Mortgage Market News
April 6th, 2018
Market Activity and Trends
Blockchain Busting Into Mortgage Industry| American Banker| March 26, 2018 |
There are incredible opportunities for advancement in the US Mortgage Industry. Few industries have felt, or been faced with, the tantamount transformation at work today due to emerging technologies. New digital platforms and independent lenders own about 50% of the home mortgages in the US., and new disruptors are constantly emerging, attempting to make the flow of mortgage payments and valuations easier and more transparent for the entire market. To cut costs, improve information and meet mounting customer demands, mortgage lenders are utilizing the power of blockchain technology to spearhead innovation.
Mortgage Industry Still Weak a Decade After Financial Crisis| Berkeley | April 2, 2018 |
The crisis of 2008 encouraged many ‘non-bank lenders’ into the the U.S. home mortgage market, and new bank regulation fueled these lenders to become a huge part of our economic system. There is much less regulation for these platforms, making it a very viable option that may be easier for consumers. Unlike traditional mortgages however, these companies are backed by much less capital. In the event of an economic slowdown, new entrants may be hard pressed to make payments, potentially making taxpayers the ones responsible to compensate for the loss. Luckily, houses have been appreciating in value recently, strengthening the likelihood the mortgages will be repaid - on time!
Ranieri Solutions and Symbiont Partner up with Blockchain | Business Wire | April 4, 2018 |
Ranieri Solutions, a financial services technology investment firm founded by Lewis S. Ranieri, father of the securitized mortgage market, has partnered with Symbiont, a blockchain and smart contract company, to explore opportunities to use Symbiont’s platform to improve the mortgage industry. The combination of Ranieri’s deep knowledge of the mortgage market, coupled with Symbiont’s expertise in deploying enterprise Blockchain networks, led to the partnership between the firms. This is one of the first strategic partnerships to combine a financial services mortgage company, with a blockchain/smart-contract company. These companies see the technological lag that the Mortgage Industry currently has and are trying to create more innovative solutions.
New Startup Viva Network Shakes Up Mortgage Industry | Finextra | April 3, 2018 |
Viva Network Holdings Limited, or Viva, just announced its blueprint for a mortgage crowdfunding platform. Their platform sells investors “Fractionalized Mortgage Shares”, allowing any individual to fund a portion of a mortgage. This way, mortgages can be funded across states — and even countries — by multiple parties. Since the crowdfunding platform is digital and secured by Blockchain technology, the risk for error is lower than the traditional paper-based back and forth. The Viva platform would have the potential to unshackle mortgages from traditional investors and allow anyone to invest, essentially democratizing the mortgage industry. Viva plans to release their platform later this year.
2018 HousingWire Tech100 List Recognizes Mortgage Disruptor Simplifile for the Third Time | Finextra | April 3, 2018 |
The ‘ start-up’ that has been digitizing the mortgage industry for years — Simplifile — provides users with the ability to eSign, eNotarization and e-record their lending and real estate papers. Traditionally, signing, notarizing, and recording these lending documents took a long time, as multiple parties must constantly approve the papers. Furthermore, because the process is paper based, it is prone to discrepancies and errors. This is costly in an industry that requires so much attention to detail. And Simplifile doesn’t have to go it alone! The Start-Up recently paired with Docutech, another company that specializes in digitizing paper based approval processes, to really ramp things up!
