Between yesterday and today there's been an absolute avalanche of housing news so I wanted to circle back on some interesting items you might have missed:
Lumber prices have tripled over the past 12 months and have caused the price of an average new home to increase by $35,872 — up from $24,000 extra wereported in February. Framing lumber hit $1,200 per thousand board feet. The only good news? More vaccinations should mean more lumber mills coming online.
The FHFA is rolling out a new refi product for low-income borrowers with mortgages backed by Fannie or Freddie. Lenders have to ensure the borrower saves at least $50 a month in mortgage payments while dropping their interest rate by at least 50 basis points. And the FHFA will waive its adverse market fee, giving low-income borrowers even more of a break. But the FHFA also said borrowers who missed more than one month of payments over the last 12 months wouldn't qualify. We'll be following up on this with additional analysis on Friday.
🏠 First-time homebuyers are all the rage
Legislation to help first-time buyers get into a home is being written at a fast and furious pace, but there are big differences between two recent bills.
Read about the tax credit, available to a large number of first-time homebuyers here.
Read about the narrower grant available to first-gen homebuyers here.
Joe Tyrrell discusses the current state of the mortgage industry and how Ellie Mae, Simplifile, and MERS have come together to form ICE Mortgage Technology.
In part two of our three-part series on real estate commissions, we explore anti-trust lawsuits and NAR's defense for 5-to-6% total commissions on home sales. HW+ Premium Content
Two white papers explore how lenders can modernize appraisal and closing for a better borrower experience. Using survey data from 1,500 consumers who recently interacted with the mortgage process, they provide actionable recommendations for today's lenders. Download the white papers.
Mortgage rates rose just one basis point last week to 2.98%, remaining under that 3% mark as treasury yields went virtually unchanged, Freddie Mac's PMMS said.
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