A gloomy outlook from the Mortgage Bankers Association on refinancing but a glimmer of hope on purchase activity, reports National Mortgage News : The Mortgage Bankers Association believes residential originations will fall to just $1.28 trillion in 2010 — a 33% decline from last year and the industry’s worst…

A mixed forecast courtesy of National Mortgage News: Residential originations will decline by almost 30% next year to $1.38 trillion as rising interest rates put a crimp on new originations, according to a new forecast from Fannie Mae. The GSE believes originations will total $1.95 trillion this year. (The…

Bloomberg reports: Fewer U.S. banks tightened lending standards for companies and consumers in the third quarter as the economy grew for the first time in more than a year, a Federal Reserve survey showed. Demand for most types of loans weakened at a smaller number of banks than in…

Outstanding consumer credit fell at a 7.2% annual rate in September with revolving credit (credit cards) tanking even faster at 13.3%, the Federal Reserve reported on Friday. This chart from Calculated Risk shows how consumers have cut back on debt, which is probably a good long-term trend but some…

The Mortgage Bankers Association today reported on the market last week: Its refinance application index increased 14.5 percent from the previous week and the purchase application index decreased 1.8 percent from one week earlier. I wonder if uncertainty about the future of the first-time buyer tax credit contributed to…

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported today its indexes of loan application volume dropped last week even as interest rates dipped slightly (though fees increased). Its refinance index decreased 16.2 percent from the previous week and the purchase index fell 5.2 percent from one week earlier. The four week moving…

This could be just statistical noise or it could be a troubling sign for housing (or at least the bankers and brokers who make a living from housing): mortgage demand fell last week even as rates dipped a bit, reports the Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA’s index of loan…

Bloomberg reports: U.S. savings and loans reported the first profit in six quarters as lenders set aside less money for bad loans and collected additional fees from customers, the industry’s regulator said. Profit of $4 million in the second quarter compares with a $1.62 billion loss in January through…

A couple of data points suggest Orange County residents are behaving more responsibly with their credit cards. The ratio of credit-card bills three or more payments behind dropped to 1.3% in June, from 1.4% in March, though it was up from a year ago’s 1.0%, reports TransUnion. However, it…

Lately I am hearing jumbo home loans are staging a tepid comeback. Those are loans too big to be sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — their limit is about $729,000 in Orange County and $417,000 in cheaper markets. I am skepitcal because banks are not able to…