Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s biweekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it every other Friday afternoon.
– Mortgage rates saw a slight shift upward this week, attributed to geopolitical instability resulting from the renewed U.S.-Iran War that could send rates up higher if the conflict continues. Mortgage applications remained largely unchanged through this slight rate increase.
– After several delays following agreement in principle in late March, Two Harbors Investment shareholders have approved the real estate investment trust and its RoundPoint servicing business being acquired by CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM), subject to certification by the independent inspector of elections. The deal is for $12 per share in cash, plus a stub dividend covering the quarter in which the deal closes.
The combination of CCM, the nation’s largest distributed retail mortgage lender, with TWO’s mortgage servicing rights portfolio and RoundPoint’s mortgage servicing platform, creates a fully integrated mortgage company, according to a release. Together, the platform spans the full mortgage customer lifecycle—from origination through servicing—driving higher customer retention, recurring revenue streams and lower customer acquisition costs.
– Mortgage delinquencies are up in ICE’s latest Mortgage Monitor, but it is not cause for concern as the “underlying performance picture is stable,” as stated by ICE Head of Mortgage and Housing Market Research Andy Walden. The report specifically notes that the 15 basis point rise to 3.5% in the national mortgage delinquency rate was due to a calendar anomaly—the month ending on a Sunday. Walden explained that this “causes many mortgage payments to be processed the following business day.” He also noted that “delinquencies remain below January 2020 levels.”
– A new paper published by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), “Implications of a Persistent Slowing in Housing Demand,” suggests that due to changing demographics, U.S. housing supply could outpace demand growth as soon as the early 2030s. The report looks back to the historically low mortgage rates during the pandemic—which pushed home prices higher and accelerated construction—followed by the current rate lock-in effect that is constraining housing inventory and keeping prices elevated.
“Looking ahead, demographic trends are weakening the foundations of housing demand,” the report states. “Household formation is expected to slow over the next decade due to population aging, low fertility rates, smaller younger adult cohorts, and reduced immigration. Aging Baby Boomers are unlikely to flood the market with inventory, but home transfers will moderately add to supply over time.”
– New data found that a majority of mortgage rate locks made between buyers and lenders are from younger buyers; 45% from millennials, and 20% from Gen Z. This data suggests that the majority of buyers looking to buy homes and taking on a fixed-rate mortgage to do so are from younger generations.
