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A combination of new renter households and decline in the home ownership rate will lead to a strong market demand for multi-family housing through 2015, according to a report recently issued by Freddie Mac. If the nation continues to clog along with a slow recovery, homeownership numbers will likely continue to drop below their current, historically low rates.  Freddie envisions the homeownership rate settling at 65%, compared to its current rate of 65.5%.  And while this doesn’t sound like an enormous difference, it translates into 3.1 million new families seeking rental housing.  Current multi-family construction activity is modest – lending …

Home prices rose by 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from April to May according to the FHFA. For the 12 months ending in May, the FHFA’s housing price index showed an increase of 3.7%. Currently the index is 17% below its highest point in April 2007 and is currently equivalent to its May 2004 level. Housing prices in MSAs that experienced some of the worst depreciation rates since the housing market’s peak have started to show signs of recovery. Data run by Barclays shows Arizona housing prices have gained 12% year-over-year, with other MSAs in the West also showing …

Mortgage lenders and their clients/vendors are very susceptible to digital security breaches because of the large amount of data that is transferred between the different parties involved. Cyber criminals are also especially interested in this data because it usually contains information they need for identity theft. “It’s more of an attractive target by its very nature because the application for a mortgage loan digs deeper into a person’s financial life than any other application,” states Mary Beth Guard, executive editor of BankersOnline.com and BankingQuestions.com. “If cyber thieves can access a treasure trove of mortgage applications, they have everything they need …

The $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement agreement was filed in federal court on March 12, according to the Justice Department, HUD, and 49 state attorneys. Five of the largest servicers in the nation – Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Ally Financial – reached a settlement on February 9. Oklahoma was the only state to not take place in the agreement. Instead, the state’s Attorney General is choosing to pursue a separate settlement totaling $18.6 million. The agreement made is to address faulty servicing practices and also deal with wrongful foreclosure issues. $20 billion in relief …

Housing affordability rates are still dropping and are staying at 60-year lows, prices are declining, yet borrowers are still having trouble obtaining loans due to tight underwriting and credit standards. The 15-year fixed rate hit an all-time record low of 3.13%, and the 30-year fixed-rate was at 3.88% for the week ending March 8. Last year at this time, the two rates average 4.15% and 4.88% respectively. “With these historically low rates and declining house prices, the typical family had more than double the income needed to purchase a median-priced home in January,” said Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist …

Although housing prices are at fourth-quarter lows not seen since 2002, homeowners are still struggling to meet mortgage payments and the number of borrowers with negative or near-negative equity is increasing. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Index showed prices fell 4% year-over-year for December, amounting to fourth-quarter housing price lows not seen since 2002. Prices declined 1.1% month-over-month for both the 10- and 20-city composite measures.  18 of the 20 cities in the index showed declines, with Miami and Phoenix showing the only increases, up 0.2% and 0.8% respectively. The only city that came out on the positive side annually was …