The Lede

Top National News

Buyers May Be About to Flood the Biggest Part of the Housing Market
Business Insider, Nov. 27, 2016 New homebuyers may be about to flood the U.S. market for existing homes to lock in the lowest mortgage rates they can.
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Waterfront Towers Reel In Unusual Loan Deal
Wall Street Journal, Nov. 27, 2016--Morris, Keiko The partners behind a gargantuan apartment complex being built on Manhattan's far West Side have nailed down $2.3 billion in construction financing at a time when money from traditional lenders is hard to come by.
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How to Kill the Volcker Rule? Don’t Enforce It
Wall Street Journal, nov. 28, 2016--Tracy, Ryan; Carney, John Big banks hoping a Trump administration will defang one of Dodd-Frank's most-controversial pieces.
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Changes to Come in Mortgage Lending
Post Independent (Colo.), Nov. 27, 2016--Dalrymple, Pat The Law of Unknown Consequences is very much at work right now, especially when it comes to mortgage lending.
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Honolulu Tops For Mortgage Debt
Honolulu Civic Beat, Nov. 27, 2016--Blair, Chad A LawnStarter analysis (it's a company concerned about, well, lawns) of recent Census data shows "nearly 23 percent of mortgaged owner-occupied homes in the Honolulu metro area had a second mortgage or a home equity loan in 2015."
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Perils of Climate Change Could Swamp Coastal Real Estate
New York Times, Nov. 24, 2016--Urbina, Ian Homeowners are slowly growing wary of buying property in the areas most at risk, setting up a potential economic time bomb in an industry that is struggling to adapt.
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The One Big Real Estate Trend You Need to Understand in 2017
Fortune, Nov. 27, 2016--Close, Kerry Forget a tale of two cities: Extreme housing market fragmentation is now creating different experiences for home buyers and sellers in a wide range of locations and segments.
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Congress Could Play Grinch this Christmas for Homeowners
Washington Post Writers Group, Nov. 26, 2016--Harney, Kenneth R. Republicans controlling the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate say they have no plans to extend expiring tax code provisions such as mortgage debt forgiveness for financially troubled owners, mortgage insurance write-offs used by moderate-income first-time buyers, and deductions for purchases of energy-saving windows, insulation and other improvements. All three benefits terminate Dec. 31. 
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Teens, Tech and Automobiles
UExpress, Nov. 25, 2016--Sichelman, Lew Forget about millennials. Everything that can be written about that age cohort has been written. So let's move on to Gen Z. They are mostly teenagers today, but they will be homebuyers tomorrow. Or will they?
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Mortgage Rates Escalate, Further Ascension Ahead
Mortgage Daily, Nov. 23, 2016, Garcia, Sam Long-term mortgage rates climbed to the highest level so far this year, have increased for four weeks in a row now and are expected to rise further.
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Rising Mortgage Rates Help, but Also Hurt, Banks
Wall Street Journal, Nov. 27, 2016--Back, Aaron Banks in the U.S. have much to be thankful for this holiday season. Higher rates on mortgages aren't necessarily on the list.
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Consumer Protection Bureau Chief Braces for a Reckoning
New York Times, Nov. 24, 2016--Cowley, Stacy Mild-mannered, lawyerly and with a genius for trivia, Richard Cordray is not the sort of guy you picture at the center of Washington's bitter partisan wars over regulation and consumer safeguards.
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A $430 Billion Mortgage-Bond Market Shrugs Off the Trump Effect
Bloomberg, Nov. 27, 2016--Schwartzkopff,  Frances The world's largest mortgage-backed covered-bond market is shrugging off the specter of real estate mogul with big spending plans Donald Trump running the U.S.
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With Mortgage Rates Up, Trump Already Makes a Mark on Housing Market
Baltimore Sun, Nov. 26, 2016--Sherman, Natalie The day before Thanksgiving isn't typically a busy time in the home mortgage business. Then again, it isn't a typical year.
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Higher Loan Limits Could Mean Increased Mortgage Volume
National Mortgage News, Nov. 23, 2016--Passy, Jacob Federal Housing Finance Agency's choice to raise conforming loan limits in 2017 is being met with enthusiasm. "[The increase] reflects the reality that we are in an improving housing market driven by an improving economy,"  said Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO David Stevens, CMB.
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DOJ Gives Up in Fight Over Massive Bank of America, Countrywide ‘Hustle’ Fine
HousingWire, Nov. 23, 2016--Lane, Ben Billion-dollar Settlement Now Dead.
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Fannie & Freddie’s Mortgage Backing Capacity Increases
Nasdaq.com, Nov. 25, 2016 The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that the maximum limit for the mortgage loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be $424,100 for most of the U.S. in 2017.
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