Entries by Edward Pinto

Housing Finance Watch: Purchase Rate Lock Volume Was Down 42% From 2019 While Rates Were Stable

Housing Finance Watch(Week 22, 2023) By Edward J. Pinto | Tobias Peter | Sissi Li Key takeaways: Median rates stayed at 6 5/8% while daily 30-year rates retreated from their recent peak of 7.14% to 6.89% on June 5th, according to MND. Purchase volume was 42% below 2019’s level. Y-o-y HPA is projected to be around 1% in May, June, […]

REPORT: Prevalence of GSE Appraisal Waivers—March 2023

This report tracks trends for GSE appraisal waivers monthly and provides data on the risk characteristics of these loans. To download the most recent data, please click here. To read our comment letter to FHFA on appraisal-related policies, practices, and processes, please click here. PDF to most recent report Slide deck on GSE Appraisal Waiver Report AUTHORS […]

The Federal Reserve’s Housing Market Lessons to Be Learned [Once Again]

Summary The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were unprecedented in terms of widespread lockdowns, skyrocketing unemployment, and a financial market crash. The Federal Reserve took aggressive expansionary efforts in the form of Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) and quantitative easing (QE) to stabilize the economy, while Congress enacted massive fiscal stimulus. However, one of the […]

All of the 60 Largest Metros Experience Declines in Home Prices in November as Longest Boom Ends

National Home Price Appreciation (HPA) Index – November 2022 Key takeaways: National YoY HPA for November 2022 averaged 6.7%, down from 8.5% a month ago and 16.7% a year ago. Historically, HPA in the low price tier has outpaced HPA in the upper price tiers. YoY HPA varied significantly among the 60 largest metros. It […]

Prevalence of GSE Appraisal Waivers

This report tracks trends for GSE appraisal waivers monthly and provides data on the risk characteristics of these loans. To download the most recent data, please click here. To read our comment letter to FHFA on appraisal-related policies, practices, and processes, please click here. PDF to most recent report Slide deck on GSE Appraisal Waiver Report AUTHORS […]

Housing’s Stunning Downfall in One Chart: Prices Have Plunged in 51 of These 60 Cities

Home Prices are Down in Every One of the Top 58 Metros According to the Latest AEI Data. But Cities in this Region Have Taken the Biggest Hit so Far. In the Fortune article below Shawn Tully discusses recent declines in the housing market and their variability between regions with Ed Pinto, the Director of AEI’s Housing […]

Home Purchases Now Near Its Lowest Level of the 2019-22 Period Due to Rates More Than Doubling Since January, 2021

Key takeaways: The 10-year old seller’s market continues, evidenced by: Modest purchase volume declines, in spite of a cumulative 39% increase in constant quality HPA since January 2020, Historically tight supply, The work from home revolution, and Arbitrage opportunities due to metro & regional price differences. Purchase volume for week 35 is down 31% & […]

New housing market data reveals a stunning shift as these 21 of the top 50 metro areas show price declines for June

In the Fortune article below Shawn Tully interviews Ed Pinto and cites AEI Housing Center data on HPA to discuss the cooling housing market. He also writes about the geography of these changes, as western metros face the most drastic downturns in HPA. It’s finally happening. After soaring 40% from pre-pandemic levels in the greatest […]

Testimony to House Ways and Means: Government Policies are Responsible for the American Housing Crisis

On July 13th I testified to the House Ways and Means Committee on the Building Back Better Act. I explained how the bill’s funding proposals will double down on past failed policies, fuel inflation, and once again place low-income and minority households in harm’s way. You can find the executive summary in this email and on […]

The AEI Housing Center’s Critique of “How We Investigated Racial Disparities in Federal Mortgage Data”

The Rest of the Story The American Enterprise Institute’s Housing Center released a special briefing: “The Rest of the Story The AEI Housing Center’s Critique of ‘How We Investigated Racial Disparities in Federal Mortgage Data.‘” The call reports on the Housing Center’s analysis of and critiques of a widely-circulated report by The Markup/Associated Press: “How […]

Connecting the Dots: How the Latest Affordable Housing Policy Benefits Homeowners and Realtors, not First-time Buyers

Tobias Peter, senior research analyst at the AEI Center on Housing Markets and Finance, wrote the following blog post: Connecting the Dots: How the Latest Affordable Housing Policy Benefits Homeowners and Realtors, not First-time Buyers. In it he explains how “another government housing policy intended to open “the door to home purchase mortgages for large numbers of […]

BankThink: Mortgage deduction helps housing lobby, but not homeowner

The battle lines are drawn between those seeking to protect the mortgage interest deduction (MID) and a legislative effort to greatly reduce the use of the MID. Hopefully, this is a battle that taxpayers will win over the housing lobby — the loudest supporter of keeping the deduction intact. The housing lobby’s effectiveness is measured […]

Realtors and Homebuilders Put Profits Over Middle Class

By Peter J. Wallison & Edward J. Pinto Two powerful lobbying groups that advertise themselves as helping Americans buy homes have announced that they will oppose the Republican tax plan. Their reason? Because it will lower housing costs. Seldom have any denizens of “the Swamp” shown their true colors quite so flagrantly. For years, the National Association of Realtors and the National […]

Index finds Rallying Home Purchase Market in 2016

Today, AEI’s International Center on Housing Risk (ICHR) and First American Financial Corporation release the AEI/First American National Housing Market Index (NHMI), the first index ever to analyze sales transaction volume for the entire home purchase market. The national housing market continued its rally in the fourth quarter of 2016. On an annualized basis, 5,810,000 […]