Borrowers with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be eligible for an additional forbearance extension of up to six months, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Thursday.
On Feb. 9, the FHFA extended forbearance plans an additional three months past beyond their initial 12 month expiration. With the latest edict, the agency is now allowing borrowers up to 18 months of coverage.
According to the FHFA, eligibility for the extension is limited to borrowers who are on a COVID-19 forbearance plan as of Feb. 28, 2021. The FHFA said other limits may apply to the extension but did not provide further details.
With the new extension set in motion, some borrowers may now be in forbearance through Aug. 31, 2022.
The FHFA extended its multifamily forbearance policies in December, pushing forbearance options for multifamily mortgages backed by the GSEs to March 31, 2021, though the agency has yet to say whether the latest extension will also be offered to owners of multifamily properties.
From forbearance to post-forbearance: How to make the process effective
To accommodate the large volume of loans still in forbearance, mortgage servicers must have functional, flexible and effective forbearance processes in place. Here are some actionable steps to create that process.
Presented by: FICS
Alongside its forbearance announcement, the FHFA also said the GSEs will be extending the moratoriums on single-family foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) evictions through June 30, 2021 – three months past the previous deadline set for Mar. 31, 2021. The new date matches the moratorium set by HUD for FHA and USDA loans.
According to FHFA director Mark Calabria, borrowers and the capital markets investors both benefit from consistent treatment.
“From the start of the pandemic, FHFA has worked to keep families safe and in their home, while ensuring the mortgage market functions as efficiently as possible,” Calabria said in a statement Thursday. “Today’s extensions of the COVID-19 forbearance period to 18 months and foreclosure and eviction moratoriums through the end of June will help align mortgage policies across the federal government.”
As of Feb. 22, the Mortgage Bankers Association estimates 2.6 million homeowners are in some form of forbearance. The MBA reported on Monday that the portfolios of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dipped down to 2.97%. The GSEs have consistently had lower forbearance rates than other owners of mortgages during the pandemic.
Economic data is starting to show some of the effects of long-term moratoriums. Black Knight’s December mortgage monitor report revealed that foreclosure starts hit a record low in 2020, falling by 67% from the year prior as moratoriums protected homeowners.
According to Black Knight, recent forbearance and foreclosure moratorium extensions have reduced near-term risk, but at the same time may have the effect of extending the length of the recovery period.
Based on the rate of improvement to date, Black Knight estimates there could be more than 2.5 million active forbearance plans remaining at the end of March 2021, when the first wave of plans reaches their 12-month expirations.
The average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan is now just 3 basis points away from 3%, after a 16 basis point jump last week pushed mortgage rates to 2.97%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The average mortgage rate hasn’t risen this high since the end of July 2020, but Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, noted higher rates signals an economy slowly regaining its footing.
“Though rates continue to rise, they remain near historic lows,” said Khater. “However, when combined with demand-fueled rising home prices and low inventory, these rising rates limit how competitive a potential homebuyer can be and how much house they are able to purchase.”
Rising rates didn’t slow new home sales in January though, after the U.S. censes bureau reported sales of new single-family houses in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 923,000 — 4.3% above December’s rate.
“However, recent increases in mortgage interest rates threaten to exacerbate existing affordability conditions. Builders are exercising discipline to ensure home prices do not outpace buyer budgets,” said National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist Robert Dietz.
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While purchase demand hasn’t shown any sign of decline, the refi wave is showing more vulnerability. As rates rose, refi activity fell 11% according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
For many potential borrowers, the opportunity to refinance is lost before the chance even arises, while other prospective borrowers are caught in a clogged loan pipeline and don’t get the opportunity to lock in that low rate.
According to HousingWire’s lead analyst Logan Mohtashami, a one-eighth to a quarter turn in mortgage rates (high or low) can move the market substantially.
“There are people who had a 4.00% rate that refinanced to 3.25% and then said, ‘Oh well now that rates are low, I’ll refinance again to 2.75%.’ But if that rate sneaks up a quarter it’s no longer ideal and it’s lost its appeal. They are going to wait for it to come back down, right? And then it doesn’t,” Mohtashami said.
Years of Work Needed to Afford a Down Payment – 2021 Edition – SmartAsset
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Assembling enough money for a down payment is typically the largest hurdle to clear when securing a mortgage. The median home price in the U.S. is up 14% year-over-year, according to a November 2020 Redfin report, and as the housing market gets more expensive, so too will the deposit that you have to front for a home. Working with professional financial advisors can help you strategize so that your money’s doing the most for you, but in some places compared to others, scraping together that bundle of cash can be particularly daunting. Keeping all this in mind, SmartAsset investigated where it takes longest to save for a down payment.
To do this, we examined data on the 50 largest U.S. cities, using median home values, median income figures and assuming that workers would save 20% of their income each year. We calculated the years needed to save for both the recommended 20% down payment as well a 12% down payment (the median down payment among all homebuyers in 2019, according to the National Association of Realtors). For details on our data sources and how we put all the information together to create our final rankings, check out the Data and Methodology section below.
This is SmartAsset’s fifth look at how many years of work it takes to afford a down payment. You can read the 2020 edition here.
Key Findings
Oakland takes over in the Bay. In the last three editions of this study, San Francisco homeowners have always needed to work longer than Oakland homeowners to afford a down payment. This year, however, Oakland has surpassed San Francisco and moved to the No. 2 spot, bumping the Golden Gate City to No. 3. San Francisco real estate is still pricier – with a median home value of more than $1.2 million – but the differences in average income make Oakland second only to Los Angeles on our list.
