The Lede

Washington Post, May 18, 2017--Kathy OrtonFreddie Mac said the 30-year fixed-rate average fell to 4.02 percent with an average 0.5 point. It was 4.05 percent a week ago and 3.58 percent a year ago.

National Mortgage News, May 18, 2017--Ian McKendry (subscription)Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tackled a host of hot financial topics on Thursday, including saying he did not favor breaking up the big banks, committing to preserving the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and broadly endorsing a two-tier regulatory system for big and small institutions.

HousingWire, May 18, 2017--Ben LaneFederal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt said that the heavy lifting on housing finance reform needs to come from Congress.

Bloomberg, May 18, 2017--Sarah MulhollandIn New York City, first-quarter property sales plummeted 58 percent, to $4.3 billion, compared with a year earlier, according to data from brokerage Cushman & Wakefield Inc. It marked the lowest quarterly sales volume in six years. Nationwide, the picture wasn't much better. Sales dropped 18 percent, research firm Real Capital Analytics Inc. found.

Reuters, May 18, 2017--Ann SaphirCleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester on Thursday repeated her call for further U.S.-interest rate hikes now that the economy has reached full employment and inflation is nearing the Fed's 2-percent goal.

MarketWatch, May 18, 2017--Andrea RiquierReal estate market observers say that while Zillow's broad footprint and accessible data have been a boon for customers, deciding whom to hire for the transaction is often a fraught process that could benefit from more transparency and less of the old handshake-deal approach that has often characterized real estate.

CNBC, May 18, 2017--Diana OlickThe number of homes for sale in America has been falling steadily for the past year, but the situation is apparently getting much worse as spring demand heats up.

Forbes, May 18, 2017--Ely RazinA sample of public conduit/fusion commercial mortgage-backed securities showed a "significant drop" in loan-to-value ratios in the first quarter, indicating that CMBS lenders are tightening credit as their appetite for risk is shrinking.

Mortgage Daily, May 18, 2017Wells Fargo & Co.'s home lending unit will no longer offer renovation mortgage products due to the complexity and risk of the loans.

Mortgage Daily, May 18, 2017Movement Mortgage LLC saw a decline in quarterly home lending volume, though less than at many of its peers. Still, the company managed to increase the number of people on its payroll.

Mortgage Daily, May 18, 2017A new consortium-style joint venture wants to make it easy for real estate brokerages and home builders to get into the home financing business.

Reuters, May 18, 2017--Dan Freed, David HenryThe head of Bank of America Corp., the United State's fourth-biggest mortgage lender, said on Thursday banks would be able to supply a bigger share of funding for home purchases if the standard down payment for buyers was cut to 10 percent from 20 percent.

National Mortgage News, May 18, 2017--Brad Finkelstein (subscription)The time needed to close a mortgage improved nine days since the start of the year as the market has shifted to doing more purchase loans.

New in today's issue of MBA Insights:  Tom Lamalfa of TSL Consulting presents results of his bi-annual survey of MBA members on key industry issues, including GSE reform, mortgage originations and even President Donald Trump's performance thus far.