- InGeniusly Speaking
- Posts
- A Dozen Dollars
A Dozen Dollars
By Jeff Walton & Kelly Guest
Losing less is still losing. The Mortgage Bankers Association is out with its first quarter IMB performance report and it shows a pre-tax loss of $28 per loan. The Q424 loss was $40/loan, and MBA’s Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh said, ““Production profitability was close to break-even in the first quarter of 2025 despite a decline in volume and an increase in production expenses. Production revenues increased at about the same pace as costs, which mitigated losses.”
Builders are bumming a bit: The latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index shows builder confidence at the lowest since 2022.
CHATTER
More M&A: Lower Acquires Movoto
Digital mortgage lender Lower announced the acquisition of proptech innovator and real estate portal, Movoto. This acquisition combines Movoto's significant reach with Lower's lending platform and retail network, "creating an end-to-end homeownership platform while offering an unmatched growth engine for real estate agents and loan officers."
One Step From "Dear John": Investors Tell Costar to Engage in "Meaningful Self Help"
HousingWire reports two of the company's hedge fund investors, D.E. Shaw & Co. and Third Point Investors Ltd. sent a letter demanding change. “After several years of uncertainty, we believe it is time for CoStar to begin the journey of meaningful self-help,” the letter states.
Dark Day @ Dark Matter: HW Reported, NMN Confirmed RIF, Number Not Disclosed
"As a newly independent company, Dark Matter initially retained a larger team from Black Knight than we ultimately needed," CEO Sean Dugan said. "Integrating the Nova team added further talent and some natural overlap."
UWM released a suite of AI tools: There’s MIA, an AI-powered loan officer assistant, and LEO, a loan estimate optimizer (see what they did there?).
CFPB Scraps 70
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a list of nearly 70 policy and regulatory guidance documents stretching back more than a decade that the agency plans to rescind.
Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought said the policy documents -- which offer interpretations of existing law and announce bureau priorities -- sometimes imposed illegal requirements on companies or simply increased the regulatory burden unnecessarily.
NAR Declares "First Draft of Tax Reform Bill "Very Positive" for Real Estate"
The association released a statement in support of the draft released by Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee. NAR says this version delivers "significant wins for the real estate sector and reinforcing provisions long championed by NAR.
Qualified Business Income Deduction (Section 199A)
The draft bill retains, makes permanent, and increases the QBI deduction from 20% to 23%.
State and Local Tax Deduction (SALT)
The SALT deduction cap is tripled from $10,000 to $30,000 for households earning under $400,000.
Individual Tax Rates. The current lower individual tax rates are made permanent and indexed for inflation, aiding taxpayers and improving affordability for prospective homebuyers.
Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID)
The draft preserves and makes permanent the MID at its current level, maintaining a key tax benefit for homeowners and supporting housing market stability.
Business SALT and 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges
The draft bill protects Section 1031 like-kind exchanges, which are often erroneously regarded as a tax loophole.
Better Doing Better: Better Home & Finance Holding Company
Q1 Funded Loan Volume of $868 million, up 31% year-over-year
Hampered HUD: Can’t Fix “Improper Payments”
Recent report found that department’s “efforts to estimate, test, and reduce improper payments under the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019” have been struggling in relation to its two largest rental assistance programs.
The last time that the department was able to submit a compliant estimate for these programs was in 2016, when HUD estimated $1.7B in improper payments. Over the past eight years, payments from these programs have totaled $315B.
HUD Pledges $1.1B for Tribal Housing Initiatives
US Dept. of Housing & Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced more than $1.1B in Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) funding for eligible Native American Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) to carry out affordable housing activities in Indian Country.
iThought You Bought Homes? HousingWire's Jeff Andrews has a great piece on the rise and disappearance of iBuyers that focuses heavily on Opendoor and Offerpad. Both companies’ stocks are in danger of being delisted.
MOVING & SHAKING
Ameritrust hired Ryan Rathert as CFO.
Supreme Lending brought Michael Nasserfar on as Regional Manager to grow their builder business.
MARKET/INDUSTRY
Mortgage Rates Remain Under Seven Percent: Freddie 5-15-25
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remained below the 7% threshold for the 17th consecutive week.
When good news is bad: A boatload of global good news wasn't so great for bonds, says Bill Bodnar in his latest Master the Markets segment. This week is much slower for news - find out what to watch for!
MBA 's unadjusted Purchase Index increased 2% compared with the previous week and was 18% higher than the same week one year ago: Weekly Survey for the week ending 5- 9-25.
NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index Lowest Since December 2022
Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 34 in May, down six points from April. Here are the readings for the three HMI indices in May:
Current sales conditions fell eight points to 37.
Sales expectations in the next six months edged one-point lower to 42.
Traffic of prospective buyers dropped two points to 23.
The latest HMI survey also revealed that 34% of builders cut home prices in May, up from 29% in April and the highest level since December 2023 (36%). The average price reduction was 5% in May, and the use of sales incentives was 61%, both unchanged from the previous month.
Sundry Stats: MBA National Delinquency Survey
· The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on 1-4-unit residential properties increased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.04% of all loans outstanding at the end of the first quarter of 2025.
· The delinquency rate was up 6 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2024 and up 10 basis points from one year ago. The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started in the first quarter rose by 5 basis points to 0.20%.
· “There were mixed results for mortgage performance in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the end of 2024. Delinquencies on conventional loans increased slightly, while mortgage delinquencies on FHA and VA loans declined.
Cash is King: newamerica Funding Releases Top 10 States with Highest % of Cash Sales
Cash sales made up about 27% of all home purchases in 2024, according to a NAF analysis of 2024 data from ATTOM.
These states had the highest share of cash home purchases:
1. West Virginia (41.1%)
2. New York (40.4%)
3. Delaware (38.9%)
4. Georgia (37.5%)
5. Alabama (36.7%)
6. South Carolina (35.2%)
7. North Carolina (34.3%)
8. Louisiana (34.1%)
9. Maine (33.4%)
10. Ohio (31.5%)