According to a report in National mortgage news,
Mortgage-related employment rose every so slightly in May with residential firms adding 2,600 new jobs during the month, according to government figures released Friday morning.
However, the mortgage broker segment continued to suffer job losses with 1,600 workers leaving the business either voluntarily or through a job loss.
Overall, the mortgage sector employed 241,500 full-time workers in May, up 1% from April. Compared to the same month a year ago the sector shed 17,300 jobs. (The mortgage figures trail the national numbers by a month.)
The mortgage broker segment supported 50,200 workers in May compared to 61,000 a year ago. Broker employed peaked in April 2006 at 148,200 workers.
Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association told National Mortgage News that during the second-half lenders will focus on how to “manage and reduce capacity.”
He noted that some smaller firms may increase hiring – with an emphasis on recruiting high performance loan officers – in an attempt to gain market share. “Of course not everyone can increase market share at the same time,” he said.
Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides numbers on broker employment it does not segment out servicing related jobs. MBA believes the emphasis on helping delinquent borrowers has increased servicing employment somewhat but with late payments now falling hiring may not be as robust going forward.
The national employment report came in much weaker than expected with nonfarm payrolls rising only 18,000 in June, the weakest reading since September, and well below economists' expectations for an increase of 90,000 positions. The unemployment rate rose 0.1% to 9.2%, the highest level this year.
In a statement Fannie Mae chief economist Doug Duncan said, “June’s nonfarm payroll gain of 18,000 shows that May’s weakness was not an aberration. This raises doubts that the second half of the year will see much improvement in the overall economy from the anemic performance of the first two quarters.”
He added that, “The disappointing news on the labor front will only serve to further damage already depressed consumer confidence and the demand for housing. While home prices have stabilized recently going in to the spring/summer selling season, this report bodes poorly for house price expectations.”
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Jul 9, 2011
Mortgage Jobs Rise Ever So Slightly
Jul 6, 2011
Looking for Productive Brokers and LO's
Jun 29, 2011
MBA: Small Co. Profits Down
According to a report in National mortgage news,
WASHINGTON—Small mortgage banking companies got crushed in the first quarter between falling loan volumes and rising expenses.
Profits per loan dropped 66% as the tail end of the fourth-quarter refinancing boom came to an abrupt end in late January and managers rushed to cut payroll and other expenses.
Average per-loan profit was $346 in the first quarter, according to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association, down from a $1,082 profit in the fourth quarter and $608 in the 2010 first quarter.
Meanwhile, expenses per loan rose from $4,930 in the fourth quarter to $5,837—which ate into first-quarter profits, according to Marina Walsh, MBA’s associate vice president of industry analysis.
The survey found 63% of the 329 respondent firms posted pretax profits for the first quarter, compared to 84% in the prior quarter.
It is not unusual for profits to take a hit at the end of the refinancing boom.
However, it appears this downturn in profitability was more severe due to regulatory costs associated with loan officer compensation and overtime rules.
Walsh pointed out that the first quarter of 2010 had a lot of similarities to the first quarter of this year. Loan production was nearly the same at $157,800 with refinancing volume was at 50%, compared with 44% in the first quarter of 2010.
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Jun 25, 2011
Florida: Sales Up, Prices Down
According to a report in National mortgage news,
Florida saw a 3% increase in single-family existing home sales on a year-over-year basis in May, but the median sales price fell by 5%, according to the state's Realtor group.
There were 17,228 single-family sales statewide in May, up from 16,790 one year prior. Sales in the Miami area were up 20%, year-over-year. The markets with the largest amount of sales, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater with 2,749, and Orlando, with 2,476, were down 6% and 5% respectively when compared with May 2010.
Florida's Realtors noted that the $135,500 median sales price for a single-family home was up nearly 3% over April. The Fort Myers-Cape Coral area had a 19% increase in median price when compared with May 2010, while the Panhandle metro areas of Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola were up 5% and 1% respectively.
But the median price did not go up all across the Panhandle as Panama City was off by 14%. Other areas with a large drop in median price include Gainesville, down 18%, as well as Fort Lauderdale and Ocala, each off by 17%.
Existing condominium sales in Florida increased by 17% over May 2010 to 8,338 from 7,104 and the statewide median sales price increased over the same time frame by 2% to $98,200.
In Miami, condo sales were up by 46%, and the 1,420 units sold during the month topped the 875 single family homes sold there. There were also more condos sold in the Fort Lauderdale area than single-family homes, 1,537 compared with 1,142.
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Jun 22, 2011
Not Much Relief for California Home Sales, Prices — Except San Francisco