February 2016 H OUSING N EWS R EPORT
NEWS BRIEFS
Arron Lewis Found Guilty of Murdering Realtor Arron Lewis was found guilty on Jan. 14 of abducting and killing Arkansas Realtor Beverly Carter in 2014, according to Little Rock, Arkansas television station KATV. Lewis was automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole for Carter’s murder and also received a consecutive life sentence for kidnapping.
Subprime Mortgage Originations Growing Subprime mortgage lending was up in 2015, according to a new report from Equifax. From Jan. 1 through Oct. 31, 2015, total residential first mortgage originations by all U.S. lenders came to an estimated $1.56 trillion. During the same period, there were more than 312,000 first mortgages to subprime borrowers originated, totaling $50.7 billion. The number of subprime first mortgages that were originated increased by 28 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. Additionally, there was also an increase in subprime activity within the home equity market, with the total balance of home equity installment loans originated for subprime borrowers increasing to more than $1.4 billion, a year-over- year increase of 32.7 percent; with the total credit limits on home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) reaching $608 billion, a year-over-year increase of 6.8 percent. Borrowers whose Equifax Risk Score is no higher than 620 are considered to be subprime.
Beverly Carter
Carter was kidnapped while showing a home sometime in the early evening hours of Sept. 25, 2014. Her husband told police that he became concerned when by 9 p.m. his wife had not called. He drove to the site and found her brown Cadillac sport utility vehicle parked in the driveway with her purse inside it. Carter’s body was found five days later in a shallow grave about 25 miles north of Little Rock, Arkansas. Lewis was arrested for Carter’s murder. His girlfriend at the time, Crystal Hope Lowery, was also charged with capital murder for her role. Lowery has since pled guilty and received a 30-year reduced sentence, contingent on her agreement to testify against Lewis.
SOURCE: Equifax
SOURCE: KATV
400,000
8.00
TotalForeclosureFilings (RealtyTrac) S&P500 U.S. Foreclosures and Freddie Mac Interest Rate Data - (2005 - 2015) 30-YearFixedRate (FreddieMac)
350,000
7.00
300,000
6.00
250,000
5.00
200,000
4.00
150,000
3.00
2.00
100,000
1.00
50,000
0.00
0
SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Department
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