For years, the mortgage industry has complained about the rising cost of pulling credit. Those complaints weren’t imaginary. The Mortgage Bankers Association told Congress earlier this year that its members had experienced four consecutive years of significant...
We spend a lot of time in mortgage lending talking about income. How much does the borrower earn? What is the debt-to-income ratio? How much of a monthly payment can the household reasonably carry? What happens to purchasing power when the mortgage rate moves another...
Every month, the housing industry gets another collection of national numbers. Home prices are up. Sales are down. Inventory is improving. Affordability is getting worse. Builder confidence moved. Mortgage applications changed. We report those numbers because they...
There are borrowers in America who can responsibly repay a mortgage and still do not fit neatly into the underwriting box we built for them. Anyone who has spent time in mortgage lending has seen this. A self-employed business owner may have substantial cash flow but...
The late-summer housing market is giving buyers something they have spent much of the past several years waiting for: leverage. Whether enough buyers can afford to use it is another question. New listings rose 0.4% from the previous week during the four weeks ending...
Inflation Expectations Hit Three-Year High as Rent Outlook Climbs to 6.8%
