The Week Ahead Sept. 7, 2021: Four Things to Watch

Good morning! Welcome back from the three-day Labor Day Weekend; the “unofficial” start of fall; and the official start of pumpkin spice season.

With the (unofficial) end of summer, the mood here in Washington is changing, too. Here are a few things to look for this week:

First, Congress. The House and Senate return this week with a sense of urgency on a number of outstanding issues, such as the massive Biden Administration-supported infrastructure bill; budget/spending bills for fiscal 2022; and elevated concerns about voting rights and recent legislation passed in Texas, which the Supreme Court upheld last week. And of course, the coronavirus.

And in reality, even though this is not an election year (with the exception of off-year states such as Virginia), there is precious little time left in the first session of the 117th Congress. Expect the intensity to ramp up in the coming weeks as legislators attempt to hammer out compromises—or stand further apart.

There are no committee meetings scheduled for the Senate Banking Committee or the House Financial Services Committee this week.

Looking ahead, the Federal Open Market Committee will hold its regularly scheduled policy meeting on Sept. 21-22.

Second, the Mortgage Bankers Association kicks off another busy week of housing 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.

MBA also releases its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey this Wednesday, Sept. 8, with commentary and analysis from MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting Joel Kan.

Third, Economic Reports. This week’s economic reports include the CoreLogic Home Price Index (Tuesday); Initial Claims (Thursday); Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, also known as JOLTS (Thursday); and Wholesale Trade (Friday).

Fourth, MBA Conferences. September traditionally kicks off the fall MBA conference season and this September is no exception as MBA transitions from virtual conferences back to live, in-person events.

The season kicks off this week with the MBA Human Resource Virtual Symposium 2021, which takes place this Wednesday, Sept. 8 and Thursday, Sept. 9. For more information, click here.

The MBA Regulatory Compliance Conference, taking place in Washington, D.C. Sept. 12-14, provides mortgage compliance professionals, including inside and outside counsel, with the very latest updates on regulatory developments. For more information and to register, click here.

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; Academy Award- and Presidential Medal of Freedom Award-winning actress Rita Moreno; 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.

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!