Mortgage rates rose across the board this week, according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey from Freddie Mac.

“The economy continued to show resilience as strong business activity and growth in employment drove the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to a seven year high of 4.94 percent, up 11 basis points from last week,” said Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac.
“Higher mortgage rates have led to a slowdown in national home-price growth, but the price deceleration has been primarily concentrated in affluent coastal markets such as California and the state of Washington.”

But the malaise could spread to other housing markets that had been immune from those conditions.

“The more affordable interior markets, which have not yet experienced a slowdown home in price growth, may see price growth start to moderate and affordability squeezed if mortgage rates continue to march higher,” said Khater.

The following provides a snapshot of what Freddie recorded happened this week:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.94 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending November 8, up from last week when it averaged 4.83 percent. A year ago at this time, it averaged 3.90 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate this week averaged 4.33 percent with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.23 percent. A year-ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.24 percent.
• 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 4.14 percent with an average 0.3 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.04 percent. A year-ago at this time, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.22 percent.

Originators who fear digital mortgage platforms will replace them have less to worry about than they might have thought. That’s because just 3% of mortgage customers exclusively rely on digital self-service channels in the origination process, according to the J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study. Customer satisfaction scores reflect performance on six factors, including loan offerings, application-approval process, on-boarding, interaction and problem resolution.

“Technology alone is not a magic bullet in this market; the key is knowing where to leverage it and where to layer in more traditional forms of one-on-one support," said John Cabell, financial services practice lead at J.D. Power. "While improved digital offerings are helping mortgage originators build customer satisfaction, it is important to find the right balance between digital, self-service offerings and personal interaction with a representative.”

For lenders that have made, or plan to make, large investments in automation, there’s reason for concern. Overall satisfaction, based on a top score of a 1,000, is highest among customers who spoke only with their lender in person or over the phone (871) when applying for a mortgage, followed by those who used a mix of personal and self-service tools (868).

Originators add the most value in the follow-up contact after an initial inquiry, and when confirming loan terms and payment, but for maximum borrower satisfaction—speed is of the essence. That’s because satisfaction levels decline sharply for each day spent waiting to hear back from a lender. Overall satisfaction among customers who receive a contact within one day is 869, on a 1,000-point scale.

Satisfaction falls to 852 after two to five days, and to 806 after six or more days. The inquiry channel with the fastest overall contact times, two days on average, is online through a smartphone-tablet or a desktop computer, 2.2 days.

Overall satisfaction with primary mortgage originators increased 10 points due to digital and mobile channels. On average, customers use 3.1 different channels during the mortgage process, with phone (72%), website (69%) and email (58%) being the most commonly used channels.

Quicken Loans ranks No. 1 in mortgage origination satisfaction for a ninth consecutive year, with an 876 score. Fairway Independent Mortgage ranks second, 873, and Guild Mortgage Company ranks third with a score of 857. Mr. Cooper increased 41 points from last year, the largest increase among lenders.

The number of homeless veterans has decreased, continuing a trend that started several years.

The ranks of homeless veterans decreased 5.4 percent in 2018, and is down 50 percent since 2010, according to Annual Homeless Assessment Report from Housing and Urban Development. “We owe it to our veterans to make certain they have a place to call home,” said Carson. “We’ve made great strides in our efforts to end veteran homelessness, but we still have a lot of work to do to ensure those who wore our nation’s uniform have access to stable housing.”

Communities have reported a reduction in the number of homeless veterans living in shelters, or on the streets, noted Ben Carson, secretary of HUD, and Robert Wilkie, secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Each year, thousands of local communities around the country conduct one-night Point-in-Time estimates of the number of persons experiencing homelessness—in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs and in unsheltered locations.

This year’s estimate finds 37,878 veterans experienced homelessness in January 2018, compared to 40,020 in the same time period a year earlier. HUD estimates that 23,312 homeless veterans lived in shelters; while 14, 566 lived in in places that weren’t meant for human habitation.

Also, there was an almost 10 percent decline in female veterans experiencing homelessness. In January 2018, there were 3,219 female veterans that were homeless, compared with 3,571 in the same period a year earlier.

The decrease in veteran homelessness can largely be attributed to the effectiveness of the HUD-VA Supportive Housing Program, combining permanent rental assistance with case management and clinical services provided by the VA. Also, there are programs that use modern tools and technology to identify the most vulnerable veterans and work with them on housing.

More than 4,000 veterans, many suffered from chronic forms of homelessness, found permanent housing and support services through the HUD Vash program. An additional 50,000 veterans found permanent housing and support services through the VA’s continuum of homeless programs.

All told, 64 local communities and three states have declared an effective end to veteran homelessness, creating systems to ensure that a veteran’s homelessness is rare, brief and one-time.