It still takes less time in Midwestern and Southern cities to assemble funds for a down payment. Residents in the East Coast and West Coast cities that comprise our top 10 will need more than three times longer to save up for a down payment than residents in the Midwestern and Southern cities that comprise the bottom 10. To save up for a 20% down payment, those in the top 10 will need to work an average of 8.90 years, compared to only 2.83 years in the bottom 10. For a 12% down payment, it will take 5.34 years for residents in the top 10 cities to reach their home buying goals, while it will take 1.70 years for residents in the bottom 10 to do so.
1. Los Angeles, CA
It will take residents in Los Angeles, California the longest to save for a down payment. The median home value is $697,200, which means that they will need to save $139,440 for a 20% down payment. If a person earns the median household income of $67,418 and saves 20% of that each year, then he or she will need to work 10.34 years to have enough money to afford a down payment.
2. Oakland, CA
In Oakland, California where the median home costs $807,600, a 20% down payment equals $161,520. The median household income here is $82,018, so a person saving 20% annually will need to work for 9.85 years to afford a down payment. For comparison, saving up a 12% down payment of $96,912 will require 5.91 years, but this means having to pay significantly higher mortgage payments.
3. San Francisco, CA
The median home value in San Francisco, California is $1,217,500 – the only city in our study with a seven-figure price tag. A 20% down payment on that median value would cost $243,500. With a median household income of $123,859, the average person saving 20% annually could afford a down payment in 9.83 years.
4. New York, NY
In the Big Apple, homeowners will need 9.81 years to make a 20% down payment on a home. The median home value is $680,800, which means a 20% down payment is $136,160. And for a comparison, a New Yorker saving 20% annually at a median household income of $69,407 will need 5.89 years to save for a 12% down payment of $81,696.
5. Long Beach, CA
Long Beach, California has a median home value of $614,400. To buy the median house with a 20% down payment, the average resident will need $122,880. If you earn the median income of $67,804 and save 20% of your income each year, then you will be able to afford a down payment in 9.06 years.
6. San Jose, CA
San Jose, California is in the heart of Silicon Valley, and as you might expect, the median home value is fairly high – at $999,990. A 20% payment on that home value is $199,980. The median household income in the city is $115,893, so if a resident saves 20% of his or her income each year, then the person could afford a down payment in 8.63 years.
7. Miami, FL
Miami, Florida is the only Southeastern city in the top 10 of our study. The median home value is $358,500, which means that a 20% down payment costs $71,700. The median income in Miami, however, is $42,966. So a resident saving 20% of that median household income ($8,593) each year could afford a 20% down payment in 8.34 years.
8. Boston, MA
It takes someone saving 20% of the median household income in Boston, Massachusetts 7.93 years of work to afford a 20% down payment on a home. The median home value is $627,000, with a 20% down payment coming to $125,400. The median household income in Boston is $79,018.
9. San Diego, CA
The median home value in San Diego, California is $658,400, which means that a 20% down payment is $131,680. Someone earning the median household income of $85,507 will need 7.70 years to afford that down payment. For comparison, a 12% down payment of $79,008 takes 4.62 years to save up for, with the caveat that paying a smaller down payment now means larger mortgage payments later.
10. Seattle, WA
Seattle, Washington rounds out the top 10 on our list, with a median home value of $767,000. This means that a 20% down payment is $153,400. So if you earn the median household income of $102,486, then it will take you 7.48 years – saving 20% of your income each year – to afford that payment.
Data and Methodology
To rank the cities where the average household would need to save the longest to afford a down payment, we analyzed data on the 50 largest U.S. cities. We specifically considered two pieces of data:
2019 median home value.
2019 median household income.
Data for both factors comes from the Census Bureau’s 2019 1-year American Community Survey.
We started by determining the annual savings for households by assuming they would save 20% of the median annual pre-tax income. Next, we determined how much a 20% down payment as well as a 12% down payment for the median home in each city would cost. Then, we divided each of the estimated down payments in each city by the estimated annual savings. The result was the estimated number of years of saving needed to afford each down payment, assuming zero savings to begin with. Finally, we created our final ranking by ordering the cities from the greatest number of years needed to the least number of years needed for each.
Tips for Hassle-Free Home Buying
Consider investing in expert advice. If you’re thinking of buying a home or starting to save, consider working with a financial advisor before you take the plunge. Finding the right financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with financial advisors in your area in five minutes. If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors, get started now.
Prevent potential mortgage mishaps. The payments don’t stop after you’ve put money down; you’ll also need to make mortgage payments. Figure out what those might be before you move forward by using SmartAsset’s mortgage calculator.
It pays to read the fine print. When thinking about your home buying transaction, don’t forget closing costs. These may seem small compared to the down payment, but every dollar counts.
Questions about our study? Contact press@smartasset.com.
Ben Geier, CEPF® Ben Geier is an experienced financial writer currently serving as a retirement and investing expert at SmartAsset. His work has appeared on Fortune, Mic.com and CNNMoney. Ben is a graduate of Northwestern University and a part-time student at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He is a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing and a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF®). When he isn’t helping people understand their finances, Ben likes watching hockey, listening to music and experimenting in the kitchen. Originally from Alexandria, VA, he now lives in Brooklyn with his wife.
For the first time since March 2020, the national mortgage delinquency rate fell below 6% to 5.9% in January, according to data from Black Knight on Wednesday.
At the current rate of improvement, the data giant estimates 2.1 million borrowers remain 90 or more days past due though are not yet in foreclosure. While modest mortgage delinquency improvements have occurred for several months, loans considered seriously delinquent are still five times that of pre-pandemic levels.
Thanks to widespread moratoriums, borrowers have managed to avoid eviction and foreclosures for some time now. Foreclosure starts and sales activity managed historic lows in January with starts down 86% year-over-year and sales down more than 95%.
The FHFA most recently extended COVID-19 foreclosure and forbearance moratoriums to March 31, 2021 and the Department of Housing and Urban Development‘s also kicked the foreclosure can further down the road for FHA and USDA loans to June 30, 2021.
