Fannie Mae reaffirms its outlook

GM, this is Mortgage Nuggets, where we take you on a safari through the mortgage world every single day.

1. Fannie Mae's outlook

Fannie Mae has reaffirmed its outlook that U.S. house prices will decrease by 4.2% in 2023 and by 2.3% in 2024.

However, it has revised its mortgage rate outlook, with expectations that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate will average 5.9% in 2023 and 5.2% in 2024.

Full forecast

2. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage acquires Keller Mortgage

Mutual of Omaha Mortgage has acquired the assets of Keller Mortgage, which will operate as an independent division within Mutual of Omaha Mortgage. Keller Williams will retain a stake in the company.

Keller Mortgage is licensed in all 50 U.S. states and has 42 branches across the country. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage plans to operate Keller Mortgage alongside its existing forward and reverse mortgage divisions

3. FHA insurance changes

The Biden administration plans to reduce the cost of mortgages for first-time and lower-income buyers by decreasing the fee borrowers pay for mortgage insurance by the FHA by about $800 per year or 0.3 percentage points.

The changes are expected to be announced by Vice President Kamala Harris in a speech on Wednesday and will go into effect in March.

4. NAR: Existing home sales down

The National Association of Realtors reports that existing-home sales slipped 0.7% from December 2022, extending the decline streak to 12 straight months.

The median existing-home sales price increased by 1.3% to $359,000, while the inventory of unsold homes grew to 980,000.

Single-family home sales declined to the lowest level since 2010, distressed sales made up 1% of all sales, and all-cash sales made up 29% of transactions.

5. More Nuggets

What Do US Growth Zones Have in Common? They Build Housing (Bloomberg)

Roc Capital To Acquire Finance of America Commercial (NMP)

Ex-North Dakota bank President and LO sentenced to prison for bank fraud (HW)

See you on Friday!

p.s. 1 funny tweet; when pets sigh

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