News

The Surveys of Consumers' Index of Consumer Sentiment dropped to 81.2 in January from December's 82.5. Compared to a year ago, January's survey was up an even 10 percent from 73.8.

According to year-end data from Black Knight Financial Services, 6.47 percent of the nation’s mortgages last year were delinquent, down from a peak of 10.57 percent in January 2010. Meanwhile, about 2.48 percent of loans were in some state of foreclosure—a rate about 4.6 times the pre-crisis average.

Fannie Mae’s book of business shrank in December, ending a short streak of growth and marking the eighth month of 2013 in which business slowed.

Vectra Field Services, a provider of pre-foreclosure and REO mortgage field services, and Valuation Vision, a company specializing in alternative valuation products and technology solutions, together announced the launch of RepairSmart BPO, a new property valuation report.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a new report detailing a number of servicing practices that “continued to plague consumers throughout 2013.” The report covers supervision work completed between July and October 2013—after its servicing rules were first published but before they actually went into effect.

Redfin reports the median time on market for homes in its 21-city survey was 35 days in December, up three days from November. The median time on market in December 2012 was 30 days, according to the company.

The homeownership rate dropped 0.1 percentage point to 65.2 percent over the fourth quarter 2013. The rate was 0.2 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the Census Bureau.

Mortgage rates closed out December—and the year—with one final, small increase, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported. FHFA’s national data for December shows the contract interest rate on the composite of all mortgage loans was 4.25 percent, an increase of 3 basis points from the month prior.

As part of its ongoing efforts to modernize its processes, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has granted expanded authority to lenders to accept e-Signatures on loan documents. The new policy allows e-Signatures on origination, servicing, and loss mitigation documents. Also included are those related to FHA insurance claims and REO sales contracts.

In its “advance” estimate of real gross domestic product (GDP) last quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) put growth at an estimated annual rate of 3.2 percent. For all of 2013, the bureau estimates real GDP increased 1.9 percent compared to a gain of 2.8 percent in 2012.