The Week Ahead Sept. 20, 2021: Five Things to Watch
Good Monday morning! Welcome to the (official) Last Week of Summer and another busy week for the real estate finance industry. Here are five things to watch for this week:
First: The Federal Reserve. The Federal Open Market Committee meets this Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington with a lot of off-policy distractions—specifically, an announcement last week by Chairman Jerome Powell of an investigation into Board members’ stock investments, triggered by sharp criticism from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and her call for the Fed to create rules barring regional Federal Reserve bank leaders from stock trading.
Also off-policy: continued speculation as to whether President Biden will reappoint Powell to another term as Chair, or opt for someone else, such as Fed Gov. Lael Brainard, who analysts say is more in tune with the Administration’s policies.
But the FOMC, will, as its want, stick to policy this week. While the federal funds rate—which the FOMC has kept at 0-0.25 percent since March 2020—is not expected to be touched until 2022 at the earliest, there is speculation the Fed will update its anticipated tapering of its monthly bond purchases.
The good news: MBA has its own Fed expert—MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni—who will break down the Wednesday, Sept. 22 FOMC statement in the Thursday edition of MBA NewsLink.
Second, Congress. The House and Senate continue work this week on a number of outstanding issues, such as the massive Biden Administration-supported infrastructure bill and budget/spending bills for fiscal 2022. The real question at this point: do Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have enough votes to get these measures passed in their respective chambers? With no help from Republicans, both leaders need every possible Democratic vote—and as of this writing, they do not.
The House Financial Services Committee kicks off two solid weeks of hearings on Tuesday, Sept. 21, when the Data Task Force on Financial Technologh holds a hearing on “Preserving the Right of Consumers to Access Personal Financial Data.”
The hearing begins at 10:00 a.m. ET in 2128 Rayburn House Office Building and on WebEx, and can be accessed online here.
On Thursday, Sept. 23, the Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy holds a hearing on “Lending in a Crisis: Reviewing the Federal Reserve’s Emergency Lending Powers During the Pandemic and Examining Proposals to Address Future Economic Crises.”
The hearing begins at 10:00 a.m. ET in 2128 Rayburn and on WebEx and can be accessed online here.
The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing this Tuesday, Sept. 21 to consider Biden Administration nominations of Alan F. Estevez as Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security; Thea D. Rozman Kendler as Assistant Secretary of Commerce; Alexia Marie Gabrielle Latortue as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; and Graham S. Steele as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.
The hearing begins at 10:00 a.m. ET in Dirksen Senate Office Building room G50 and can be accessed online here.
Also on Tuesday, Sept. 21, the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity holds a legislative hearing on a number of bills, including a Discussion Draft that would amend title 38 of the United States Code to eliminate the Freddie Mac conforming loan limitation.
The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. ET and will be livestreamed here.
Third, MBA kicks off another busy week of reports. The MBA weekly Forbearance & Call Volume Survey comes out this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. ET. MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni will provide analysis and commentary in Tuesday’s MBA NewsLink.
On Tuesday, Sept. 21, MBA will release its monthly Builder Applications Survey, with commentary and analysis from MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting Joel Kan. And MBA also releases its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey this Wednesday, Sept. 22, with Kan providing commentary and analysis as well.
Fourth, Economic Reports. The last two weeks of the month always focus on the state of the housing market. Along with the MBA Builder Applications Survey this Tuesday, the week also sees the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (Monday); The HUD/Census Bureau monthly report on New Residential Construction (Tuesday); the National Association of Realtors’ Existing Homes Sales report (Wednesday) and the HUD/Census New Home Sales Report (Friday).
Looking ahead, housing reports continue the following week with the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (Tuesday, Sept. 28) and the NAR Pending Home Sales Index (Wednesday, Sept. 29).
Other economic reports this week: the Philadelphia Fed Non-Manufacturing Survey (Tuesday); the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (Thursday) and Initial Claims (Thursday).
Fifth, MBA Conferences. The MBA Risk Management, QA and Fraud Prevention Forum, taking place through MBA Live Sept. 28-29, is the largest annual event for mortgage professionals in the risk, quality control, underwriting and fraud prevention divisions of residential mortgage firms across the country. For more information and to register, click here.
mPowering You, MBA’s Summit for Women in Real Estate Finance, takes place Saturday, Oct. 16 at the San Diego Convention Center just ahead of the MBA Annual Convention & Expo (Oct. 17-20). mPower (MBA Promoting Opportunities for Women to Extend their Reach) is the largest networking organization for women in real estate finance. For more information and to register, click here.
And of course, the crown jewel of the MBA fall meeting schedule is the MBA Annual Convention & Expo, which takes place Oct. 17-20 at the San Diego Convention Center.
Keynote speakers include New York Times best-selling authors Malcolm Gladwell and Brad Meltzer; Teresa Bryce Bazemore, President & CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco; Sandra Thompson, Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency; Fannie Mae CEO Michael DeVito; Freddie Mac CEO Hugh Frater; MBA President & CEO Robert Broeksmit, CMB; outgoing MBA Chairman Susan Stewart; incoming MBA Chairman Kristy Fercho; MBA COO and mPower Founder Marcia Davies; MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni; MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh, CMB; and MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting Joel Kan.
And just announced last week: Concert MBA will feature Grammy-nominated recording artists OneRepublic, to benefit the MBA Opens Doors Foundation.
The MBA Annual Convention & Expo is largest annual gathering of real estate finance professionals, this is the one event you need to gain access to the industry’s power players and innovators.
Be inspired and get informed by engaging speakers on the Main Stage; meet with hundreds of exhibitors in THE HUB and get hands-on access to the latest products and services; dive deep into Breakout Sessions to get the insight you need on all the facets of the business; connect with industry peers through unparalleled networking opportunities; Leave with actionable takeaways for future success.
For more information and to register for MBA ANNUAL 21, click here.
The fall conference schedule concludes with the MBA Accounting & Financial Management Conference, taking place Nov. 10-12 in Nashville. For more information, click here.
For information about other upcoming MBA conferences, click here.
For the most up-to-date information regarding legislative activity at the state and local level, visit the MBA State Legislative Database here.
For information about MBA Education events, visit http://www.mbaeducation.org.
For information about the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America (NAMMBA), visit https://www.nammba.org/.
Enjoy the week!
