Housing News Podcast: Guild Mortgage’s David Battany takes on the nation’s homebuilding woes

The Housing News Podcast is a weekly wrap of the top news stories by HousingWire CEO Clayton Collins.

Each week, HousingWire interviews financial services experts who can help make sense of the latest headlines, sponsored by our partners at Arch MI.

This week, David Battany, the executive vice president of capital markets at Guild Mortgage, discuss the housing market’s lack of significant inventory as well as the nation’s budding market for manufactured homes. Additionally, Battany explains what the industry needs to do to get more first-time homebuyers into homes.

Here’s more detail on the topics of discussion this week:

This month’s Housing Market Index indicates homebuilder confidence fell 1 point to 70 points, according to the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo. Despite November’s decline, the index shows the reading marks the second-highest level in 2019. That being said, Robert Dietz, the organization’s chief economist, claims affordability woes continue to weaken potential growth.

As a lack of housing supply continues to be a top industry concern, many companies are looking for a solution to combat construction challenges. Guild Mortgage, which recently began leveraging Fannie Mae’s MH Advantage program, claims manufactured housing, or specially designated MH homes are the solution.

Home prices are rising with no signs of slowing, and affordability is getting worse each month, causing potential homebuyers to turn to family or even friends to come up with a down payment. The National Association of Realtors revealed that more than 30% of first-time homebuyers used down payment help from family and friends.

And here are links to the topics discussed:

1) U.S. homebuilder confidence weakens in November
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/u-s-homebuilder-confidence-weakens-in-november/

2) Guild Mortgage Announces MH Advantage, New Mortgage Program for Manufactured Homes
https://www.guildmortgage.com/press-release/guild-mortgage-announces-mh-advantage-new-mortgage-program-manufactured-homes/

3) More first-time homebuyers enlisting help from family, friends
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/more-first-time-homebuyers-enlisting-help-from-family-friends/