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WORD OF THE DAY: Confrere

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[KAN-frehr] Part of speech: noun Origin: French, mid-18th century Definition: A fellow member of a profession; a colleague. Examples of confrere in a sentence “Since I don’t know the answer to that question, I’ll refer you to my confrere.” “The meetup was the perfect opportunity for Reyna to meet confreres in her field.” About Confrere This noun was introduced into French via the medieval Latin word “confrater,” a combination of the words “con” (together with) and “frater” (brother). Did you Know? Taking time to rub shoulders with your confreres is important not just for the sake of making friends — a recent study found that around 80% of jobs are gained through networking. Building connections can be a vital way to transition into a new career.

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WORD OF THE DAY: Rejoinder

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[rə-JOIN-dər] Part of speech: noun Origin: Late Middle English, late 15th century Definition: A reply, especially a sharp or witty one; (Law, dated) A defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s reply or replication. Examples of rejoinder in a sentence “I always think up the perfect rejoinder hours later in the tub.” “The court fell silent, waiting for the defendant’s rejoinder.” About Rejoinder This word developed in Late Middle English by way of the Anglo-Norman French word “rejoindre” (to reunite something again). Did you Know? Continually find yourself practicing comebacks hours later? If so, it’s time to work on your rejoinder skills. According to the BBC, one of the ways to craft a witty comeback is to work on your listening skills. By listening precisely and actively to conversations — as well as by utilizing humans’ ability to think faster than they speak — it becomes easier to quickly form a well-timed, snappy reply the next time your friend pokes some fun at you.

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U.S. FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY CONTINUES TO INCREASE QUARTERLY NEARING PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS

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U.S. Foreclosure Starts Increase 167 Percent From a Year Ago; Average Time to Foreclose Nationwide Decreases 4 Percent From a Year Ago ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property data, released its Q3 2022 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 92,634 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — up 3 percent from the previous quarter and 104 percent from a year ago. The report also shows there were a total of 31,836 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in September 2022, down 8 percent from the previous month but up 62 percent from September 2021. Foreclosure starts close to pre-pandemic levels nationwideLenders started the foreclosure process on 67,249 U.S. properties in Q3 2022, up 1 percent from the previous quarter and up 167 percent from a year ago — nearly reaching pre-pandemic levels. “Foreclosure starts, while rising since the end of the government’s foreclosure moratorium, still lag behind pre-pandemic levels,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence for ATTOM. “Foreclosure activity is reflecting other aspects of the economy, as unemployment rates continue to be historically low, and mortgage delinquency rates are lower than they were before the COVID-19 outbreak.” U.S. Foreclosure Starts States that posted the greatest number of foreclosure starts in Q3 2022, included California (7,368 foreclosure starts); Florida (6,671 foreclosure starts); Texas (6,217 foreclosure starts); Illinois (4,702 foreclosure starts); and New York (3,997 foreclosure starts). Among the 223 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report those that posted the greatest number of foreclosure starts in Q3 2022, included New York, New York (4,621 foreclosure starts); Chicago, Illinois (3,950 foreclosure starts); Los Angeles, California (2,275 foreclosure starts); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1,991 foreclosure starts); and Miami, Florida (1,990 foreclosure starts); Counter to the national trend of quarterly increases, among those metropolitan areas with a population greater than one million that saw a decline in foreclosure starts in Q3 2022 were Tulsa, Oklahoma (down 60 percent); Kansas City, Missouri (down 26 percent); Birmingham, Alabama (down 25 percent); Minneapolis, Minnesota (down 23 percent); and Cincinnati, Ohio (down 22 percent). Highest foreclosure rates in Illinois, Delaware, and New JerseyNationwide one in every 1,517 properties had a foreclosure filing in Q3 2022. States with the highest foreclosure rates in Q3 2022 were Illinois (one in every 694 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Delaware (one in every 825); New Jersey (one in every 855); South Carolina (one in every 971); and Ohio (one in every 1,027). Among 223 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report, those with the highest foreclosure rates in Q3 2022 were Peoria, Illinois (one in every 472 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Cleveland, Ohio (one in every 589); Jacksonville, North Carolina (one in every 593); Columbia, South Carolina (one in every 599); and Rockford, Illinois (one in every 602). Bank repossessions increase nationwideLenders repossessed 10,515 U.S. properties through foreclosure (REO) in Q3 2022, up 18 percent from the previous quarter and up 39 percent from a year ago. “Very few of the properties entering the foreclosure process have reverted to the lender at the end of the foreclosure,” Sharga noted. “In fact, nearly three times more homes were repossessed by lenders in the second quarter of 2019 than in the second quarter of 2022. We believe that this may be an indication that borrowers are leveraging their equity and selling their homes rather than risking the loss of their equity in a foreclosure auction.” U.S. Completed Foreclosures (REOs) States that posted the largest number of completed foreclosures in Q3 2022, included Illinois (1,331 REOs); Michigan (729 REOs); New York (695 REOs); Pennsylvania (643 REOs); and Ohio (557 REOs). Average time to foreclose decreases 4 percent from last yearProperties foreclosed in Q3 2022 had been in the foreclosure process an average of 885 days, down from 948 days in the previous quarter and down 4 percent from 924 days in Q3 2021. Average Days to Complete Foreclosure States with the longest average foreclosure timelines for homes foreclosed in Q3 2022 were Hawaii (2,121 days); New Jersey (2,002 days); Louisiana (1,963 days); Kansas (1,848 days); and New York (1,808 days). States with the shortest average foreclosure timelines for homes foreclosed in Q3 2022 were Minnesota (113 days); Mississippi (167 days); Texas (168 days); Nebraska (168 days); and Missouri (172 days). September 2022 Foreclosure Activity High-Level Takeaways Nationwide in September 2022 one in every 4,413 properties had a foreclosure filing. States with the highest foreclosure rates in September 2022 were Illinois (one in every 1,959 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Nevada (one in every 2,473 housing units); New Jersey (one in every 2,649 housing units); Maryland (one in every 2,825 housing units); and Ohio (one in every 2,885 housing units). 21,869 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in September 2022, down 9 percent from the previous month but up 113 percent from a year ago. Lenders completed the foreclosure process on 3,509 U.S. properties in September 2022, down 11 percent from the previous month but up 31 percent from a year ago.

