FHFA: Refinance Volume Continued to Slow in First Quarter
Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that just over 510,000 refinances were completed in the first quarter of 2017, compared to more than 750,767 in the fourth quarter of 2016. FHFA’s first quarter Refinance Report also shows that 3 percent or 13,425 of the mortgages refinanced from January through March were…
CFPB: Report Finds That 9 in 10 of the Highest-Risk Student Loan Borrowers Were Not Enrolled in Affordable Repayment Plans
Nearly Half of the Highest-Risk Borrowers Not Enrolled in an Affordable Repayment Plan Redefault WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released an analysis of a student loan industry data sample showing that 9 in 10 of the highest-risk borrowers were not enrolled in federal affordable repayment plans. The analysis looks at hundreds…
SBA: Critical Data and Best Practices Report Released in Evaluating Federal Business Assistance Program
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration, on behalf of the Evaluating Business Technical Assistance Program working group, today released a report on “Building Smarter Data for Evaluating Business Assistance Programs – A Guide for Practitioners”. The report is authored by program practitioners, economists, statisticians, and evaluation and policy…
ABA: Report | Farm Banks Increase Ag Lending 5% in 2016
Strong performance, asset quality and capital levels in 2016 WASHINGTON — Farm banks increased agricultural lending by 5.3 percent in 2016 and held $103.4 billion in farm loans at the end of the year, according to the American Bankers Association’s annual Farm Bank Performance Report. Asset quality remained healthy at the nation’s 1,912 farm banks…
FHFA: Index Shows Mortgage Rates Decreased in March
Washington, D.C. – Nationally, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages decreased from February to March, according to several indices of new mortgage contracts. The National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders Index was 4.12 percent for loans closed in late March, down 15 basis points from 4.27…
HUD: New Residential Sales in March 2017 Report
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau today jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for March 2017: NEW HOME SALES Sales of new single-family houses in March 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 621,000, according to estimates released jointly today by…
FHFA: House Price Index Up 0.8 Percent in February
Washington, D.C. – U.S. house prices rose in February, up 0.8 percent from the previous month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) seasonally adjusted monthly House Price Index (HPI). The previously reported lack of change in January was revised upward to a 0.2 percent increase. The FHFA monthly HPI is calculated using home sales…
HUD: New Residential Construction Activity for March Announced
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for March 2017: BUILDING PERMITS Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,260,000. This is 3.6 percent (±2.8 percent) above the revised…
ABA: New Survey – Americans Confident in Their Financial Literacy Skills
ABA Foundation offers questions to help consumers see how they stack up WASHINGTON — Nearly two-thirds of adults (62 percent) consider their own financial literacy to be good or excellent, according to a new survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the American Bankers Association. However, their perception of the average American isn’t quite…
ABA: Survey Shows Regulatory Burden Continues to Restrict Mortgage Lending
WASHINGTON — Ninety-five percent of respondents to the American Bankers Association’s 24th annual Real Estate Lending Surveydescribed regulation as having a negative impact on business production and consumer credit availability. The survey, released today at ABA’s Real Estate Lending Conference in Orlando, revealed that 91 percent of the typical bank’s mortgage loans made last year…