While those extensions have reduced short-term foreclosure risk, they are also serving to extend the recovery timeline, Black Knight said. But even with these continuous extensions, Black Knight estimates 1.8 million mortgages will still be seriously delinquent at the end of June when those moratoriums are slated to lift.
From forbearance to post-forbearance: How to make the process effective
To accommodate the large volume of loans still in forbearance, mortgage servicers must have functional, flexible and effective forbearance processes in place. Here are some actionable steps to create that process.
Presented by: FICS
While servicers gear up to handle the million-plus borrowers that will feed through the mortgage delinquency pipeline, recent research from the Urban Institute estimates that a looming foreclosure crisis isn’t actually on the horizon.
A bevy of loss mitigation waterfalls from both the FHA and FHFA allows borrowers not in forbearance programs eligibility for loss mitigation options, including mortgage modifications. Still, not every borrower will qualify for a modification, and some will be forced to downsize or rent, the Urban Institute noted.
Borrowers also have the most equity available to them in history, and those with ample home equity could exit their home, if they needed to, with their credit intact and potentially some cash in hand.
However, approximately 626,000 of the 3.2 million delinquent borrowers have government loans in Ginnie Mae securities. Because of their high loan-to-value ratios at origination, these borrowers are likely to have less home equity.
“Our analysis shows that, even among delinquent borrowers, less than 1 percent have negative equity and 5.5 percent have near-negative equity. For comparison, in the aftermath of the Great Recession, approximately 30 percent of homes were in negative or near-negative equity, but the number is now 3.6 percent,” Urban Institute report said.
The following is a guest post by Eric Lindeen, of Anna Buys Houses.
The second quarter of 2020 marked the highest U.S. mortgage delinquency rate (reported as 60-days past due) since 1979. Amidst the chaos of the pandemic, federal and state governments have made efforts to protect against the financial strain U.S. consumers are enduring—including mortgage payment forbearance of foreclosure.
What Is a Forbearance?
Forbearance is the postponement of mortgage payments, or the lowering of monthly payments for a specified time period; it’s not loan forgiveness. Repayment terms are negotiated between the borrower and lender. Mortgage forbearance is one tool to help protect homeowners from foreclosure due to temporary hardships, such as a job loss, natural disaster, or pandemic. Some homeowners may opt for strategic forbearance, meaning they proactively enter a forbearance agreement just in case they lose their ability to make their mortgage payments.
As of October 25, data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that approximately 2.9 million U.S. homeowners are currently in forbearance plans. That number represents 5.83% of servicers’ portfolio volume. MBA data also shows that nearly 25% of all homeowners in forbearance plans have continued to make their monthly payment (perhaps an indicator of the use of strategic forbearance).
How Do Forbearance Plans Work?
Mortgage payment forbearance programs have come at a time when many Americans are losing their livelihood and others fear the potential fallout from the health and economic crisis. Not all forbearance plans are created equal. Therefore, it’s critical to understand how different plans are structured to protect your financial health and credit.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act is one measure enacted to provide relief to consumers facing hardships due to the impacts of the coronavirus. One provision of the Act allows mortgage payment forbearance and provides other protections for homeowners with federally or Government Sponsored Enterprise (GSE) backed or funded (FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) mortgage loans.
If you have a federally or GSE-backed mortgage, no documentation is required to request forbearance, other than an assertion that you are facing a pandemic-related hardship. Borrowers are entitled to an initial forbearance period of up to 180 days. If necessary, an extension of an additional 180 days may be requested. Federally backed mortgages are protected against foreclosure through December 31, 2020.
Recently, the foreclosure moratorium was extended yet again to at least March 31, 2021 for GSE-backed loans (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). Be sure you understand who owns your loan and the terms of your loan as these deadlines approach. Extensions are likely to continue to help borrowers keep their homes and lenders navigate the constant uncertainty that is 2020.
The CARES Act amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) with a provision that when a lender agrees to forbear an account of a consumer impacted by the pandemic, the consumer complies with the terms of the forbearance. Then, the mortgage issuer must report that account as current to credit reporting agencies.
How Your Credit Factors into Forbearance
On paper, knowing that your credit won’t be affected by forbearance seems like a good deal. There’s an important distinction here. Your loan doesn’t need to be current to qualify for forbearance under the CARES Act. However, any delinquencies on your account prior to entering a forbearance plan will impact your credit report. Make sure that your loan is current, and being reported as current to the credit bureaus, before you agree to a forbearance of foreclosure.
What about Private Mortgages?
Around 30% of single-family mortgages are privately owned. Many private banks and loan servicers have voluntarily implemented relief measures that don’t fall under the same protections of the CARES Act. Terms vary by institution and state of residence. And relief plans may not be structured in the same manner as federally-backed and funded loans.
For example, borrowers with private loans may be required to pay back all missed payments in a lump sum as soon as the forbearance period ends. Lump sum payments are not required for GSE-backed loans. Additionally, if modifications are made to a privately funded loan, the new terms could impact your credit score depending upon how the lender reports the status of your loan to the credit bureaus.
The good news is that the three major credit bureaus (i.e., Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) are providing free weekly online credit reports through April 2021. Be sure to check these reports to ensure that the new terms of your loan are being reported as “paying as agreed” and not reported as late. Credit.com also has resources to help check and manage your credit.
It’s also important to understand the terms of your loan. Some homeowners who recently refinanced were asked to sign a form that was quickly described as “new COVID paperwork.” The fine print stated that their new loan was not eligible for forbearance relief measures.
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Mortgage payment forbearance is one tool that can protect homeowners from defaulting on their loan, damaging their credit, and worst of all, losing their home to foreclosure. Key takeaways include, knowing who owns your loan, who services your loan, and what type of protections are available to provide relief if the current economic crisis is impacting you or you fear that it might.
There are proactive steps to protect against foreclosure and determine the right path for your personal situation.