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WORD OF THE DAY: Digerati

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[dih-jə-RAH-dee] Part of speech: noun Origin: American English, 1990s Definition: People with expertise or professional involvement in information technology. Examples of digerati in a sentence “Betty had complete faith that if she couldn’t fix her computer, the company’s digerati could.” “It was hard to pick one candidate out of the many qualified digerati who applied.” About Digerati This word developed from a 1990s mash-up of the words “digital” and “literati” (well-educated people who are interested in literature). It was coined in a 1992 article by “The New York Times” editor Tim Race. Did you Know? Not everything that digerati are good at is efficient. The QWERTY keyboard, for example, is as inefficient as technology gets — mostly because it was designed that way. Designers originally created the QWERTY keyboard to slow down typists using mechanical keyboards prone to jamming. Nowadays, QWERTY continues to exist only because of its widespread use.

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Economy Expected to Contract Further in 2023, as the Fed Appears Resolved to Tame Inflation

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Housing Slowdown Demonstrates Impact of Rapidly Risen Mortgage Rate Environment The combination of high inflation, monetary policy tightening, and a slowing housing market is still projected to tip the economy into a modest recession in the first quarter of 2023, according to the October 2022 commentary from the Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMA) Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group. The ESR Group expects real gross domestic product (GDP) to grow 2.3 percent annualized in the third quarter of 2022 due to strong net export and inventory investment activity, before contracting 0.7 percent annualized in the fourth quarter as the effects of that activity wane. Headline GDP growth is expected to remain negative through the third quarter of 2023 as the economy enters a modest recession. The ESR Group forecasts negative 0.1 percent real GDP growth on a full-year basis for 2022, a slight downward revision from its prior month prediction of 0.0 percent, and it maintained its expectation for a 0.5 percent contraction in real GDP in 2023. Core inflation remains considerably higher than the Federal Reserve’s stated target; and despite the historic decline in August job openings, the continued strength in labor has futures markets expecting the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to raise the federal funds rate by an additional 75 basis points at its November meeting. Due largely to the higher mortgage rate environment, the ESR Group lowered its forecast for total single-family home sales in 2022 and 2023 to 5.64 million and 4.47 million, respectively, which would represent annual declines of 18.1 percent and 20.8 percent. While multifamily construction remains strong, the ESR Group also revised downward its multifamily starts forecast for 2023 to 390,000 units. Further, the ESR Group significantly revised its outlook for national home price growth and now expects year-over-year home price growth to turn negative in Q2 2023. From a full-year perspective, the ESR Group expects Q4/Q4 national home price growth in 2022 to be 9.0 percent, down from last month’s prediction of 16.0 percent. The ESR Group expects home price declines of 1.5 percent in 2023, down from its previous prediction of home price growth of 4.4 percent in 2023.  “Over the last few weeks, markets have increasingly – and perhaps reluctantly – reflected the resolve of the Fed to lower inflation via rapid tightening of monetary policy,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “At times, the market has reacted to incoming economic data suggesting the Fed is making progress in its fight with inflation by anticipating a potential policy ‘pivot’ toward a less restrictive regimen, prompting the Fed to restate its resolve. Of course, the slowing effect on the housing market of the higher mortgage rate environment has been largely predictable, and home prices appear to have already begun trending downward. Looking ahead to the full year 2023, on a national basis, we expect an average home price decline of 1.5%. Given the ongoing tension between potential homebuyers and home-sellers at the moment, we believe the pace of sales is likely to slow even further, too.” Visit the Economic & Strategic Research site at fanniemae.com to read the full October 2022 Economic Outlook, including the Economic Developments Commentary, Economic Forecast, Housing Forecast, and Multifamily Market Commentary. To receive e-mail updates with other housing market research from Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research Group, please click here.

