Fannie Mae Predicting Record-Low Mortgage Interest Rates Through 2021

According to Fannie Mae, the average mortgage interest rate for 2020 will be 3.2%, a small decrease from the average rate of 3.9% in 2019. In 2021 they expect that average mortgage interest rate to drop even lower to 2.9%. This same forecast predicts a refinance volume of $1.78 trillion this year, which would be the highest volume since 2003. As of the end of May, over 14 million mortgage holders could lower their rate by at least 0.75% by refinancing, saving consumers a combined $3.95 billion per month. This low interest rate environment could push refinance volume even higher as the year...

Renters Less Likely to Renew After Pandemic

According to a recent study, 35.9% of renters with leases expiring in the next six months are likely to not renew said leases. In addition, renters who pay upwards of $1,750 a month are even less likely to renew with 41.6% of these consumers planning to not renew their lease. Furthermore, only 34.1% of renters said their management company has offered payment plans for May’s rent while 65.5% are unaware of any state or federal program to assist them with rent payment issues. With less people choosing to renew their leases, more buyers may soon be entering the...

Congress Approves Broader PPP Loan Terms

Congress recently approved a bill to add more flexibility to the Paycheck Protection Program. Instead of the original eight week period, borrowers now have twenty-four weeks to disperse their loan funds in order to have them forgiven. In addition, the amount of money that must be directed towards payroll has been reduced from 75% to 60%. The remainder can be used for expenses such as utilities, rent, or mortgage interest. Independent contractors and self-employed will have an amount equal to twenty-four weeks of their 2019 net earnings with a cap of $15,385 forgiven. Under this new bill PPP borrowers will have until the end of the year to use their funds, but the program is only accepting new applications until June...

Fannie Mae Issues Lender Letter for Self-Employment Income

Last week, Fannie Mae issued a lender letter containing additional requirements for self-employed people looking for a home mortgage loan. Income from a business affected by changing economic conditions is not necessarily ineligible for use in qualifying a borrower for a home mortgage loan, but additional information will be required to determine if the income is stable. As of June 11th, lenders will be required to follow these new standards when qualifying a borrower for a home mortgage loan. The documentation now required by Fannie Mae includes a year-to-date profit and loss statement reporting revenue, expenses, and net income as well as the two most recent depository account statements. If these two documents do not support each other, additional statements or other documentation to support the year-to-date profit loss statement must be...

Metrics Show Housing Market Seemingly Rebounding from COVID

Quite a few economic metrics in recent weeks can lead one to believe the housing market may be rebounding from the COVID-19 drop. The beginning of the flattening of the curve, the end of most stay-at-home orders, the 10-year yield approaching 1%, the decline of credit stress, and data from hardest-hit sectors starting to trend up are all positive signs things may be returning to normal. All of these metrics are reason for optimism considering the housing market and economy as a...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Forbearance Guideline Update

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has recently announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will now allow borrower’s who went into COVID-19 induced forbearance to refinance their loan or buy a new home as long as they have made three straight monthly payments after their forbearance ends. In addition, last month Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that they would begin buying loans that went into “first-payment forbearance”. This would mean loans where the borrower went into forbearance within the first month of the loan closing could be purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This policy was set to expire at the end of May, but the FHFA decided to extend it through the end of August...