VA Originations Rise Nationally

After seeing declines in August and September, VA Mortgage Originations rose again nationally in October 2008. There were 18,897 VA Originations in October which accounts for increase of over 1,000 from the previous month. The monthly high for the year occurred in July at 20,516. The chart below shows the trend for 2008.

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It should be interesting to see what happens in November?

Wells Fargo Leads FHA Purchase Mortgages

Wells Fargo is No. 1 in FHA Purchase Mortgage market share through October 2008. Wells has captured over 10% of the market. The next competitor is Countrywide at over 6%. Click here to see the Top 5 lenders.

Contact MortgageDataWeb if you interested in seeing the Top 100 FHA Lenders through October 2008.

FHA Originations Rise in October

After a dip in September, FHA Originations rose in October to their highest level for the year. The chart below shows the monthly trend for January through October 2008.

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Stockton, CA FHA Originations Rising

Is Stockton, California slowly climbing out of their foreclosure mess? The monthly number of FHA Purchase Originations is continuing to rise. The chart below shows the trend of FHA Originations for January through September 2008.

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Buyers can now buy in Stockton with FHA products that they were unable to do before. Hopefully this will help reduce the inventory of foreclosed properties.

Puerto Rican Homeowners Paid Less for Conventional Mortgages

Puerto Rican homeowners benefited from lower proportions of high interest rate mortgages as compared with the rest of the United States. The 2007 HMDA data shows that roughly 18% of first lien mortgages on owner occupied single family homes in Puerto Rico had reportable interest rate spreads.

The rate spread values found in HMDA data are differences in the mortgage annual percentage rate and the interest rates of US Treasury securities with similar maturities. If the rate spread is greater than 3% then the rate spread is reportable in the HMDA data. In all US metropolitan areas, the mean proportion of rate spread reportable mortgages versus all mortgages was 27%.

In 2007 versus 2006, all US metropolitan areas except Puerto Rico showed a decrease in the proportion of rate spread reportable mortgages. For the entire US including Puerto Rico, the percent change in the number of rate spread reportable mortgages was almost 9% lower in 2007 versus 2006. In Puerto Rico the proportion of rate spread reportable mortgages increased nearly 5%. For the reported rate spreads in Puerto Rico the interest rate spread increased from 3.813 % in 2006 to 3.954% in 2007.

Here are the mortgage lenders that participated in charging Puerto Rican homeowners higher interest rates in 2007. (lot of ways to spin the data)!

Bakersfield, CA Losing Value Fast

In Bakersfield, CA new homeowners are losing value fast. Those who have bought in 2008, over one-third already have negative equity. Negative equity statistics like this will contribute further to the current foreclosure mess. Below is a chart that shows the median home price trend in Bakersfield for the last few years.


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FHA Originations Continue to Increase in 2008

FHA's share of all monthly mortgage originations has increased to average of 30.96% in 2008 compared to 8.74% for the same period in 2007. The chart below shows the monthly trend for FHA originations for January 2007 through September 2008.

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See the chart below for the corresponding trend for Conventional Originations during the same period.

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LA FHA Purchase Market Continues To Grow

The changes in legislation impacting the FHA marketplace has created new geographic markets for FHA products. This is particularly true in high cost areas like Los Angeles. The chart below shows the monthly FHA Purchase Originations from January 2003 through September 2008.

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Can the FHA bureaucracy keep up with this increased demand?

Fixed Interest Rates Dominate Conventional Purchase Mortgages

It use to be popular for consumers to choose and lenders to offer adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs). ARMs are becoming scare these days. The chart shows that roughly 95% of new conventional purchase money mortgages are fixed rate mortgages.

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In the first half of 2005 nearly half of all new conventional purchase mortgages were ARMs.

Is There Still A Conventional Refinance Market?

The chart below illustrates the steep decline that has taken place through September 2008 in the Conventional Refinance marketplace since the Government passed legislation earlier this year to make FHA an excellent option for homeowners looking to refinance.

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The corresponding chart below shows what has taken place in the FHA Refi marketplace.

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The September Conventional numbers are still twice as high as FHA but this is something to continue to watch.

Is The LA Market Now Affordable?

Is the Los Angeles Metro market ready to bounce back? Maybe not, but the average purchase mortgage has decreased to a relatively affordable level. The chart below shows the monthly decrease in the Average Purchase Mortgage from January 2007 through September 2008.


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DHI Mortgage Loses Market Share

DHI Mortgage of Austin, Texas the number one FHA lender in Texas through September 2008 lost market share last month. Take a look at the chart below.

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This one bears watching in the coming months. It may be opportunity for someone else to take the leadership position in Texas.

FHA Average Mortgage Peaks in August 2008

The average FHA mortgage for purchase and refinances in September fell slightly to $175,392. This mortgage amount was just below the record average FHA mortgage amount set in August ($176,004) and the previous record of $175,636 set in July of this year. In September 2007, the average FHA mortgage amount was $145,512. The year over year increase in the average FHA mortgage amount was $29,880 or 20.5%.