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Market Studies

Report: Market Will Prosper Under Ability-to-Repay, QM Rules

Today's resilient capital market has the capacity to adapt readily to the pending Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage (QM) rules set to take effect January 10, 2014, according to a white paper issued by CoreLogic. The paper titled, ATR/QM Standards: Foundation for a Sound Housing Market, provides an overview of the rules themselves and examines their possible impact on the market.

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Home Value Appreciation Set to Ease Over the Next Year

The recent fast-paced home price appreciation across the country led some markets to the brink of a bubble, but deceleration over the summer months has Zillow analysts breathing a sigh of relief as the bubble threat deflates. Home value appreciation has declined steadily for three months, according to Zillow, and half of the nation's 20 largest metros experienced negative appreciation in September.

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Number of U.S. Mortgages Going Unpaid = 4,594,000

Lender Processing Services provided the media with a first look at the company's mortgage performance statistics for the month of September. The industry's foreclosure inventory continued its downward trend, and while delinquencies were up slightly from the previous month, they were down when comparing the numbers year-over-year. All-in-all, there are 4,594,000 mortgages going unpaid in the United States.

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Housing Market Performs Well Despite Rise in Interest Rates

Mortgage rates are inching higher and higher, but the market does not seem to be paying any heed as it continues to show signs of improvement, according to the HousingPulse Tracking Survey released this week. It indicates the emerging slowdown in home purchases appears to be largely seasonal with a number of key indicators--distressed sales, time on market, and purchase offers--still in positive territory.

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Mortgage Rates Fall as Markets Cope from Shutdown

Though Capitol Hill's gridlock over the debt ceiling was resolved--for now, at least--mortgage rates this week took a spill as market uncertainty spooked investors. Freddie Mac released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey Thursday, which shows the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage falling to an average rate of 4.13 percent for the week ending October 24, down from 4.28 percent last week and hitting its lowest point in about four months.

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Competition Cools Again as Washington Drama Deters Buyer Interest

Redfin's Real-Time Bidding Wars report shows 58.3 percent of offers written by Redfin agents across the country faced bidding wars in September, down from 60.5 percent in August. Last September, 62.7 percent of offers faced competing bids. With competition diminishing, Redfin has also observed a fall in the number of homes selling at above asking price. On average across all tracked markets, buyers paid 0.4 percent below asking price (compared to 0.3 percent in August).

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Unemployment, High Rates Still Obstacles for Many Facing Foreclosure

The National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) program has provided counseling to almost 1.6 million homeowners across the country since the program started in 2008. According to an NFMC congressional report released this week, common attributes of struggling homeowners include unemployment or underemployment and high mortgage rates. The report also indicates a homeowner who seeks counseling is 97 percent more likely to obtain a loan modification and avoid foreclosure.

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Regulators See No Fair Lending Risk in QM

The CFPB's mortgage servicing standards--including the Qualified Mortgage (QM) definition and the Ability-to-Repay rule--take effect in less than 90 days. Some bankers have indicated they might limit their offerings to only QM products as the transition is made, and many are concerned that as a result, their operations may run counter to the Equal Credit and Opportunity Act, implemented by the Federal Reserve's Regulation B. Those fears, however, are unfounded, regulators say.

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National Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.2% as Hiring Slows

Employers hired 148,000 new workers in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. The hiring pace in the U.S. slowed compared to previous months, yet the unemployment rate slipped to 7.2 percent from 7.3 percent in August. In September, the number of long-term unemployed-meaning those jobless for 27 weeks or more-was little changed at 4.1 million. The government says the number of long-term unemployed has declined by 725,000 over the past year.

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