Loan Application Defect Index Falls 2.4 percent in August

By FirstAm Editor on September 23, 2015
Today, we’re releasing our third iteration of the monthly First American Loan Application Defect Index, which estimates the frequency of defects in the information submitted in mortgage loan applications. Read More

Loan Application Defect Index

Existing-Home Sales Capacity Increases 0.4 Percent In August

By Mark Fleming on September 16, 2015
Market capacity for existing-home sales has remained close to six million sales on an annualized basis for more than a year First American’s proprietary Existing-Home Sales Capacity (EHS-C) model provides a gauge on whether existing-home sales are under capacity or over capacity based on current market fundamentals. For the month of August, the ... Read More

Housing

Does A Fed Rate Increase Doom Housing?

By Mark Fleming on September 15, 2015
This week, the Federal Reserve has its September meeting where it could potentially decide to increase interest rates for the first time since 2008. The CME FedWatch Tool measures the market’s expectation of Fed target rates.Currently, the market-estimated probability of a 0.25 percent rate increase on September 17 is significantly higher than ... Read More

Interest Rates Federal Reserve

The Demographics of Homeownership

By Mark Fleming on September 11, 2015
The summer is officially over. Pools are closed, children are back in school, and Congress is back in session. It seems like an ideal time to catch everyone up on housing events in August, as well as look ahead to some important events in housing in the coming weeks. Read More

In The News

Existing-Home Sales Capacity Decreases 0.4 Percent in July — Market Capacity Nears Equilibrium

By Mark Fleming on August 19, 2015
First American’s proprietary Existing-Home Sales Capacity (EHS-C) model provides a gauge on whether existing-homes sales are under capacity or over capacity based on current market fundamentals. For the month of July, the EHS-C seasonally adjusted, annual rate of sales decreased by 23,000, a decreased of 0.4 percent compared to June and a decrease ... Read More

Housing

Is the American Dream an American Reality?

By Odeta Kushi on August 10, 2015
For young people throughout the 20th century, as well as Millennials today, becoming a homeowner has been a symbolic representation of achieving the American Dream. At a time when many claim that this dream is at greater risk for Millennials than it was for preceding generations, it is important to investigate whether this fear has a basis in ... Read More

Millennials Education