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Toorak Capital Partners Reaches $10 Billion Milestone

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Industry-Leading Real Estate Funding Platform Has Funded 26,000+ Mortgage Loans in Since Inception Toorak Capital Partners, Inc. (“Toorak”), a leading capital provider to the residential real estate lending industry, announced that it has funded $10 billion in whole loans since its inception in 2016. To date, the company has funded more than 26,000 small-balance business-purpose loans backed by residential, multifamily, and mixed-use properties across the U.S. and the U.K., enabling the construction, renovation or purchase of over 50,000 rental and owner-occupied units. “We’re extremely proud of the progress we’ve made as a company, and excited to reach this groundbreaking milestone,” said Toorak CEO John Beacham. “When we first started Toorak, we saw an opportunity to provide stable, long-term capital to a fragmented industry with a lack of efficient financing alternatives, and to address the national housing shortage by enabling investors to bring units to the market. This achievement is a testament to the hard work of our entire team and the originators we work with.” By strategically partnering with lenders who originate high credit standard loans, and then using institutional capital to acquire the loans shortly after origination, Toorak frees up originator capital, enabling them to make more loans to other small businesses. Toorak then funds these loans in the capital markets while retaining credit risk, generating more capital to fund more loans. To date, the company has issued $3.1 billion in securitizations across eleven deals, three of which have been fully repaid. Building on the initial success of its rehab loan product, Toorak’s focus has expanded over time to new geographies and new products, including ground up construction loans, multifamily loans, and 30-year single family rental /DSCR loans. “Toorak’s growth is a testament to John and the team’s success at building a leading real estate loan investment platform and substantially improving financing options in the real estate mortgage market,” added Avi Korn, Managing Director at KKR. “We are proud of this $10 billion milestone for the company and look forward to celebrating many future milestones together.” With capital commitments from entities managed by KKR, a leading global investment firm, Toorak has revolutionized the way business purpose residential real estate lenders access capital. Toorak was the first to link small-balance commercial and residential originators with institutional capital and has perfected this approach in the single-family residential bridge, multifamily bridge and 30-year single family rental lending space. About Toorak Capital Partners Toorak Capital Partners is an integrated correspondent lending platform based in Summit, NJ. Toorak acquires small-balance, business-purpose loans backed by residential, multifamily, and mixed-use properties throughout the U.S. and the U.K. Toorak acquires loans directly from lenders that originate high credit quality loans. Toorak’s principals have a deep understanding of mortgage credit in the residential and commercial space with backgrounds in real estate lending, capital markets, securitization, asset-liability management, asset management and credit. Since inception, Toorak has provided more than $10 billion in capital and funded over 26,000 mortgage loans. Toorak-funded projects are expected to renovate, stabilize or provide rental housing for over 50,000 families. Further information is available at www.toorakcapital.com.

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