The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices have been released showing the continued increase in home prices across the country.  The CoreLogic, Inc. produced indices show a year-over-year increase of 5.0% in May over all nine U.S. census divisions.  This remained unchanged from the previous month.  The 20-City Composite showed a year-over-year gain of 5.2%, a decrease of 0.2% from April’s 5.4%.  Portland, Seattle, and Denver showed the highest gains over the last four months, with Portland leading the way with a 12.5% year-over-year increase.

A survey of those aged 55 or older, conducted by GfK on behalf of Freddie Mac, shows many would prefer to move again and rent at some point.  Most indicated they would like to rent by 2020. The majority of these respondents predict the cost would be equal or less than their current living situation.

The Fannie Mae Q2 Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey® has been released, showing positive lender attitudes overall; a recovery from a decline in recent quarters. Most lenders reported an expectation of credit standards to remain unchanged with very few expecting an ease of credit standards from the GSEs over the new three months.

This week Freddie Mac released a survey showing nearly 40% of those born before 1961 would prefer to move at least one more time. Of those, 70% said they are likely to purchase their next home, with half looking to downsize. This creates new opportunities and challenges for the industry in the coming years, and with the size of this generation, the industry will need to adjust.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has released their rulemaking agenda for the spring of 2016.  The CFPB is required to publish their regulatory agendas twice a year under the Regulatory Flexibility Act.  Major current initiatives within the mortgage category include the following:

Currently in the public comment stage, a new rule would end incentive-based pay that encourages inappropriate risk-taking at covered financial institutions. According to a joint release posted on FHFA, these flawed, incentive-based compensation packages were a large contributor to the financial crisis that began in 2007. At that time many compensation structures centered on volume and loan size rather than quality.

As the launch date of Freddie Mac’s Loan Advisor Suite^sm approaches, lenders should familiarize themselves with the new functionality so they can fully utilize the benefits of this new technology.  They have designed their new tool with lenders in mind. The end-to-end technology solution provides lenders with greater certainty and efficiency.

The CFPB has issued a technical correction in the supplementary information to the TRID rule, published in the Federal Register.  The correction addresses an apparent oversight regarding tolerance of property taxes and similar charges paid in advance, but not into an escrow or impound account.  According to the CFPB Monitor, the correction is not actually addressing the issue appropriately.

At the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae have implemented an independent dispute resolution (IDR) program, which was developed to assist in resolving repurchases disputes.  Lenders are allowed to submit unresolved disputes to a third party arbitrator once all other efforts have been exhausted.  This will hopefully clear up many of the disputes that can take an extended period of time to resolve and will provide clarity for lenders, ultimately increasing access to mortgage loans for creditworthy borrowers, according to the FHFA news release.

Homeownership rates in the U.S. are finally on the upswing after steady declines, according to an article in Bloomberg.  The U.S. Census Bureau reports homeownership rates are at 63.8 percent, an increase of 0.1 percent over the previous quarter.  This is the second straight quarter of increases, following a long stretch of declines starting in 2013.  We are still a long way away from our peak of 69.2 percent reached in 2004.