SAN DIEGO, Calif., November 7, 2019 – ClosingCorp, a leading provider of residential real estate closing cost data and technology for the mortgage and real estate services industries, today estimated that the residential mortgage industry has more than $7 billion in loan value and more than $60 million dollars in service fee and transfer tax revenue at risk as a result of recent California Wildfires.

ClosingCorp based its estimate on “in-flight” residential mortgage applications in the FEMA designated affected areas for the Easy, Getty, Kincade, Saddleridge and Tick fires. An “in-flight” mortgage application is defined for this analysis as mortgages that are due to close between October 24, 2019 when the initial fire was declared by FEMA and the end of the year.

When events like these occur, many lenders have broad and prudent policies to suspend loan closings until the event has passed and damage assessments can be completed. At a minimum this means the income associated with loan closings is deferred.  In many cases, new inspections and often new appraisals will be required before the mortgages can be approved and the sales completed. In some instances, the damage will result in significant delays or cause deals to fall apart.

ClosingCorp is proactively notifying its lender clients about transactions within the affected areas and will be working with them on expanded reviews as requested.

SAN DIEGO, Calif., – November 7, 2019 – Plaza Home Mortgage, Inc^®., one of the nation’s leading wholesale and correspondent mortgage lenders, announced today a new proprietary Reverse Jumbo mortgage program that will offer refinance loan amounts of up to $4 million with no FHA mortgage insurance requirement.

The fixed-rate program is available through Plaza’s Wholesale channel in California and Hawaii. It covers a wide range of property types including single-family, 2-4 units, townhomes and condominiums, and has no minimum or maximum draw amounts. The program can also be used to refinance seasoned home equity conversion mortgages (HECMs) to jumbos or jumbos to HECMs. The guidelines are very similar to Plaza’s other HECM offering in terms of credit, income, and age requirements.

“Plaza’s new Reverse Jumbo mortgage program will enable brokers to address the income and refinancing needs of seniors and aging baby boomers in high cost housing markets in California and Hawaii,” said Mark Reeve, Vice President, Reverse Mortgages at Plaza Home Mortgage. “Over time, we expect to expand the program to a number of other select high cost markets and to add adjustable rate and purchase options.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 6, 2019) — Mortgage applications decreased 0.1 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 1, 2019.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 2 percent from the previous week and was 144 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 3 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 4 percent compared with the previous week and was 7 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

“U.S. Treasury yields once again exhibited some intraweek volatility before declining sharply toward the end of the week. As a result, mortgage rates decreased, with the 30-year fixed rate falling below 4 percent again,” said Joel Kan, Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “In response to the lower rates, refinance applications climbed 2 percent, as homeowners with larger loan balances helped to keep the average refinance loan size elevated. Purchase applications fell slightly last week but remained almost 7 percent higher than a year ago.”

Added Kan, “Amidst persistent supply constraints in the entry-level price range, there’s evidence that high-end homebuyers are more active this fall. The average loan size for purchase applications increased to its highest level since May.”

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 59.5 percent of total applications from 58.0 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 5.2 percent of total applications.

The FHA share of total applications decreased to 11.8 percent from 12.0 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to 12.0 percent from 11.8 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged from 0.6 percent the week prior.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($484,350 or less) decreased to 3.98 percent from 4.05 percent, with points remaining unchanged at 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $484,350) decreased to 3.97 percent from 4.01 percent, with points decreasing to 0.24 from 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 3.79 percent from 3.83 percent, with points decreasing to 0.21 from 0.28 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.38 percent from 3.40 percent, with points decreasing to 0.31 from 0.36 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs remained unchanged at 3.43 percent, with points decreasing to 0.21 from 0.23 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

If you would like to purchase a subscription of MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey, please visit www.mba.org/WeeklyApps, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or click here.

The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.