Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s weekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it each Friday afternoon.
- How low will it go? That’s likely on the minds of many as the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.09% this week, down from last week’s rate of 6.13%, according to the latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey® from Freddie Mac.
- The number of folks applying for mortgages slumped 9% this week, according to the Weekly Application Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, said the further narrowing of the spread between rates and the 10-year treasury would “put downward pressure on mortgage rates in the coming months.”
- The past year was wild for mortgage lenders, but where is the mortgage market headed? Motto Franchising LLC President and CEO Ward Morrison had a few ideas as he dove into the mortgage market’s past, present and future on a new episode of RISMedia’s RealEdge Podcast this week. Tune in to see what he has to say on the matter.
- It seems as if the Federal Reserve is growing a bit more confident in its battle against inflation. Fed officials announced a 25 basis-point rate hike on Wednesday afternoon in their highly anticipated first meeting of 2023. In response to the move, Bright MLS Chief Economist Dr. Lisa Sturtevant said that “this move marks a shift from the aggressive approach of 2022 to a more cautious strategy as we head into 2023.”
- The rollercoaster ride that mortgage lenders have been on since last year hasn’t let up. The layoffs in the sector haven’t ceased, as Wells Fargo & Co. recently laid off 140 employees in its home lending division. According to reports on the matter, all of the employees were part of Wells Fargo’s correspondent business, which purchases loans from other financial institutions.
