Wall Street Journal, Mar. 7, 2018–Laura Kusisto (subscription)The culprits: rising mortgage rates, a tax bill that reduces the incentives for homeownership and a growing weariness among first-buyers being priced out of the market-all of which are expected to damp demand for homes this year.
Category: Top National News
Mulvaney’s Idea for Curbing CFPB Clout: Hand It to Other Agencies
National Mortgage News, Mar. 7, 2018–Kate Berry (subscription)If acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney has his way, his agency would effectively become a backup regulator, ceding authority over virtually every firm for which it has jurisdiction to other state and federal authorities.
ADP: Job Market Threatening to Overheat
HousingWire, Mar. 7, 2018–Kelsey RamirezEmployment is set to increase in February as the hot job market threatens to overheat, according to the ADP and Moody’s Analytics National Employment Report.
Dem Split Enables Dodd-Frank Overhaul to Advance
Los Angeles Times, Mar. 7, 2018–Jim PuzzangheraNearly a decade after the crisis, some Democrats are ready to revise Dodd-Frank after years of complaints from bankers in their states.
Mortgage Events Include Workshops, Tech Conference
Mortgage Daily, Mar. 7, 2018–Sam GarciaIn addition to two private-lending conferences, people in the mortgage industry will also be attending a credit risk workshop and a technology convention over the next 90 days.
Commercial, Multifamily Delinquencies Remain Low in Q4
Mortgage Professional America, Mar. 8, 2018–Francis MonfortThe five largest investor groups saw continuously low delinquency rates for commercial and multifamily mortgage loans in the fourth quarter, with rates remaining relatively flat from the third quarter, according to the Commercial/Multifamily Delinquency Report released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Fresh Evidence of Flaring Wage Growth Appeared in Fed’s Beige Book
Wall Street Journal, Mar. 7, 2018–Sharon Nunn, Sarah Chaney (subscription)Employers across the U.S. said wage growth picked up since the beginning of the year, according to a Federal Reserve report released Wednesday, signaling the tight labor market may be forcing employers to beef up paychecks to compete for workers.
GSE Credit Risk Transfer Programs are a Housing Reform Model
National Mortgage News, Mar. 7, 2018–Brad Finkelstein (subscription)The success of the government-sponsored enterprises’ credit risk transfer programs shows that they can be the basis for housing finance reform. But there are still steps that can be taken to maximize secondary market liquidity and broaden the investor bases, according to a paper co-written by Annaly Capital Management and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
First Guaranty Said to Close Wholesale Channel
HousingWire, Mar. 7, 2018–Jacob GaffneyFirst Guaranty is said to be shutting down one or more of its lending divisions, according to sources.
Economists See Clouds in the Silver Lining
Multi-Housing News, Mar. 7, 2018–Paul FiorillaAt a time when optimism is rampant in the real estate industry and the stock market is near record highs after a massive run-up, economists lived up to their billing as dismal scientists at the National Association of Business Economists annual policy conference in Washington, D.C., last week.