Mortgage Executives See Home Prices Rising

The share of executives who see the economy as being on the “right track” dropped to 61 percent in the first quarter from 69 percent in the final quarter of last year.

At the same time, those who are negative about the economy jumped to 29 percent from 21 percent.

Those were among some of the findings from the Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey Q2 2015 Data Summary from Fannie Mae.

Senior mortgage executives, including chief executive officers and chief financial officers, were surveyed for the report.

But the group was more optimistic about home prices, with 70 percent expecting values to increase versus 62 percent in the prior period. The share who expect a decline in home prices fell to just over a quarter from a third.

However, 82 percent say it is would be difficult to get a loan today compared to just 71 percent in the fourth-quarter 2014. The share who see it as easy to get a loan tumbled to 18 percent from 28 percent.

Demand for GSE-eligible loans has increased from the previous three-month period, according to more than three-quarters of the executives, more than the just over half who indicated increasing demand in the prior survey.

It was similar for non-GSE loans, with 62 percent of the group indicating rising demand versus just over half three months earlier, and government mortgages, with nearly two-third noting rising demand compared to 45 percent.

But although demand has been on the rise, the share who see demand increasing over the next three months dropped below two-thirds from 71 percent
on GSE loans. Similar declines were reported for non-GSE loans and government loans.

Little change in credit standards were reported for all three loan types — with more than 80 percent saying credit standards have remained basically unchanged over the past three months.