Interest Rate Markets October 15, 2008

→   Mortgage Applications Increase In Latest MBA Weekly Survey
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 10, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 489.3, an increase of 5.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 465.5 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 5.4 percent compared with the previous week and was down 17.0 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,Sarah Tinsley,Washington District of Columbia  10/15/2008



→   MBA Reports Multifamily Lending Hit $147.7 Billion In 2007; Leading Lenders Part Of Industry Consolidation
In 2007, 2,739 different multifamily lenders provided a total of more than $147.7 billion in financing for apartment buildings with five or more units, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Lenders closed 48,577 individual loans, with an average loan size of $3 million. The average lender made 18 multifamily loans over the course of the year. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,Sarah Tinsley,Washington District of Columbia  10/14/2008



→   MBA Comments On Fdic`s Simplification Of The Coverage Rules For Mortgage Servicing Accounts
John A. Courson, Chief Operating Officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) issued the following statement after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced an interim final rule clarifying that deposit accounts maintained by mortgage servicers in escrow for a borrower`s principal and interest payments will be based on the borrower as the owner of the escrow account and not the investor. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,John Mechem,Washington District of Columbia  10/13/2008



→   MBA Supports Fasb Decision To Adopt Recent Guidance On Fas 157 Into General Accepted Accounting Principles
John A. Courson, Chief Operating Officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) issued the following statement regarding today`s decision by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to adopt their recent clarification of FAS 157 as part of the body of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), which will allow firms to adjust affected assets to reflect intrinsic values when no active market for a security exists. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,Jason Vasquez,Washington District of Columbia  10/10/2008



→   National City Corporation Lowers Prime Rate To 4.50 Percent
National City Corporation (NYSE:NCC) today announced on behalf of its subsidiary banks that it has lowered its prime rate to 4.50 percent from 5.00 percent, effective immediately. The rate was last changed on April 30, 2008, when National City lowered its prime rate to 5.00 percent from 5.25 percent. -- National City Corporation ,Kristen Baird Adams,Cleveland Oh  10/09/2008



→   Webster Lowers Prime Lending Rate to 4.50 Percent
Webster Bank, National Association, a subsidiary of Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS) , announced today that it has lowered its prime lending rate to 4.50 percent from 5.00 percent effective today. Webster last changed its prime rate on April 30, 2008. -- Webster Financial Corporation ,,Waterbury Ct  10/08/2008



→   MBA Study Shows Mortgage Industry Production Profits Fell Again in 2007
Mortgage companies lost an average of $560 on every loan they originated last year, a drop from the $50 per loan they lost in 2006, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) annual cost study. While loan origination and ancillary fees grew on a per-loan basis, they did not keep pace with increases in production operating expenses, which grew seven percent to $3,663 per loan. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,Sarah Tinsley,Washington District of Columbia  10/08/2008



→   Mortgage Applications Increase Slightly In Latest MBA Weekly Survey
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 3, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 465.5, an increase of 2.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 455.4 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 2.2 percent compared with the previous week and was down 28.6 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,Sarah Tinsley,Washington District of Columbia  10/08/2008



→   MBA's Courson: Negotiators Need to Regroup, Find Common Ground on Economic Stabilization Package
John A. Courson, Chief Operating Officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today issued the following statement following the House of Representatives' failure to approve HR 3997, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,John Mechem,Washington District of Columbia  10/06/2008



→   Mortgage Applications Decrease In Latest MBA Weekly Survey
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 26, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 455.4, a decrease of 23.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 591.4 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 23.4 percent compared with the previous week and was down 28.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,John Ferber,Washington District of Columbia  10/03/2008



→   Amidst Senate Hearings and Stock-Slumps, Taxpayer Group Vows New Fight Against Bailouts for Freddie, Fannie, Others
Participants in Senate hearings today have hinted that the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a done deal and more may be necessary, but the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) disagrees. The group vowed to wage a grassroots campaign supporting efforts to scale back the Fannie/Freddie bailout and protect taxpayers from further harm. -- National Taxpayers Union ,Pete Sepp,Alexandria Va  10/01/2008



→   Federal Conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Federal Conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac In the wake of the Federal Conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we at MIAC generally expect a `business as usual` environment. However,. there are nuances to the terms of the conservatorship that may produce micro-level changes, as well as some macro-level changes to the landscape of the industry in the near-term. While we await clarity on the implementation of these nuances, this Special Edition of MIAC Perspectives identifies a few areas for continued discussion, observation, and focus to determine what might happen, along with our recommendations for how mortgage bankers can best position themselves going forward...Read Article. For further information on MIAC, please visit www.MIACAnalytics.com. -- Mortgage Industry Advisory Corp.,Dan Thomas,New York New York  09/11/2008



