The Lede

National Mortgage News, June 7, 2019--Hannah Lang (subscription)The Trump administration has said it welcomes legislative reform to fundamentally restructure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But the Federal Housing Finance Agency has also made clear that it stands willing to do the heavy lifting itself.

Forbes, June 7, 2019--Evan GentryCommercial real estate opportunities are flourishing outside of the largest U.S. metros. Investors exploring Memphis, Phoenix or Salt Lake City, among other cities in the Tier 2 real estate market, can earn strong returns by developing or purchasing and repositioning older properties.

Mortgage Professional America, June 7, 2019--Steve RandallA survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association found a reported net gain of $285 for every loan originated in Q1 2019, compared to a net loss of $200 per loan in the previous quarter.

Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2019--Andrew Ackerman, Gabriel T. Rubin (subscription)Trump-appointed regulators came into office saying they would pare back Wall Street's postcrisis rulebook. More than two years into the administration's tenure, most of the work remains unfinished, particularly for the biggest banks.

Wall Street Journal, June 9, 2019--Sara Krouse (subscription)America's telecommunications regulator passed rules last week that will let phone companies automatically block more robocalls. It hasn't yet said what, exactly, constitutes such a call.

National Mortgage Professional, June 7, 2019--Phil HallNeighborWorks America has released a study that found a continued disparity in homeownership rates for African-American and Hispanic households. The study noted that while two-thirds of the general population own their home and one-in-four rent their home, the gap between owning and renting is much closer for African-Americans and Hispanics: 49 percent own their own home and 40 percent rent.

HousingWire, June 7, 2019--Ben LaneAccording to the FHA's quarterly report for its fiscal second quarter, the average credit score for an FHA borrower fell to 665 in the second quarter. That's the lowest level since 2008, and is "well below" the FHA lending peak credit score of 703, which happened in 2011.

Bloomberg, June 10, 2019--Saleha Mohsin, Austin WeinsteinTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made clear that freeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from U.S. control won't happen without a major overhaul of the nation's housing finance system, potentially dashing investors' hopes that they might soon make a windfall from their stakes in the mortgage giants.

UExpress, June 7, 2019--Lew SichelmanAccording to Paul Thomas, national risk manager at 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty, an average of only 1 percent of all new houses suffer a major structural defect over their first 10 years.

The Mortgage Bankers Association CREF Market Intelligence Symposium cuts through the clutter to provide hard facts about the state of commercial real estate markets--what we do and don't know.