Current Market Update – April 21

Real Estate IS Resilient!

The numbers are stacked against us yet we keep charging forward.  Real estate agents celebrated last night when Governor Polis announced they could do showings starting on Monday the 27th.  Is it back to business as usual?  Not even close.  Take a look at these numbers…

• Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiments is down 11.7% to its lowest level since December 2016
• University of Michigan’s Consumer Confidence Index was 101 in February, 89.1 in March and 71 in April.. down to its lowest level since 2009
• NAR surveyed it’s members and 90% of them noted home buyer interest is down.  44% of them said the drop was more then 50%
• MBA Purchase applications are down 35%
• Unemployment is up to 17% based on last week’s jobless numbers and will probably be over 20% when we get the updated number on Thursday
• and finally … Homeowners taking advantage of the forbearance plan is up to 2.9 million homes or 5.5% of the originations.  This will cost servicers $2.3 Billion a month!

High forbearance numbers are pushing bank and non-bank lenders to tighten their credit box, hurting first time homebuyers, move up buyers and jumbo buyers alike!  We all heard what Chase did.  But did you know other banks are doing the same.. just a little more quietly.

Wells Fargo, USBank, and BB&T all raised their FICO minimum to 680; Flagstar raised it to 640; Navy Federal stopped doing FHA loans hoping to bring them back in 2021 and Better.com stopped doing FHA loans and raised their minimum FICOs.

Meanwhile, virtual showings are up 400%!  WOW.. this is your opportunity to engage in a whole new way… because the way we did things won’t be the way we work going forward.

This is also the time when we all have to be more creative than ever.  Supporting our clients with solutions that help them in their journey to build wealth through real estate.

Your partner,

Nicole Rueth
The Rueth Team of Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation
750 W Hampden Avenue, Suite 500
Englewood, CO 80110
303-214-6393
www.TheRuethTeam.com

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