→   Mortgage Applications Increase In Latest MBA Weekly Survey
-- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,Sarah Tinsley,Washington District of Columbia  09/03/2008



→   FORMER HUD SECRETARY CISNEROS CITES HOUSING DECLINE AS UNPRECEDENTED DRAG ON US ECONOMY; CALLS FOR NEW STIMULUS PACKAGE WITH STRONG HOUSING MEASURES
FHLBank San Francisco DNC Forum Releases New Demographic Data on Sub-Prime Borrowers -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco,,Denver CO  08/28/2008



→   Mortgage crisis: Blame the bank?
Banks have played a big role in the mortgage crisis, not only because they issued loans to suspect borrowers, but because many originated and sold bad loans to other lenders, says a University of Michigan business professor. -- Bernie DeGroat,Purnanandam,Ann Arbor MI  08/28/2008



→   Mortgage Applications Increase Slightly In Latest MBA Weekly Survey
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 22, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 421.6, an increase of 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 419.3 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 0.9 percent compared with the previous week and was down 31.2 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,Sarah Tinsley,Washington District of Columbia  08/27/2008



→   Mortgage Applications Decrease Slightly In Latest MBA Weekly Survey
-- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,John Ferber,Washington District of Columbia  08/26/2008



→   MBA Releases White Paper Outlining Fundamental Data Management Concepts for the Real Estate Finance Industry
The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Residential Technology Steering Committee (RESTECH) today released a white paper that details the key fundamental concepts of industry data management, one of the most important components in the mortgage banking process. The goal of the paper is to provide an overview of fundamental strategies for assessing and improving overall data management practices while also providing measurement benchmarks and references. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,Aleis Stokes,Washington District of Columbia  08/26/2008



→   Mortgage Credit News - August 22, 2008
Mortgage rates bottomed again at 6.50%, as they have since May, maintaining a consistently wide spread to the 10-year T-note, likewise bottomed at 3.80%. It will take a substantial negative economic event or news to break below these rates. -- Boulder Mortgage Bank,Lou Barnes,Boulder Colorado  08/25/2008



→   Mortgage Applications Decrease Slightly In Latest MBA Weekly Survey
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 8, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 425.9, a decrease of 1.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 432.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 2.2 percent compared with the previous week and was down 36.9 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,John Ferber,Washington District of Columbia  08/18/2008



→   Mortgage Credit News - August 15, 2008
Mortgage rates are falling, almost 6.50% with the lowest fees. All other interest rates are headed down as well, on glide path parallel to the global economy: the 10-year T-note to 3.83% (traded 4.10% only a week ago), and the 2-year down to 2.37% acknowledges zero probability of a Fed rate hike from its current 2% overnight rate. -- Boulder Mortgage Bank,Lou Barnes,Boulder Colorado  08/18/2008



→   MBA Study Shows Government-Insured Share of Mortgage Applications for July Tripled in the Past Year
The government-insured share of mortgage applications tripled in the past year according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. Of all mortgage applications accepted during the month of July 2008, 29.1 percent were for government-insured loans (consisting of mostly FHA loans) compared to 8.4 percent in July 2007. -- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,Sarah Tinsley,Washington District of Columbia  08/18/2008



→   Mortgage Credit News - August 8, 2008
Mortgage rates are a hair lower, under 6.75% now, but spreads to Treasurys have widened despite overt Treasury backing of Fannie and Freddie. -- Boulder Mortgage Bank,Lou Barnes,Boulder Colorado  08/08/2008



→   Pending Home Sales Rise, Wider Gains Anticipated as Buyers Tap Housing Provisions
Some improvement is projected for existing-home sales in the months ahead, with broader gains seen by the fourth quarter as buyers take advantage of new provisions provided through the recently passed housing stimulus bill, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors(R). -- National Association of Realtors®,Walter Molony,WASHINGTON DC  08/08/2008



→   Mortgage Applications Slightly Increase In Latest MBA Weekly Survey
-- Mortgage Bankers Association of America,Sarah Tinsley,Washington District of Columbia  08/06/2008



→   Mortgage Credit News - August 1, 2008
Mortgage rates are back down to 6.50% (low-fee), taken by sudden understanding that the economy probably passed its high point for the year in June. -- Boulder Mortgage Bank,Lou Barnes,Boulder Colorado  08/04/2008