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 provided an update this week on the cybersecurity attack that forced the company to shut down some of its systems back on Jan. 8. According to a release issued this past Monday, loanDepot determined that an unauthorized third party gained access to sensitive personal information of approximately 16.6 million individuals in its systems. The company is offering credit monitoring and identity protection services at no cost to them.
- “Unfortunately, we live in a world where these types of attacks are increasingly frequent and sophisticated, and our industry has not been spared. We sincerely regret any impact to our customers,” said loanDepot CEO Frank Martell. “The entire loanDepot team has worked tirelessly throughout this incident to support our customers, our partners and each other. I am pleased by our progress in quickly bringing our systems back online and restoring normal business operations.”
- Mortgage rates inched up this week, but essentially remained stagnant, growing from 6.66% to 6.69 this week, according to the latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey from Freddie Mac. The 15-year FRM also increased slightly from 5.76% to 5.96%.
- “The 30-year fixed-rate has remained within a very narrow range over the last month, settling in at 6.69% this week,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Given this stabilization in rates, potential homebuyers with affordability concerns have jumped off the fence back into the market. Despite persistent inventory challenges, we anticipate a busier spring homebuying season than 2023, with home prices continuing to increase at a steady pace.”
- Mortgage applications continued their uptick this week, increasing 3.7% from last week’s notable bump of 10.4%, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)
- “Mortgage rates increased slightly last week, but there continues to be an upward trend in purchase activity. Conventional and FHA purchase applications drove most of the increase last week as some buyers moved to act early this season,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist.
