We’ve posted the July First American Loan Application Defect Index, which estimates the frequency of defects, fraudulence and misrepresentation in the information submitted in mortgage loan applications. The Defect Index decreased 2.8 percent in July as compared with June and decreased 16.7 percent as compared with July 2015. The Defect Index is ... Read More ›

Business Insider interviewed First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming on affordability and used First American’s Real House Price Index to develop a list of the top 13 markets where affordability is declining. Read More ›

First American’s proprietary Real House Price Index (RHPI) looks at June 2016 data and includes analysis from First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming explaining the influence of foreign monetary stimulus on U.S. mortgage rates and its impact on consumer house-buying power. Read More ›

For the month of July, First American’s proprietary Potential Home Sales model showed that the market for existing-home sales is underperforming its potential by 1.3 percent or an estimated 92,000 seasonally adjusted, annualized rate (SAAR) of sales, an improvement over last month’s revised under-performance gap of 1.8 percent, or 104,000 (SAAR) ... Read More ›

The importance of measuring housing affordability is paramount. Homeownership is synonymous with the American Dream and all of the wealth-building benefits that it provides, and housing is the single largest monthly expense for most households. Yet, there are many ways to measure the affordability of housing. Read More ›

First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming explains in an article on HousingWire why reaching a low point in homeownership is no reason to panic about the housing market. Read More ›