Appraisal volume started the year off higher and surged 35% for the week of Jan. 3, a la mode, an appraisal forms software company that tracks appraisal volume throughout the country, reported.
Last week, the National Appraisal Volume Index said it finished the year down 1.1%.
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(Source: a la mode)
“For the first full week of 2016, the National Appraisal Volume Index bounced back with a 35% increase over last week,” explained Kevin Golden, director of analytics with a la mode.
“This is a little shy of the average recovery for the first week of the year of 37.2%. With steady interest rates and solid employment reports, the housing market is continuing its stable progress,” Golden added.
The most recent Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey said the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped to 3.97%, down from 4.01% last week.
Meanwhile, the latest job report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics said December job creation grew by 292,000, cementing the growing strength of the labor market.
Appraisal volume is an indicator of market strength and has some advantages over mortgage applications. Fallout is less for appraisals since they are ordered later in the mortgage process after credit worthiness has been approved and there are few multiple-orders.
a la mode captures 50% of the appraiser market – more than 6 million appraisals per year since the fourth quarter of 2006.
