Lenders pessimistic about their ability to generate profits has fallen to an all-time low.

According to Fannie Mae’s Q4 2018 Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey, the outlook for profit among lenders established a low across all loan types--GSE-eligible, non-GSE-eligible, and government. The survey polls senior executives of its lending institution customers on a quarterly basis to assess their views and outlook across varied dimensions of the mortgage market. It was conducted between October 31 and November 12.

The profit outlook for mortgage lenders fell for the ninth consecutive quarter in the final three months of 2018 due to a decline in demand for loans to buy homes and refinance existing mortgages, a quarterly survey of mortgage lenders found.

"Competition from other lenders" was cited by survey participants as the top reason for their pessimism for the eighth consecutive quarter. For purchase mortgage demand, across all loan types the net shares of lenders reporting growth for the prior quarter reached the lowest reading for any fourth quarter in the survey's history, while the prior quarter's demand growth for GSE-eligible refinance mortgages was the second lowest in the survey. Lenders also reported downbeat mortgage demand growth expectations.

"Stressful conditions continue to hang over the mortgage industry. Lenders are reporting the lowest purchase mortgage demand expectations across all loans types and the worst refinance demand expectations for GSE-eligible loans in the survey's five-year history," said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. "Rising mortgage rates and lean inventory amid solid home price appreciation have discouraged both first-time and trade-up homebuyers. However, mortgage rates have shown signs of stabilization, and annual home price gains have slowed from the red-hot pace seen earlier this year.”

Some additional highlights from the survey are as follows:

Easing of Credit Standards:

• Lenders on net continued easing lending standards at a modest pace since the start of the year. However, the pace was significantly lower than the pace seen a year ago (Q4 2017).
• The net easing expectations over the next three months for all three loan types remained relatively stable from last quarter and last year.

 Profit Margin

• Lenders’ net profit margin outlook remained negative for the ninth consecutive quarter and reached a new survey low since 2014.
• “Competition from other lenders” was cited as the top reason for lenders’ decreased profit margin outlook for the eighth consecutive quarter.
• “Consumer demand” was cited as the second most important reason for the decreased profit margin outlook, reaching a survey high.

Synovus Financial Corp. has received regulatory approval from the Federal Reserve and the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance to complete the merger with FCB Financial Holdings Inc., owner of Florida Community Bank.

The merger ofFlorida Community Bank into Synovus is slated to be completed around Jan. 1, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Transition of Florida Community Bank systems, customers, branches, and branding to Synovus is expected during the second quarter of 2019.

“Regulatory approval is the final significant milestone in the merger of FCB and Synovus, and I am proud of the way our respective teams have worked together since the announcement of this transaction,” said Kessel Stelling, chairman and CEO of Synovus. “I am confident our combined companies will continue to meet our commitments to customers, communities, and shareholders while also achieving the growth and financial objectives of the Florida Community Bank acquisition.”

Household Debt Sets Record, Notes Nerd Wallet

Consumers have a collective $13.51 trillion in household debt.

Household debt, now $13.51 trillion, has surpassed the $12.37 trillion owed at the start of the Great Recession in December 2007, according to NerdWallet’s 2018 American Household Credit Card Debt Study.

Since 2008, median income has increased 22%, while the overall cost of living has increased 17%. But over the same period of time, medical costs increased 33 percent, and food purchased away from home increased 27 percent. These swiftly rising expenses could make it more challenging for many Americans to trim spending. Households that hold credit card debt carry an average revolving balance of $6,929, NerdWallet found, including $1,141 each year in interest.

To perform the study, NerdWallet analyzed data from the Federal Reserve and the Census Bureau.

The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index rose 0.5 points to 86.2 in November.

The increase can be attributed to an increase in the net share of Americans who reported a significant increase in income, which hit a new survey high after jumping five percentage points. The net share of Americans who said it is a good time to buy a home rose two percentage points, while the net share who said it is a good time to sell a home remained unchanged. The Home Purchase Sentiment Index distills information about consumers' home purchase sentiment from Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey into a single number.

Meanwhile, the net share of survey respondents who expect home prices to go up fell four percentage points, and the net share who expressed greater job confidence fell one percentage point. Finally, the net share who expect mortgage rates to go down increased one percentage point.

"The HPSI has moved within a tight range over the past five months, as positive sentiment regarding the overall economy continued to offset cooling housing sentiment," said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. "Consumers' perceptions of growth in their household income reached a survey high this month, helping to absorb some of the impact of increasing mortgage rates on housing market activity. Meanwhile, the net share of consumers expecting home prices to increase over the next 12 months continues to moderate, dropping by 13 percentage points since this time last year."

Highlights from the Home Purchase Sentiment Index are as follows:

• The net share of Americans who say it is a good time to buy a home rose two percentage points from last month to 23%.
• The net share of those who say it is a good time to sell a home remained unchanged at 35%.
• The net share of those who say home prices will go up fell 4 percentage points to 33%, declining for the second consecutive month.
• The net share of Americans who say mortgage rates will go down over the next 12 months rose 1 percentage point to -56%.
• The net share of Americans who say they are not concerned about losing their job fell one percentage point to 77%.
• The net share of those who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago rose 5 percentage points to a survey high of 24%.

Renters Warehouse has agreed to acquire OwnAmerica, a single-family rental investment marketplace. OwnAmerica’s marketplace technology will allow real estate investors to buy and sell single-family rental properties with confidence. The transaction is scheduled to officially close Jan. 1, 2019.

“As we strive to offer our clients better access to information, data and resources to make investing easier, OwnAmerica’s portfolio visualizer tools and market research capabilities stood out as industry leading and a great addition to our suite of services,” said Kevin Ortner, CEO at Renters Warehouse.  “This technology, coupled with our full-service property management solution, will make Renters Warehouse America’s largest full-service real estate investment company.”

OwnAmerica’s technology was developed over the last seven years for investors and provides access to data on market fundamentals, population trends, employment stats and price performance. The data can be loaded into interactive calculators, so the properties can be underwritten.

The new Renters Warehouse marketplace will allow investors to buy, manage and sell all in one place, and have access to stock-like analytics and day-to-day property management.

“As new institutional investors continue to enter the single family rental space, the need for a holistic solution from sourcing to leasing and managing and eventually monetizing through a single-service provider has become vitally important,” shared Anthony Cazazian, Renters Warehouse’s CIO and president of portfolio services.“

At the time of acquisition, OwnAmerica had over $21 billion in total assets on their platform, with over $200 million in assets for sale. Renters Warehouse’s 14,000 clients across the country will now have access to these assets and can expand their portfolio. Selling commissions are about half what you’d pay with a traditional real estate agent.

“Investors in the housing market are independent, patriotic people who use real estate investing to create long-term financial security for the people they care about,” said Greg Rand, CEO of OwnAmerica.

Rand will join the Renters Warehouse executive team as chief strategy officer and will be guiding the continued development of the marketplace platform, as well as building out and leading a team of local real estate investment agents in all Renters Warehouse markets to assist investors with their buying and selling decisions.

Renters Warehouse is the only property management company focused on single-family rentals to be rated by Morningstar Credit Ratings, a nationally recognized statistical rating organization. The company manages more than $3 billion in residential real estate, services over 14,000 investors across more than 22,000 residences in 42 markets and 25 states.