I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! For this month’s edition of Dart Board, I wanted to take a look at how the industry is trending, and also share some stats on Dart Appraisal’s performance through the first half of 2017.

Volume. What a difference a year makes! Looking back on Summer of 2016 is a fast-paced blur where the words “extended appraisal turn times” were uttered by lenders, brokers and even the national news media more times than I could count. So far, this summer has been much more evenly-paced. We haven’t seen the rapid appraiser fee acceleration we did last year, and turn times for the most part have been fairly typical for this time of year.

Overall, the industry has seen a reduction in origination volume thanks in large part to rising interest rates. Naturally, higher rates have led to a substantial decrease in refinance activity. On the positive side, the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI), which measures consumers’ feelings about purchasing a home, increased 2.1 percentage points in June.

“The June HPSI reading matches the previous record set in February and reflects the trend toward a sellers’ market that respondents indicated last month,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “Consumers are also growing more optimistic about their ability to get a mortgage, and lenders expect credit standards to ease further going forward, as shown in our Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey.”

While rates have dipped slightly, most economists are forecasting the remainder of 2017 to be fairly flat in terms of mortgage activity.

Dart Appraisal Mid-Year Update. This year has been a strong, consistent year for Dart Appraisal so far. Our business has remained incredibly balanced in terms of lending channels, thanks in part to our diverse client base. Year to date, credit unions and wholesale lenders have each comprised about 25% of our total business. Dart works with several HUD REO Asset Managers, which have produced 12% of our business through June 30. The remaining 38% of our volume came from retail lenders.

So far in 2017, Dart’s top states in terms of volume have been:

1. Florida
2. Michigan
3. Wisconsin
4. Washington
5. Texas
6. Illinois
7. New York
8. Pennsylvania
9. California
10. Virginia

This year has also seen an increase in alternate valuation products, such as AVMs, BPOs, Property Condition Reports (PCR) and our Executive Value Report (EVR). In just the past two months, our combined EVR/PCR product has quickly grown in popularity. If you are interested in learning more about any of these products, let me know and I’ll have someone reach out to you.

Fall Webinar Schedule. Looking ahead to next season, I am interested in hearing your feedback on our webinar programming. Topics we presented earlier this year include Appraisal Independence for Lenders, Appraisal 101, and Appraisal FAQs. As we build our fall schedule, I invite you to share any valuation-related topics that you would like to learn more about. Potentials we are discussing now include “green” appraisals, a demo of our automated QC engine, Dart iQ, and a deep dive into specialty appraisal products. If you have any suggestions to share, please send them directly to me at michael@dartappraisal.com.

We at Dart Appraisal want to extend our thanks to all of our valued clients and brokers for their continued partnership, and for allowing us to provide your appraisal management services. If there is anything we can do to assist you, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@dartappraisal.com.

Thank you,

Michael Dresden
President
Dart Appraisal