Jean Holman

Mortgage News

• Loan Officers Furious with Zillow

  Loan Officers Furious with Zillow

  The post Loan Officers Furious with Zillow appeared first on National Real Estate Post.

• Residential Construction Lags Expectations, Except in the West

  Contrary to expectations, all three of the residential construction measures from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development fell in March.  Not only were they lower than in February, but they were down year-over-year, and both permits and housing starts are running behind 2018 on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.  The West was the only region to show any strength. Permits for residential units were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,269,000 units, a 1.7 percent decrease from the February estimate of 1,291,000.  That estimate was also revised lower from an original estimate of 1,296,000.   The March number was 7.8 percent lower than the rate a year earlier, 1,377,000 units.

• Fannie Mae: Residential Investment, Home Sales Will Improve in 2019

  For the second month in a row we find ourselves stating that Fannie Mae's forecast, while still predicting a slowdown in economic growth this year, appears overall more upbeat than in the previous month.  The April report is still predicting that growth will slow from 3.0 percent in 2018 (which is itself a revision from the 3.1 percent estimate that prevailed in March) to 2.2 percent this year.  The boost provided last year by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is expected to fade, and business investment and consumer spending to slow.  However, the company's economists expect residential fixed investment to recover from last year's decline.