Existing-Home Sales Falling Short of Potential
By
Mark Fleming on April 14, 2016
For the month of March, First American’s proprietary Potential Home Sales model showed that the market for existing-home sales is underperforming its potential by 11.5 percent or an estimated 664,000 seasonally adjusted, annualized rate (SAAR) of sales. The Potential Home Sales model provides a gauge on whether existing-home sales are under or ...
Read More ›
Loan Defect and Fraud Risk Declining Due to Compliance-Related Investments
By
FirstAm Editor on March 31, 2016
We’ve posted the February 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 February as compared with January and decreased by 5.1 percent as compared with February 2015. The ...
Read More ›
Title agent expectations for real estate market transactions weaken in the first quarter, according to Q1 2016 Real Estate Sentiment Index
By
FirstAm Editor on March 22, 2016
We’ve posted the first quarter 2016 First American Real Estate Sentiment Index, which measures title agent sentiment on a variety of key market metrics and industry issues. It’s based on a quarterly survey of independent title agents that do business with First American. More than 4,000 title agents from 50 states have participated in the first ...
Read More ›
Market Activity Continues to Track Potential
By
Mark Fleming on March 17, 2016
For the month of February, First American’s proprietary Potential Home Sales model showed that the market potential for existing-home sales grew by 1.0 percent compared with January and increased by 3.6 percent compared with a year ago. The Potential Home Sales model provides a gauge on whether existing-home sales are under or over their long-run ...
Read More ›
How Long Will Rates Stay Low
By
Mark Fleming on March 16, 2016
This week, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is holding their March meeting where they could, just possibly, decide to increase the benchmark Federal Funds Rate again. According to one survey by CNBC, the vast majority expect rates to remain unchanged. In that same survey, nearly all the respondents believed a rate hike was likely in the ...
Read More ›
Why Housing Economists Get Excited About March
By
Mark Fleming on March 11, 2016
With cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. and warm weather everywhere else just around the corner, it means the spring home-buying season is upon us, right? What better rite of homeownership passage than the Sunday open house on a beautiful spring day? It’s a popular way to spend a Sunday, even if you aren’t really serious about buying, and are just ...
Read More ›