Countrywide's earnings drop

Countrywide Financial Corp. today reported consolidated net earnings of $582 million for the third quarter.

That's compared with net earnings of $1.1 billion in the third quarter of 2003, the most successful earnings in the company's history.

Earnings per diluted share for the third quarter were $0.94, a drop from the third quarter of 2003, which saw earnings per share of $1.93, the company's highest quarter on record.

Pre-tax earnings in the mortgage banking segment were $633 million, which compares to $1.5 billion for last year's third quarter.  more...

SEC investigates Fannie Mae

The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a formal investigation of troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae, the company stated in an SEC form it filed Tuesday.  more...

Lenders, AVMs, real estate appraisers get connected

RealEC Technologies today launched a real estate appraisal supply product that fully automates a mortgage lender's appraisal supply chain.

The appraisal version of SolutionSelect connects lenders, AVM providers, appraisal management companies and independent appraisers via the RealEC Exchange network of appraisers. Lenders using the system can develop rules to automate the selection of the optimal appraisal or AVM model and provider based on loan and property characteristics. Rules can also be created to instantly determine the potential for errors or problems.  more...

Single-family real estate markets improve

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. on Tuesday reported that its national Market Trends Index–which measures price and sales movement in single-family housing markets–improved to 6.7 in the third quarter after being flat at 6.66 for the last two quarters.

"The U.S. economy grew at a steady rate as annual employment rose 1 percent, its strongest gain since 2001," said Neil Siegel, MGIC's senior market analyst.  more...

Real estate purchases jump

Overall mortgage applications increased by 7.9 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey.

The MBA seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 5.8 percent to 461.4 from 436.3 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted refinance index increased by 10.6 percent to 2,155.2 from 1,949.2 one week earlier.   more...

Overnight mortgage rates nudge higher

Long-term mortgage interest rates were slightly higher Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 4.03 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 5.31 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate climbed to 4.71 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 3.21 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield slipped to 4.82 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...