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.
- loanDepot recently suffered a cybersecurity attack, causing them to shut down some of their systems, including their customer portal, on Monday, Jan. 8. One of the nation’s top mortgage lenders by volume, loanDepot is the latest in a long line of housing-related companies to suffer attacks, including MLS provider Rapattoni, Fidelity National Financial and Mr. Cooper. The company referred all media to a cybersecurity incident webpage for more details.
- Mortgage rates stagnated this week, growing from 6.62% to 6.66%, according to the latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey from Freddie Mac. The 15-year FRM fell slightly from 5.89% to 5.87%.
- “Mortgage rates have not moved materially over the last three weeks and remain in the mid-six percent range, which has marginally increased homebuyer demand,” said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater. “Even this slight uptick in demand, combined with inventory that remains tight, continues to cause prices to rise faster than incomes, meaning affordability remains a major headwind for buyers.”
- After two weeks of decline over the 2023 holiday season, mortgage applications saw a 9.9% increase this week, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
- “The increase in purchase and refinance applications for both conventional and government loans is promising to start the year, but was likely due to some catch-up in activity after the holiday season and year-end rate declines,” said MBA Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan.
