“One of these things is not like the other,” is an adage we learn as children to teach us how to identify outliers. This phrase maintains its relevance as adults, especially in the age of “big” data. This week’s release of the First American Real Estate Sentiment Index (RESI) is one such example of its use.
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We’ve posted the fourth quarter 2015 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 title agents that do business with First American. More than 3,000 title agents from 50 states have participated in the first two editions ...
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Last week, I posted an analysis of the GSE Conforming loan limit and my expectation for how it might change in 2016. I based the analysis on my interpretation of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). Specifically, Section 1124 of the law, which states, “If the change in the house price index during the most recent 12-month or 4 ...
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We’ve posted the October First American Loan Application Defect Index, which estimates the frequency of defects, fraudulence and misrepresentation in the information submitted in mortgage loan applications. Overall, the index fell 2.5 percent in October as compared with September and decreased by 10.2 percent as compared with October 2014.
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For the month of October, First American’s proprietary Existing-Home Sales Capacity (EHS-C) model showed that the market capacity for existing-home sales decreased by 3.1 percent compared to September and decreased by 7.3 percent compared to a year ago. The EHS-C provides a gauge on whether existing-homes sales are under capacity or over capacity ...
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Earlier this week, I had the good fortune to do a radio interview with WSVA Virginia on our newly released Homeownership Progress Index (HPRI). In the interview we talked about the importance of homeownership as the primary vehicle for wealth creation for middle-class Americans, discussed underlying economic, demographic, and lifestyle conditions ...
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