If you’re like many Americans, you dream of having a beach house, a desert escape, or a mountain hideaway. Perhaps you’re tired of staying at hotels and want the comforts of home at your fingertips.
You’re ready to make this dream a reality. Before you do, consider these steps.
How to Buy a Vacation Home
1. Choose a Home That Fits Your Needs
As you begin your search for a vacation home, carefully consider your goals and needs. Start with the location. Do you prefer an urban or rural area? Lots of property or a townhouse with just a small yard to care for?
Consider what amenities are important to be close to. Where is the nearest grocery store? Is a hospital accessible?
Consider your goals for the property. Is this a place that only you and your family will use? Do you plan to rent it out from time to time? Or maybe you plan to be there only a couple of weeks out of the year, using it as a rental property the rest of the time.
The answers to these questions will have a cascade effect on the other factors you’ll need to consider, from financing to taxes and other costs.
2. Figure Out Financing
Next, consider what kind of mortgage works best for you, if you’re not paying cash. You may want to engage a mortgage broker or direct lender to help with this process.
If you have a primary residence, you may be in the market for a second mortgage. The key question: Are you purchasing a second home or an investment property?
Second home. A second home is one that you, family members, or friends plan to live in for a certain period of time every year and not rent it out. Second-home loans have the same rates as primary residences. The down payment could be as low as 10%, though 20% is typical.
Investment property. If you plan on using your vacation home to generate rental income, expect a down payment of 25% or 30% and a higher rate for a non-owner- occupied loan. If you need the rental income in order to qualify for the additional home purchase, you may need to identify a renter and have a lease. A lender still may only consider a percentage of the rental income toward your qualifying income.
Some people may choose to tap equity in their primary home to buy the vacation home. One popular option is a cash-out refinance, in which you borrow more than you owe on your primary home and take the extra money as cash.
3. Consider Costs
While you consider the goals you’re hoping to accomplish by acquiring a vacation home, try to avoid home buying mistakes.
A mortgage lender can delineate the down payment, monthly mortgage payment, and closing costs. But remember that there are other costs to consider, including maintenance of the home and landscape, utilities, furnishings, insurance, property taxes, and travel to and from the home.
If you’re planning on renting out the house, determine frequency and expected rental income. Be prepared to take a financial hit if you are unable to rent the property out as much as you planned. For a full picture of cost, check out our home affordability calculator.
4. Learn About Taxes
Taxes will be an ongoing consideration if you buy a vacation home.
A second home qualifies for mortgage interest and property tax deductions as long as the home is for personal use. And if you rent out the home for 14 or fewer days during the year, you can pocket the rental income tax-free.
If you rent out the home for more than 14 days, you must report all rental income to the IRS. You also can deduct rental expenses.
The mortgage interest deduction is available on total mortgages up to $750,000. If you already have a mortgage equal to the amount you on primary residence, your second home will not qualify.
The bottom line: Tax rules vary greatly, depending on personal or rental use.
5. Research Alternatives
There are a number of options to owning a vacation home. For example, you may consider buying a home with friends or family members, or purchasing a timeshare. But before you pursue an option, carefully weigh the pros and cons.
If you’re considering purchasing a home with other people, beware the potential challenges. Owning a home together requires a lot of compromise and cooperation.
You also must decide what will happen if one party is having trouble paying the mortgage. Are the others willing to cover it?
In addition to second home and investment properties, you may be tempted by timeshares, vacation clubs, fractional ownership, and condo hotels. Be aware that it may be hard to resell these, and the property may not retain its value over time.
6. Make It Easy to Rent
If you do decide to use your vacation home as a rental property, you have to take other people’s concerns and desires into account. Be sure to consider the factors that will make it easy to rent. A home near tourist hot spots, amenities, and a beach or lake may be more desirable.
Consider, too, factors that will make the house less desirable. Is there planned construction nearby that will make it unpleasant to stay at the house?
How far the house is from your main residence takes on increased significance when you’re a rental property owner. Will you have to engage a property manager to maintain the house and address renters’ concerns? Doing so will increase your costs.
7. Pay Attention to Local Rules
Local laws or homeowners association rules may limit who you can rent to and when.
For example, a homeowners association might limit how often you can rent your vacation home, whether renters can have pets, where they can park, and how much noise they can make.
Be aware that these rules can be put in place after you’ve purchased your vacation home.
8. Tap Local Expertise
It’s a good idea to enlist the help of local real estate agents and lenders.
Vacation homes tend to exist in specialized markets, and these experts can help you navigate local taxes, transaction fees, zoning, and rental ordinances. They can also help you determine the best time to buy a house in the area you’re interested in.
Because they are familiar with the local market and comparable properties, they are also likely to be more comfortable with appraisals, especially in low-population areas where there may be fewer houses to compare.
The Takeaway
Buying a vacation home can be a ticket to relaxation or a rough trip. It’s imperative to know the rules governing a second home vs. a rental property, how to finance a vacation house, tax considerations, and more.
Ready to buy? SoFi offers mortgages for second homes and investment properties, including single-family homes, two-unit buildings, condos, and planned unit developments.
SoFi also offers a cash-out refinance, all at competitive rates.
Got two minutes to spare? That’s how long it takes to check your rate for a mortgage with SoFi.
SoFi Home Loans Terms, conditions, and state restrictions apply. SoFi Home Loans are not available in all states. See SoFi.com/eligibility for more information. Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances. External Websites: The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement. Tax Information: This article provides general background information only and is not intended to serve as legal or tax advice or as a substitute for legal counsel. You should consult your own attorney and/or tax advisor if you have a question requiring legal or tax advice.
Mortgage applications decreased 11.4% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey for the week ending Feb. 19.
It’s the lowest level applications have fallen to since December 2020.
