Want better affordability? Lower house prices certainly helps, and this article states that more than half of homes in the United States have fallen in price in the last year. Forget interest rates: Certainly, there are fewer willing buyers when they know ahead of time that they may face increasing insurance, tax, or condo fees. (Lenders are doing what they can to control costs, and a recent STRATMOR piece is titled, “Rates Drop, Pipelines Pop: Don’t Let Fulfillment Flop.”) The strain is being seen and felt. CNBC reports that foreclosures rose in October signaling some type of distress. (Or delinquency and foreclosure numbers were really low to begin with, right?) As broker veteran Brian B. writes from Florida, “This is one reason for the popularity of DSCRs. Companies looking to buy real estate can buy the DSCR mortgages, and then the foreclosures are quicker because they are non-owner properties.” The foreclosure moratorium coming off is a likely source. Foreclosure activity is returning to normal ranges after years of artificially low volumes (Covid-era forbearance programs, etc.), according to ICE’s First Look report. However, FHA-backed loans are driving roughly half of foreclosure starts. FHA loans saw a 44-bps rise in non-current rates, while other loan types improved. Foreclosure starts hit 103,000 in Q3, up 23 percent over the same period YoY. FHA loans now account for 38 percent of all active foreclosures nationwide. Overall foreclosure volume remains historically low, with Q3 foreclosure sales at ~half of 2019 levels. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s are sponsored by The Big Point of Sale, which delivers a fast, flexible, and low-cost mortgage POS that gets lenders up and running in hours (not months) while empowering loan officers and consumers to collaborate seamlessly from any device. Hear an interview with The Big Point of Sale’s Matthew VanFossen on the evolution of technology in the mortgage industry and how all parties privy to a mortgage transaction can be included on the same workflows.)