We invite you to browse the second quarter 2016 First American Real Estate Sentiment Index, which measures title agent sentiment on a variety of key market metrics and industry issues. In 2016, the survey has also tracked title agent sentiment regarding the implementation of the Know-Before-You-Owe rule, also referred to as the TILA-RESPA ... Read More ›

For the month of May, First American’s proprietary Potential Home Sales model showed that the market for existing-home sales is underperforming its potential by 2.8 percent or by an estimated 156,000 seasonally adjusted, annualized rate (SAAR) of sales. While still underperforming, this is an improvement over last month’s underperformance gap of ... Read More ›

First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming is quoted in an article from TheStreet.com explaining the forces behind low mortgage rates. Read More ›

With the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting this week, many are wondering if an interest rate hike is in the works. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the current market expectation of a 0.50 percent rate increase in June is extremely low – 4 percent. However, the likelihood jumps to 27 percent in July. But, whether the Fed ... Read More ›

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to appear on the Lykken on Lending Blog Talk radio show. On the broadcast, we discussed the National Association of Realtors (NAR) existing-home sales numbers that are released monthly. As you may be aware from my recent comments here and here, I believe that existing home sales have been underperforming ... Read More ›

We’ve posted the April 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 1.3 percent in April as compared with March and decreased by 5.1 percent as compared with April 2015. The Defect ... Read More ›