Activity decreased across the board, with the unadjusted index (-10%), the refinance index (-11%), the seasonally adjusted purchase index (-12%) and the unadjusted purchase index (-8%) all falling from the previous week.
The severe winter weather in Texas played played a prominent role in the survey’s declining numbers, according to Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting.
“[The storm]affected many households and lenders, causing more than a 40% drop in both purchase and refinance applications in the state last week,” Kan said. “Mortgage rates have increased in six of the last eight weeks, with the benchmark 30-year fixed rate last week climbing above 3% to its highest level since September 2020.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 68.5% of total applications from 69.3% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity increased to 2.7% of total applications.
“The housing market in most of the country remains strong, with activity last week 7% higher than a year ago,” Kan said.
The higher-priced segment of the market continues to perform well, Kan said, with the average purchase loan size increasing to a survey-high of $418,000.
The FHA share of total mortgage applications increased to 11.2% from 9% the week prior. The VA share of total mortgage applications decreased to 11.9% from 13.2% the week prior.
Here is a more detailed breakdown of this week’s mortgage application data:
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($548,250 or less) increased to 3.08% from 2.98%
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $548,250) decreased to 3.23% from 3.11% – the fifth straight week of decreases
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3% from 2.93%
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 2.56% from 2.47%
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs remained unchanged at 2.83%
The American dream of homeownership is not an equal opportunity ambition.
Black and Hispanic home buyers are more frequently denied mortgages than white buyers—even when their financial pictures are similar, according to a realtor.com® analysis of 2019 mortgage data. When they are able to secure mortgages, Black and Hispanic borrowers are more likely to pay higher fees and interest rates on their loans than white and Asian borrowers.
“What we call it in my community is the ‘Black tax,'” says Donnell Williams. He is president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, an organization for Black real estate professionals, and a broker with Destiny Realty in Morristown, NJ.
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“Even if we have a college degree, we’re still getting the same treatment as a white high-school dropout,” he says.
Black buyers were twice as likely to be refused mortgages than whites, according to the realtor.com analysis of 7.2 million loan applications in 2019. Only about 5.5% of whites had their loan applications rejected, compared with 6.8% of Asians, 9.3% of Hispanics, 11.7% of Blacks, and 10.8% of multi-minority race individuals hoping to be approved. These denials were only for applicants where all the data was available for fully completed applications that weren’t withdrawn.
Decades of discrimination against people of color have resulted in lower homeownership rates among minorities than among whites in America. And that has a deep, long-term impact on wide swaths of America, since homeownership is traditionally how generations have catapulted themselves into the middle class, as their properties appreciate in value over time.
Nearly three-quarters of whites, 74.5%, owned their homes in the last quarter of 2020, according to a quarterly report from the U.S. Census Bureau. However, just 44.1% of Blacks, 49.1% of Hispanics, and 59.5% of Asians were homeowners in the last three months of the year.
“There are a lot of obstacles that are working against buyers of color,” says Brett Theodos, a senior fellow at Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research group based in Washington, DC.
On top of racial discrimination, “they’re less likely to get help with the down payment from the bank of Mom and Dad,” says Theodos. “They’ve also [often] entered adulthood with higher student loan debt, less inheritance, and are on average in professions that earn lower wages.”
Many of these problems took root generations ago. Whites who served in World War II were offered low-cost mortgages for single-family homes in newly built suburbs when they returned. Blacks and other minorities were often denied access to these loans. In many cases, Blacks, in particular, were explicitly barred from living in white communities through a toxic combination of racial covenants written in deeds and government-supported redlining.
Black Americans, like these Tuskegee Airmen, served their country in World War II but returned home to face discrimination.
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So Blacks who wanted to become homeowners often had to buy homes at inflated prices in less desirable areas. If they were able to get mortgages at all, they typically paid more for them. And homes in these areas haven’t appreciated nearly as much as homes in white areas, except in the places that have seen significant gentrification. As homeownership is used to catapult folks into the middle class and build wealth, that’s left many minorities with less money to pass down to future generations in the form of college tuition assistance or a down payment.
“How can we catch up? How can we be on par? We didn’t have that head start of generational wealth,” laments the National Association of Real Estate Brokers’ Williams. “You want a piece of the American dream, and it’s hard. You feel like your efforts are in vain.”
Realtor.com took a hard look at which races are most likely to be denied mortgages and the reasons provided for those rejections as well as who is paying the most for those loans. To do so, we analyzed 2019 mortgage application data available through the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The act, passed in 1975, requires most larger lenders to collect mortgage data and make it public. We looked at only first-lien mortgages on purchases of one- to four-family homes built on site, so manufactured homes wouldn’t be included.
When possible, we compared borrowers with similar financial profiles to see who was getting loans—and who wasn’t. However, our analysis doesn’t take into account certain discrepancies like credit scores.
Blacks most likely to be denied mortgages—even with good-sized down payments
According to our analysis, even aspiring home buyers of color with sizable down payments are more likely to be denied mortgages.
Black borrowers with 10% to 20% to put down were more than twice as likely to be denied than whites offering the same down payments. Lenders rejected 6% of whites and 9% of Asians—compared with 11% of Hispanics and multi-minority race borrowers and 13% of Blacks.
These higher denial rates may be due to minority borrowers having lower credit scores, more debt, or some other financial black mark. But lending experts believe that racial discrimination also plays a part.
For example, a loan officer might tell white borrowers to improve their credit before submitting an application, be more understanding of alternative forms of income, such as a family member contributing or a side gig, or wait until mortgage rates fall a little so their monthly payment is lower. The latter would increase such borrowers’ shot at getting a loan. But a loan officer may not do the same for customers of color.
“Some of it is decisions being made by the lending officers,” says sociology professor Lincoln Quillian of Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. “They have powerful stereotypes of who is likely to repay loans.”
