Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s weekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it each Friday afternoon.
- The decline in mortgage rates continued this week, according to the latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey® from Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate averaged 6.67%, falling from 6.69% the week prior. “Potential homebuyers have been watching rates closely and are waiting to come off the sidelines,” said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater.
- Consecutive weeks of dipping rates have positively impacted mortgage applications, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Recent MBA data shows that the volume of applications climbed slightly (0.5%), following a 7.2% increase the week before. “First-time homebuyers account for a large share of FHA purchase loans, and this increase is a sign that while buyer interest is there, activity continues to be constrained by low levels of affordable inventory,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist.
- A match made in mortgage heaven? That may be the case as Anywhere Real Estate’s mortgage joint venture with Guaranteed Rate, Guaranteed Rate Affinity (GRA), has been named the 16th-largest retail mortgage lender in the Scotsman Guide. In just six years, GRA has funded more than $53.2 billion in loans and is home to more than 500 loan officers.
- Fannie Mae is sharing the load with the private sector after the government-sponsored enterprise transferred $789 million of mortgage credit risk to 21 private insurers and reinsurers. Fannie Mae announced that it executed its sixth and seventh Credit Insurance Risk Transfer™ deal consisting of two single-family pools totaling 81,000 mortgages with a combined unpaid balance of $26.6 billion.
