...Arrears Trend Established: Both early- and late- stage arrears drifted downwards for the third successive quarter. The volume of loans in arrears by three months or more remained just below 0.9% in November 2014. Non-conforming Loans Underperform: Early- stage arrears in non-conforming loan transactions bucked the overall market trend by increasing to 2.5% in 4Q14, up from 2.0% in Q3. Declining Mortgage Rates: The mortgage rates on both existing and new loans declined further in September 2014, as a result of increased competitiveness. Slower Home Price Recovery: The index of home prices was up by 1.9% in the year to November 2014, but the period ended with a quarter-on-quarter (qoq) decline of 0.1%. Fitch expects the recovery to resume at a slow pace in 2015....