Black and Hispanic borrowers often pay more for their mortgages
Black and Hispanic borrowers were more likely to receive higher mortgage interest rates on their loans—which can add up to big money over time.
About 59% of white borrowers and 52% of Asian borrowers received rates within 1 percentage point of the best (i.e., lowest) possible rate. However, only 51% of multi-minority race borrowers, 47% of Hispanics, and 44% of Blacks fared as well. (It’s unknown whether some of these borrowers pre-paid or bought down their interest rates during the closing process.)
Even the smallest differences in rates can really add up. A single percentage point difference can lead to a larger monthly mortgage payment and tens of thousands of dollars more paid out over the life of a 30-year fixed-rate loan. (The exact difference depends on the purchase price of the home, the exact mortgage rates, and the size of the down payment.)
A recent study found that wealthier Blacks were given higher mortgage rates than low-income whites.
Black households making between $75,000 and $100,000 a year were saddled with a median 4.215% mortgage interest rate in 2019, according to a report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. However white households earning $30,000 or less had a lower median mortgage rate of 4.16%. The study looked at 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data.
Even Black households raking in $100,000 a year or more paid slightly higher interest rates, 4.169%, than low-income whites. Whites with six-figure incomes had median 3.946% rates—about 22 basis points less than Blacks who were also earning $100,000 or more.
“We have some deep problems in the mortgage market,” Raheem Hanifa, a research analyst at the center who wrote the study.
“Some of the differences in mortgage [costs] is due to differences in who the lenders are. There’s evidence that Black and Hispanic buyers are more likely to be marketed to by lenders who are higher-cost,” says sociology professor Quillian. “White and Asian borrowers are more likely to go to traditional banks.”
Predatory lending and the proliferation of subprime mortgages doled out to communities of color led to the last housing crash, and plunged the world into a financial crisis more than a decade ago. But at least some of today’s pricier lenders may simply be smaller operations that need to charge more since they’re not dealing with the economies of scale of the bigger banks.
People of color more likely to be denied loans due to debt
Minorities are more likely to be denied mortgages due to their debt. Before deciding whether to grant loans, lenders look closely at potential borrowers’ debt loads. Their goal is to make sure borrowers can afford to pay back their credit card, student loan, car, and other payments—on top of a mortgage.
Only 1.6% of potential whites borrowers had their applications rejected because of their debt loads—compared with 2.5% of Asians, 3.1% of Hispanics, and 3.8% of Blacks. About 3.7% of multi-minority race applicants were also rejected.
While that does not sound like that much of a difference, it means that 1 in 64 white applicants is denied versus 1 in 26 Blacks.
Some minority borrowers may simply carry more debt than white borrowers. Many face discrimination in the workplace that can manifest in lower salaries and fewer promotions. Also, they may not receive the same level of financial help from their families when they get into a tough financial spot.
Black households were more than twice as likely to have student loan debt than white households, according to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors®. About 43% of Black households had student debt, at a median $40,000, compared with 21% of whites, at a median $30,000 in student debt. (The report was based on a survey of more than 8,200 home buyers who purchased a primary home from July 2019 to June 2020.)
Employment and credit histories also led to higher mortgage denial rates for minorities
Blacks and Hispanics were also more likely to be denied a loan due to their employment history. One in 568 white applicants was rejected due to their work history, compared with 1 in 282 Blacks.
“People of color, notably Native Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics, face higher rates of discrimination in hiring,” says the Urban Institute’s Theodos. “It can be more difficult to be promoted or advanced.”
That plays a big part in how much they’re earning. In 2019, Asian households had the highest median incomes of $98,174, followed by non-Hispanic white households at $76,057, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Hispanic households had a median income of $56,113, while Black households brought in the least, at $45,438.
Blacks and Hispanics are also more likely to lose out on a loan due to their credit scores. About 0.6% of Asians and 1% of whites were denied due to their credit histories compared with 1.6% of Hispanics, 2.9% of Blacks, and 2.4% of multi-minority races.
Typically, people build good credit by paying off their student loans, car loans, and credit card bills on time each month. However, many lower-income Americans are less likely to have graduated from college or have credit cards. And what folks do pay every month—their rent, utility, and cellphone payments—often aren’t counted toward credit profiles.
“It’s not just discrimination today that is why we see denials at higher rates for Blacks and Hispanics. It’s the byproduct of generations of systemic racism,” says Theodos. “We have a long way to go in overcoming the deep, historical divide of opportunity for people of color in this country.”
The total number of mortgages in forbearance declined seven basis points to 5.22% in the week ending Feb. 14, according to the latest estimate from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The trade group said 2.6 million homeowners are currently in forbearance plans.
“The share of loans in forbearance has declined for three weeks in a row, with portfolio and PLS loans decreasing the most this week. This decline was due to a sharp increase in borrower exits, particularly for IMB servicers,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac‘s forbearance portfolio continued to express the lowest share of loans, decreasing four basis points to 2.97%. Ginnie Mae‘s share, which include loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, fell 2 basis points to 7.32%, while the share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) dropped a full 20 basis points from the prior week, at 8.94%.
The percentage of loans in forbearance for nonbank servicers also dropped 15 basis points to 5.54%, while the percentage of loans for depository servicers decreased 2 basis points to 5.28%.
From forbearance to post-forbearance: How to make the process effective
To accommodate the large volume of loans still in forbearance, mortgage servicers must have functional, flexible and effective processes in place. Here are some actionable steps to create that process.
Presented by: FICS
The MBA’s survey found that of the cumulative exits between June 1, 2020, and Feb. 14, 27.9% of borrowers continued to make their monthly payments during the forbearance period while over 15% of exits represented borrowers who did not make all of their monthly payments and exited forbearance without a loss mitigation plan in place.
Overall, the MBA noted that new forbearance requests are also falling – down six basis points to match a survey low.
