Welcome back to iLeads Mortgage Market Minute, where we bring you the latest, most relevant news regarding the mortgage market. We hope you enjoyed last week’s edition where we talked about How the COVID-19 Pandemic Kick-Started Digital Innovation in Mortgage. This week we’re bringing you: Mortgage Applications Jump 13% as Refinancings Make a Comback
Americans’ anxiety about bills dropped in May, Fed survey shows*
Delinquency expectations in April were the highest in seven years after COVID-19 shut down the economy
Americans worried less about paying bills in May as the economy began reopening with new safety measures aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.
About 12.6% of people worried they wouldn’t be able to make minimum debt payments in May, down from April’s seven-year high of 16.2%, according to a Federal Reserve survey of consumer expectations released on Friday.
That put consumers back on par with December, when many people were worried about paying for holiday gifts, not dealing with the worst pandemic in more than a century. As deaths from COVID-19 began to mount in mid-March, states shut down businesses and issued stay-at-home orders to stem the spread of the disease.
When states began reopening in May, the biggest relief was felt by people making between $50,000 and $100,000, according to the survey. The share of people in that income bracket who worried about making minimum debt payments fell to 10.3% from April’s 15.9%. Read more in-depth here.
Main Street optimism ticks up as pent up demand lifts outlook*
Small business owners are considered the backbone of the American economy, and there’s a new report on Main Street Optimism. CNBC’s Kate Rogers reports.
Purchase mortgage applications rise for eighth straight week*
CNBC’s Diana Olick reports the latest mortgage application data.
Potential homebuyers are going to face historically low inventory this summer*
Should homebuyers expect a bidding war?
With a decreased number of new home listings, what will happen when homebuyers re-enter the market this summer?
LendingTree says that 53% of homebuyers are more likely to buy a home in the next year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with respondents saying they’re either tired of the small space they live in currently or don’t care where they live since they work remotely now.
Many even say they are ready to attend an open house again, according to a new survey from the National Association of Realtors, which found that 65% of people who attended an open house within the last year would do so now without hesitation.
Obviously, consumers are signaling a growing appetite for home-buying.
But as Chris Stuart, CEO and president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and CEO of HSF Affiliates, said in this interview with Mansion Global, the lack of housing inventory is “the biggest pain spot at the moment as a result of the pandemic.” Read more in-depth here.
Mortgage applications jump 13%*
Refinancings make a comeback as stay-at-home orders wane
Applications for purchase mortgages gained for the eighth consecutive week to a level that was 13% higher than a year ago as states continue to reopen across the country according to a report by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
A seasonally adjusted index measuring purchase applications jumped 5% last week. For the first time in two months refinancings gained as this past week witnessed an 11% increase, and an 80% year-over-year gain, the MBA said.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 9.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
“Fueled again by low mortgage rates, pent-up demand from earlier this spring, and states reopening, the recovery in the purchase market continues to gain steam, with the seasonally adjusted index rising to its highest level since January,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. Read more in-depth here.
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