provider of loan due diligence, surveillance, REO manage- ment, and consulting services to the mort- gage industry, recently announced that it has opened a consulting office in Silicon Valley. According to the company, the new office will help serve the growing number of financial technology companies being formed in the San Francisco Bay Area, particularly those involved in the mortgage and consumer lending markets. Clayton Holdings noted that they are help- ing fin-tech companies close the gap between the innovative technology being developed and the reality of operating in a highly regulated, well-entrenched industry. Clayton Holdings will provide consultants, operating procedures, and data for these fin-tech companies. Andrew Pollock, Senior Managing Direc- tor and Head of Clayton Consulting, will lead the office in Los Gatos, California, and man- age the fin-tech consulting team. "Entrepreneurs and venture capital firms are turning their significant energy and resources to the consumer lending and mortgage industries, developing alternative ways of vetting bor- rowers, creating new loan origination systems, and bringing other ideas and solutions to the lending industry," said Joe D'Urso, President of Clayton. "But innovation doesn't always account for regulatory compliance, and Clayton has the data, experience, and consultants to help these companies bridge the gap between their ideas, technology and the highly-regulated industry that they are seeking to join and change." Pollock added, "By opening a local office, we will be better able to serve this growing group of firms by offering our experience and data resources to enhance their innovative ideas and groundbreaking technology." CoreLogic's Matrix Platform Reaches Over Half a Million Subscribers CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics, and data-enabled services provider, recently announced that its Matrix multiple listing platform has exceeded 500,000 real estate professional subscribers. According to CoreLogic, this will mark the first time in history that a single multiple- listing platform has served more than half a million users on the internet. "is is a truly momentous milestone," said Chris Bennett, General Manager of Real Estate Solutions for CoreLogic. "Historically, the MLS industry has been fractured by many competing vendors, with no one system able to emerge as the dominant standard. Matrix has changed that." CoreLogic said that the 500,000 figure does not include accounts where Matrix oper- ates in parallel with another multiple listing platform or clients in the Matrix implemen- tation queue, which represent an additional 100,000 users. "Matrix embraces open data standards and best-practices in web development to create a unique combination of blazing performance, advanced functionality and broad accessibil- ity," Bennett stated. "Quite simply, Matrix is the right platform at the right time." In 2014, CoreLogic began changing its system implementation resources to help convert hundreds of thousands of users from its other multiple listing platforms to Matrix and approximately 250,000 users have made the switch. "We're simply thrilled that Matrix contin- ues to attract so much attention from both new and existing customers," Bennett concluded. "With the upcoming release of Matrix 360— which will directly integrate our industry- leading Realist property information with the Matrix platform—2016 promises to be a very exciting year for CoreLogic clients." Economist: TRID is Not Affecting Housing Market Potential While November's substantial decline in existing-home sales was largely attributed to the impact of the TRID, or "Know Before You Owe" mortgage rule, which went into effect on October 3, one economist said the CFPB's controversial rule is not affecting housing market potential. While TRID may have been the main driver between November's 10.5 percent drop in the annual pace of home sales from 5.32 mil- lion to 4.76 million, First American Financial Corporation Chief Economist Mark Fleming pointed out that the U.S. housing market has endured an existing-home sales decline for three Novembers in a row—and that the num- ber of pending sales suggest the "TRID shock" on the housing market will be temporary. "What's unique about the decline this time is the increased magnitude of the month-over- month drop," Fleming said. "In addition to the winter home sales woes we have seen in the past two years, the additional decline is being attrib- uted to delayed closings caused by the imple- mentation of the Know-Before-You-Owe rule. Pending Home Sales, which measures contract signings and is a leading indicator of actual sales in the subsequent month, strongly indicates that existing-home sales will rebound in December as the delayed closing of signed contracts in November come to fruition in December." First American's Potential Home Sales model, which gauges how far over or under existing-home sales are from their long-run potential, based on current market fundamen- tals, showed an increase by half a percentage point from November to December, compared to a decline of 5.1 percentage points from the same period in 2014. e 0.5 percentage point increase in December represents about 26,000 homes. Currently, the model of potential existing-home sales is up by about 78 percent from its low reached in February 2009. While the potential sales rate is down by about 631,000 from the most recent peak in February 2014, the underperformance gap is closing. It was estimated at 902,000 for December 2015, down from 1.8 million in February 2014. Fleming stated that not only has the model for market potential remained stable, but also has the potential for significantly more sales ac- tivity. Mortgage rates began the year at under 4 percent and may rise if the Fed further increases the short-term federal funds rate, but are still expected to remain below 5 percent for the year. Fleming said he does not expect that the modest mortgage rate increase forecasted will not significantly affect the purchasing power of borrowers who are seeking mortgage loans. Market potential will be affected in 2016 by steady but modest income growth and slowing home price appreciation, which indicates that existing-home sales are likely to stay in the range of 5.5 million to 6 million, Fleming said. e slowing pace of home price appreciation is good news for potential first-time homebuyers, since it reduces the gap between housing asset growth and income growth, according to Fleming. "Regulatory shock aside, the existing-home market should benefit in 2016 from an environ- ment marked by continued low rates, strong purchasing power, slowing price appreciation and continued economic improvement," Flem- ing said. "e winter home sales woes of late last year are not an indication of any structural change in market potential, but a temporary shock that will be quickly forgotten."

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