“The housing market is quite strong, with home sales, home construction, and home price data all testifying to this strength,” Fratantoni said. “Policymakers and the mortgage industry have helped enable this during the pandemic by providing millions of homeowners support in the form of forbearance.”
In the week prior, forbearance was once again extended by the Biden administration, pushing out forbearance and eviction moratoriums an additional three months, through June 30, 2021. This measure only applies to those with a loan backed by the FHA, though Fannie and Freddie recently extended forbearance requests up to 15 months.
Now, data is showing the affects of long-standing moratoriums. Black Knight’s December mortgage monitor report revealed foreclosure starts hit a record low in 2020, falling by 67% from the year prior as moratoriums and forbearance plans protected homeowners.
Based on the rate of improvement to date, Black Knight estimates there could be more than 2.5 million active forbearance plans remaining at the end of March 2021 when the first wave of plans reaches their 12-month expirations.
For four months now, the forbearance portfolio volume has hovered between 5% and 6% — the longest a percentage range has held since the survey’s origins in May.
Even Norman Rockwell couldn’t put a rosier cast to New Hartford, Connecticut, in mid-autumn. On the far western outskirts of the Hartford metropolitan area, the town’s converted brick mill buildings are now occupied by restaurants that sell and serve locally grown produce and locally made artisanal cheese. A river – the Farmington – really does run through the town, shallow and sparkling, punctuated by occasional fly-fisherman. Bridges arch over the river from stands of yellow-leafed birches to groves of flaming maples.
It’s exactly the kind of place that’s attracting pandemic-panicked New Yorkers who, drawing a circle of two hours’ train travel from Manhattan, figure they can set up parallel lives in the country and city.
The COVID-19 crowds that are now seeking fresh air and socially distanced living are looking beyond what is considered more traditional second-home destinations to small towns that have struggled to catch the updraft of the broadband revolution. As city dwellers scatter, enough of them are landing in the semi-rural spots to potentially realign the very definition of economic development, land use and the consequent cascade of broad band investment, municipal services, taxation and local spending priorities.
“The economy is moving faster than the population,” said Mark Lautman, an economic development consultant who has helped local organizations in New Mexico and elsewhere forge partnerships that serve residents and employers.
In the past, economic development was defined by incentives for buildings and infrastructure with the aim of winning and keeping employers with substantial numbers of workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a longer-term trend of separating talent from location. Economic development leaders are just starting to realize the profound implications of a distributed workforce on their local economies, workforce development, housing and real estate markets, he said.
“If you don’t have qualified workers, you can’t grow your economy,” Lautman said. “And all of a sudden, the cost of place of operation is zero. States throw massive resources at site-based economic development but remote economic development needs a fraction of that.”
Investors are already moving money into place to catch the coattails of COVID-catalyzed change.
Collin Gutman, managing partner of SaaS Ventures, a Washington, DC-based venture capital firm that works specifically with young companies in smaller metropolitan areas far from Silicon Valley, said that the pandemic has propelled high tech companies to redefine where and how they look for talent.
“Previously there had been a perception that these types of businesses could only get critical mass of talent in San Francisco or Boston,” he said. “That perception has changed very quickly in the past 12 months. We’ve seen an outflow to places like Louisville, Lexington, Nashville and people buying second homes in rural counties.”
Daniel Jeram is New Hartford’s First Selectman, the top official of the 7,000- resident town. He said he hasn’t seen anything quite like this year’s real estate sales burst.
“The game is on and it has been for months,” Jeram said. “You can tell from the license plates driving around town.”
He isn’t kidding. Regional market reports from the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors released at the end of 2020 show that year-over-year, pending single-family home sales rose 49.9%, days on market dropped by 32.1% and the median home sale price rose 13.3% to $280,500.
Maintaining the growth
With young families pouring in, New Hartford’s challenge is how to keep them, especially as support for enhanced broadband has been under discussion for years, with little progress, Jeram said. New Hartford is on the eastern edge of a subregion of northwestern Connecticut and southwestern Massachusetts that suffers from weak cell coverage and tepid broadband.
“We’re okay,” said Jeram, of New Hartford’s cable service, “but that is an ongoing debate that state and local leaders are struggling with, because cost to get broadband in is extremely high. Everyone knows it’s the wave of the future, but how will we pay for it?”
Rista Malanca is trying to figure that out. She is director of economic development for neighboring Torrington, where broadband somewhat peters out.
“We’re attractive and affordable for a lot of people, but how do we keep them engaged, so they center their lives here, and spend their money here?” Malanca said.
Powerful broadband paves the digital way for not just telecommuting and remote collaboration, but also for telehealth, remote education for children and adults and a host of other services that frame the new hybrid of a sophisticated information economy invisibly driving growth.
Consultants with McKinsey project that 22% of companies expect to hire more remote freelance workers in the foreseeable future. Before the COVID-19 pandemic reordered the American workforce in March 2020, only 4.9% of full-time U.S. workers telecommuted from their homes. By the end of June, 42% of the workforce was home-based, and workforce researchers expect that the dramatic shift is largely permanent. FlexJobs, a Boulder, Colorado-based employment site that serves both individuals and employers, projects that capturing work-life balance and reducing commuting stress are top priorities for people who want to move and either bring their jobs with them or find remote work.
Changing lifestyle
Professionals who bring high-paying jobs with them also transplant demand for higher-end dining, grocery, local entertainment and home renovation and maintenance services, said Shaun Greer, vice president of sales and marketing at Vacasa, a Portland, Oregon, company that provides property management services to more than 21,000 vacation homes in North America.
Unlike short-term renters, professionals relocating for a full-fledged second hub where they can work and attend school remotely, need functional and municipal services largely different from tourist demands.
“If this trend continues, it will affect municipal budgets,” Greer said. “Most of these communities are restricted in some way, such as [their level of] power or utilities. If this growth continues they’ll have to put in a lot more infrastructure to keep up.”
