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Supply Chain, Interest Rates Put Home Affordability at 10-year Low: NAHB Index

Originally published on February 8, 2022 by Rose Quint for NAHB.

Supply-chain bottlenecks that put upward pressure on home prices along with rising interest rates contributed to housing affordability falling to a 10-year low.  The likelihood of higher interest rates in the months ahead (as the Federal Reserve moves to tighten interest rates) along with ongoing production challenges threaten to drive housing affordability even lower in 2022.

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Women, Millennials Driving Black Homeownership: Realtor.com

Originally published on February 9, 2022, Jiayi Xu for Realtor.com.

Highlights

Black homebuyers:

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Foreclosure Activity Highest Since COVID Outbreak: Data

Originally published on February 10, 2022 by the ATTOM Staff for ATTOM.

ATTOM, licensor of the nation’s most comprehensive foreclosure data and parent company to RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com), the largest online marketplace for foreclosure and distressed properties, today released its January 2022 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 23,204 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — up 29 percent from a month ago and 139 percent from a year ago.

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FHFA Requests Input on Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022-2026

Originally published on February 9, 2022, by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

​Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today requests input on its Draft Strategic Planwhich outlines the Agency's priorities for the coming years as a regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank System and as regulator and conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises).

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Single-tenant Net Lease Cap Rates Tick Up in Fourth Quarter: The Boulder Group

Originally published by The Boulder Group on February 2, 2022.

Cap rates in the single-tenant net lease retail and industrial sectors increased to 5.88% and 6.77%, respectively, during the fourth quarter, a slight increase from the historically low rates reported during the previous quarter, The Boulder Group reported Feb. 3 in its Q4 2021 Net Lease Market Report. Cap rates for net lease office properties remained at 6.8%.

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Fannie Mae Settles Suit Over Homes in Minority Neighborhoods

Originally published on February 7, 2022, by Lester Davis for NFHA.

Today, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and 20 fair housing organizations throughout the country reached a landmark $53 million agreement with Fannie Mae (formally known as the Federal National Mortgage Association). The settlement resolves the groups’ claims that Fannie Mae treated homes it owned in majority-Black and Latino communities unfavorably. The settlement will help rebuild and strengthen communities of color in 39 metropolitan areas. In the case, the plaintiffs alleged that Fannie Mae maintained and marketed its foreclosed homes in predominantly White neighborhoods while allowing homes in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods to fall into disrepair and that this differential treatment exacerbated the damage caused by the 2008 mortgage crisis and impeded recovery from the crisis in neighborhoods of color. The case was the first time a federal court confirmed the nation’s fair housing laws cover the maintenance and marketing of Real Estate Owned (REO) properties.

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USPAP Needs Clarity Regarding Bias, Federal Law: Agencies

Originally published on February 7, 2022, by NAFCU Newsroom.

The NCUA, CFPB, and several other agencies including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and Federal Reserve Board (FRB) Friday wrote to The Appraisal Foundation (TAF), a private non-governmental entity with the sole power to set professional standards for appraisers, regarding appraisal discrimination. The agencies called out TAF for failing to “include clear warnings about the requirements of federal law in the standards it sets, and in the training it provides for appraisers.” 

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Biden Administration Creates Coalition to Improve Building Performance Standards

Originally published on January 21, 2022 by the White House. 

Today, President Biden announced during his remarks at the U.S. Conference of Mayors that his Administration is teaming up with states, cities, labor, and industry to launch the Building Performance Standards Coalition, the first-of-its-kind partnership between 33 state and local governments dedicated to delivering cleaner, healthier, and more affordable buildings. With nearly 20% of the nation’s building footprint in their jurisdictions, the partnership facilitates new commitments to design and implement building performance standards at the state and local level, create good-paying, union jobs, lower energy bills for consumers, keep residents and workers safe from harmful pollution, and cut emissions from the building sector. Today’s announcement builds upon the Department of Energy’s efforts to upgrade one million homes and makes progress toward President Biden’s goal to retrofit four million buildings and two million homes during his first term.

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Meet the Member: Laura Gourlay

 

Where do you live and who do you work for?
I live in Asheville, North Carolina. I work for the NCDOT as a review appraiser and have my own appraisal business (AccuAppraisal of NC) that I work for nights and weekends.
 
