Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
Multiple monthly home price indices continued climbing to higher elevations, with the West dominating the rise. At least one index reached another all-time high.
The Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index was 190.61 in May — the highest level on record for the sixth consecutive month.
Another index that reflects home prices in 20 large cities — the Case-Shiller Composite-20 Index — was 198.97 last month, up 0.8 percent from April.
From:: Financing
Waterstone Mortgage Corp. has been ordered by an arbitrator to pay current and former loan officers over $7 million in unpaid wages and overtime. But it will appeal the decision.
About 200 loan officers in 17 states will share in the arbitrator’s award.
The originator who brought the case, Pamela Herrington, will also get an incentive fee of $20,000.
From:: Financing
Secondary marketing activity accelerated to the highest level in five months at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. as delinquency fell to the lowest level in nearly a decade.
The balance of the secondary lender’s total mortgage portfolio concluded the first half of this year at $2.0409 trillion, growing from $2.0332 trillion the prior month.
McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac provided those details, along with other operational results, in its Monthly Volume Summary: June 2017.
From:: Financing
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a “resolution of disapproval” to revoke a controversial new rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that bans companies from using mandatory arbitration clauses. Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress may overturn a broad range of regulatory rules issued by federal agencies. But as Republicans worked together to block the rule, Democrats were just as quick to defend it, along with the CFPB. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Shares of Chegg Inc. sank in Tuesday’s extended session after the online textbook vendor posted a quarterly loss. Chegg reported a second-quarter loss of $6 million, or 6 cents a share, from a loss of $9 million, or 10 cents a share, a year ago. On an adjusted basis, the company would have earned 6 cents a share. Revenue grew 6% to $56.3 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 4 cents a share on revenue of $53.3 million. Chegg projected third-quarter revenue of $56 million to $58 million and revenue in a range of $241 million to $243 million for the full year. Chegg shares skidded 11% after hours.
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From:: Stock Market News
Realtor.com has been without a chief economist since Jonathan Smoke left the company in April to become the chief economist for Cox Automotive, an auto industry powerhouse that includes the brands, Autotrader, Dealer.com, Dealertrack, Kelley Blue Book, and others. But now, the real estate site has found a replacement, one that keeps things in the Realtor family, so to speak. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Universal Health Services Inc. shares dropped in the extended session Tuesday after the hospital operator’s earnings and outlook fell short of Wall Street estimates. Universal Health Services shares fell 6.4% to $115 after hours. UHS reported second-quarter earnings of $1.76 a share on revenue of $2.85 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast $2.06 a share on revenue of $2.86 billion. UHS lowered their full-year earnings outlook to a range of $7.50 to $8 a share from a previous range of $7.70 to $8.20 a share. Analysts estimated $7.97 a share.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
From:: Stock Market News
While there’s already a push to get more consumers to shop around for a mortgage and branch out beyond getting a mortgage where they already bank, many consumers still don’t check out their options. This new chart from LendingTree outlines exactly how much money borrowers can save by shopping around for more offers. Spoiler, it could save thousands annually. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates twice this year, and the Fed is estimated to increase rates once more this year, and several more times over the next couple of years. However, if the 30-year mortgage rate increases to 5%, or even 6%, affordability could drop dramatically. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an investigative report on Tuesday concluding that tokens offered and sold by a “virtual” organization known as “The DAO” were securities and, therefore, subject to the federal securities laws. The regulator is cautioning investors that offers and sales of “initial coin offerings” or “token sales” by “virtual” organizations using distributed ledger or blockchain technology are subject to the requirements of the federal securities laws. Issuers of distributed ledger or blockchain technology-based securities must register offers and sales of such securities unless a valid exemption applies. Participating in unregistered offerings may subject participants to civil or criminal enforcement proceedings. Securities exchanges trading in these securities must also register unless they are exempt. “The DAO” has been described as a “crowdfunding contract” but it would not have met the requirements of the Regulation Crowdfunding exemption because, among other things, it was not a broker-dealer or a funding portal registered with the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. However, the SEC decided not to bring charges in this instance, or make findings of violations in the Report, but use the results of the investigation to caution the industry and market participants.
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From:: Stock Market News