New Hartford could take a cue from The Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative in McKee, Kentucky, population 800.
In 2007, the cooperative, formed in 1950 and serving two rural Kentucky counties, decided to go all in on broadband, related Keith Gabbard, who has been the cooperative’s CEO for the past 25 years. Patching together about $50 million from federal, state and local sources, the service committed to bringing broadband to every home in its service area.
“Since 2014, we’ve had gigabit service to every home and business,” Gabbard said. “Once we got it built, we realized, ‘what do we do with it?’ We had to become more economic-development minded.”
Gabbard took on the role of one-man employment liaison, workforce training advocate, lobbyist to state legislators and public relations cheerleader, relentlessly promoting the cooperative’s ready, willing and connected workforce at conferences. Working relationships with national workforce development agencies and platforms – including FlexJobs – produced a stream of inquiries from American companies seeking to bring operations back to the U.S. from overseas, and looking to expand domestically.
“It’s been amazing,” Gabbard said. “In the last five years we’ve had 1,100 teleworks jobs created. People move here because of the internet and we’re seeing even more of that because of the pandemic.”
McKee still lacks a Starbucks, but it is making inroads with establishing a healthcare clinic that will pivot on telemedicine. And, Gabbard has even drawn local Amish into the high-speed loop as the cooperative hires their construction crews to expand into neighboring counties.
Communities that were a step ahead are both riding the first crest of post-COVID change while demonstrating the importance of close collaboration among regional economic, workforce and housing development authorities, investors and the private sector.
Broadband brought jobs to northwest New Mexico in 2017 and has anchored the local economy even as the COVID-19 pandemic has rolled from crisis to chronic. Shelly Fausett runs the SoloWorks program in the area, which advocates for workforce development and related supports, and which helps employers find and hire connected workers. SoloWorks had just moved to a new a co-working space to build capacity for distributed teams but the health care crisis kept workers home…and working.
“Right now in customer service, there are more jobs than people,” Fausett said.
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic simply accelerated long-term trends toward remote work, annihilating embedded cultural resistance and rapidly realigning work processes to support sustained collaboration and productivity from any location, said Brie Weiler Reynolds, the in-house career development coach for FlexJobs.
Remote work surged for both staffers who have always had the capability to work from home and among the current and aspiring self-employed who immediately seized the opportunity to redesign their careers around the location and lifestyle they had always craved. In March, the FlexJobs platform received a 50% increase of inquiries and applications from workers, she said.
Companies and employment agencies – private and government-run – that already collaborated with local economic development and workforce training programs had a big head start on those that had in place only traditional programs, Weiler Reynolds said. Cross-functional workforce development programs that “combine broadband outreach with remote work training and company partnerships and that partner with FlexJobs to find the actual jobs, are serving people who already live in their areas and are hiring specifically from economic groups hard-hit by the tourism and hospitality industries.”
Workforce housing that is designed around and for home-based work will ensure lower paying, broadband-dependent jobs, such as customer service, highly skilled software developers and managers cut a very different profile, SaaS Ventures’ Gutman said. They are “six-figure Millennials” who expect, if not big-city culture and amenities, at the very least, transportation services that can quickly deliver the big city to the rural doorsteps of spacious houses with dedicated home offices.
And, the ability to quickly get to major cities will be a key plank of rural economic development, especially as patterns of post-pandemic life emerge, he said. High-tech transplants want lots of fresh-air recreational amenities but also want to take just one connector flight to a major air hub.
“It could be that saving the regional airport is your key to economic prosperity,” Gutman said.
COVID redefines tourism economies
The return on remote work-equipped workforce housing is short and sweet for communities long tied to cyclical tourism economies. A solid base of long-term second-home owners is already redefining tourism economies, Greer said, extending the 2020 season well into autumn, and thus continuing demand for cleaning, maintenance, renovation and some municipal services and activities.
“What we’re excited about is that this change means we keep more of our seasonal employees, hopefully longer,” he said, adding that a greater number of staycation homeowners could permanently stabilize tourist-town employment, municipal and local business cash flow and demand for broadband and other services.
The pandemic has proven the possibilities and powerful potential of a distributed workforce and, by extension, distributed economic development, said one longtime broadband researcher and advocate.
“The pandemic could yield a lasting legacy if municipalities, counties and states forge regional alliances for economic development, and use their combined power to rapidly build universal broadband, align tax policies and regulatory incentives to encourage private and public expansion of broadband to connect all American citizens,” said Rouzbeh Yassini, executive director of the Broadband Center of Excellence at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire. “States need to relinquish counterproductive strategies focusing on stealing businesses from each other and combine forces. That’s the only way that many small towns and rural areas will gain critical mass to justify private investment in 5G, both through wired (cable and phone) and wireless services.
“If you get five or six state governments together, and get regional connectivity vision established, they’ll improve the economic value of that entire region for web-based daily services and for mapping, driverless cars and gain scale for recruiting residents, farmers and business,” Yassini said, citing the cascade of connected services that could support remote working, aging in place and other life-enhancing functions.
Lautman, the economic development consultant, detects a rapid realignment of the definition of economic development with state and local resources to support distributed workforces. Hybrid strategies that blend satellite nodes for regional managers and occasional team meetings are a natural evolution of the urban model of co-working spaces, he said. The pandemic has also elevated the importance of health care, childcare and related services as essential to workforce stability and productivity.
As professionals and corporate leaders become acclimated to working from their second homes, they might become influential advocates for their industries to pivot to distributed workforce development, potentially bringing economic development authorities and broadband providers with them.
“To create an environment that incentivizes and supports remote work, if I were a local economic development executive, I’d be at my state legislature asking for the same incentives to build houses with home offices that they give to industrial developers,” Lautman said. “Now we have a residential real estate platform for economic development.”