How long have you been appraising?
Eleven Years
 
Who was your supervisor as a Trainee and how did you meet them?
John Palmer was my supervisor.  I met him when I worked at SunTrust Bank, and he was trying to get on the approved appraiser list.  We later reconnected at a business meeting, and it was there he convinced me to take the courses and become an appraiser.
 
What is the most unique property you’ve appraised?
Tough Question – I have done lots of Breweries (it is Asheville), camps, cabins, etc, but the most interesting business in a property I appraised was one that recycled alcohol out of everyday products like beer, perfume, and makeup.
 
What is a fact about you, outside of work-life, that people would be surprised to know?
I have 5 kids and run Spartan Races.

US Hotel Recovery Continues, Data Shows

Originally published on January 20, 2022, by Haley Luther for STR Global.

The U.S. hotel sector reported an average daily rate of $124.67 per available room in 2021, which is still 4.8% lower than what was reported pre-pandemic, but an improvement over 2020, STR reported Jan. 20. In terms of occupancy, Tampa, Florida, reported the nation’s highest annual rate of 68.4% while Minneapolis had the lowest rate of 44.4%

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Report Explores USPAP, AQC Inclusiveness and Objectivity

The National Fair Housing Alliance, under contract by the Appraisal Subcommittee and the Council on Licensure, Enforcement, and Regulation, on Jan. 19 released its report on whether the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice and Appraiser Qualifications Criteria support or promote fairness, equity, objectivity and diversity in both appraisals and the training and credentialing of appraisers. The findings and recommendations are far-reaching, and some will require legislative action.

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Southwest and Sunbelt Markets to Dominate Multifamily Housing in 2022: Forecast

Originally published on January 19, 2022, by Phil Hall for Benzinga.

In this year’s U.S. Multifamily Index – which ranks 46 major markets on a criteria mix including the local labor market, vacancies, construction and affordability – Orlando and Las Vegas placed first and second thanks to a high-level of job creation and household formation rates – which, the report predicted, will lead to higher rates of rent growth.

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Homeownership Typically More Affordable than Renting: Data

Originally published on Janaury 6, 2022 for ATTOM.

ATTOM, curator of the nation’s premier property database, today released its 2022 Rental Affordability Report, which shows that owning a median-priced home is more affordable than the average rent on a three-bedroom property in 666, or 58 percent, of the 1,154 U.S. counties analyzed for the report. That means major home ownership expenses consume a smaller portion of average local wages than renting.

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State Attorneys General Target FHA Loan Violations

Originally published on January 5, 2022, by Georgia Kromrei for HousingWire.com.

Some Federal Housing Administration-approved mortgage servicers have routinely flouted the agency’s loan modification program, according to Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and 20 other state attorneys general.

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Mortgage Rates Rise Quickly During Second Week of January: Freddie MacMortgage Rates Rise Quickly During Second Week of January: Freddie Mac

Originally published on January 13, 2022, by Angela Waugaman for Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS), showing that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.45 percent.

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Mortgage Rates Rise Quickly During Second Week of January: Freddie MacMortgage Rates Rise Quickly During Second Week of January: Freddie Mac

Originally published on January 13, 2022, by Angela Waugaman for Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS), showing that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.45 percent.

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Inflation at 40-year High, Rates Could Rise: Labor Report

Originally published on January 12, 2022, by Lucia Mutikani for Reuters.com

U.S. consumer prices increased solidly in December as rental accommodation and used cars maintained their strong gains, culminating in the largest annual rise in inflation in nearly four decades, which bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve will start raising interest rates as early as March.

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CRE Price Growth Up Last Year; 2022 Could See Double-digit Increases, Index Shows

Originally published on January 11, 2022, by Michael Tucker for Mortgage Bankers Association.

Green Street, Newport Beach, Calif., said its commercial property price index increased 24 percent in 2021 with robust price appreciation occurring in virtually every corner of the CRE market.

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Student Housing Resilient; 2022 Looks Promising: Report

Originally published on January 11, 2022, by Michael Tucker for Mortgage Bankers Association.

Yardi Matrix, Santa Barbara, Calif., reported student housing sector fundamentals remain strong as pre-leasing for the 2022 fall semester ramps up.

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FHFA Releases Q3 Uniform Appraisal Dataset Statistics

Originally published on December 15, 2023, by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today published its 2022 third-quarter data for the Uniform Appraisal Data (UAD) Aggregate Statistics Data File.

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