MBA Newslinks Archive

“The lack of final rules continue to create capital planning challenges for many banks due to lack of certainty on several issues addressed in the Proposal.”–MBA Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Industry Relations Stephen O’Connor, in a letter to federal regulatory agencies on the need to finalize rules on regulatory reductions.

“Many existing homeowners remain ‘rate-locked’–they have mortgages with historically low rates and, now that rates are rising, they are hesitant to sell their homes. If they sell and purchase a new home, they will have a higher mortgage rate. There is limited incentive to sell when, due to higher mortgage rates, it will cost you more each month just to borrow the same amount from the bank. As mortgage rates rise further, more existing homeowners may become rate-locked into their existing homes.”–Mark Fleming, Chief Economist with First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif.

“The dearth of residential flood insurance for Harvey–as well as any other significant U.S. flood event–arises because of a range of factors including national policy choices, a system of subsidization in some areas but not others, limited consumer education, and an insurance mandate that commands heavy and sometimes painful attention to one side of an imaginary line with limited attention to the other side of that line.”–from a paper, Tossing Life Preservers into Floodwaters: Next Steps for the Mortgage and Flood Insurance Markets, by Melissa Klimkiewicz of Bukley Sandler LLP and Pete Malone and John Dickson of Aon Risk Solutions.

“A new, emerging trend is that the much cleaner loans of commercial mortgage-backed securities 2.0 are beginning to show cracks as a small chunk of newer production hits inevitable difficulties. Maintaining less than one-third of one percentage point in delinquent loans is unnatural through the credit cycle.”–Brian Olasov, Executive Director of Financial Services Consulting with Carlton Fields, New York.

“Even after accounting for the unusual volatility in the Midwest, overall starts were still extremely weak and suggest that the housing sector has lost momentum. The recent weakness in housing starts is perplexing, given continued tight supply of homes available for sale and fairly high levels of builder confidence.”–Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wells Fargo Securities, Charlotte, N.C.

“The overwhelming majority of mortgage-related complaints are the product of misunderstandings rather than company mistakes or instances of wrongdoing. Given that they were satisfactorily resolved with an explanation, these mortgage-related complaints are much more akin to consumer inquiries. Unfortunately, they are not treated like consumer inquiries. They are classified as complaints and carry all the obvious negative connotations associated with the term ‘complaint.’ They are displayed on the public-facing complaint database alongside valid complaints based on actual regulatory violations.”–MBA Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Industry Relations Stephen O’Connor, in a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding the Bureau’s Complaint Database.

“Although Baby Boomer homeownership has been stable so far, the ranks of Boomer owner-occupants will eventually contract as they voluntarily transition to other living arrangements or are forced to exit homeownership because of frailty or death, thereby triggering a rise in the number of older adults exiting homeownership. The coming acceleration of older adults departing homeownership adds urgency to industry and public policy efforts to facilitate a smooth handoff of housing assets from older to younger generations.”–From a Fannie Mae paper warning of an “exodus” of Baby Boomers from homeownership and its implications for the housing market.

“Over the course of his tenure as a staffer on Capitol Hill, Mr. Appleton developed a substantial working knowledge of housing policy and he was instrumental in the development of the bipartisan Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act, which received unanimous votes in both the House and Senate in 2016…he has gained a deep understanding of the challenges facing HUD, as well as the critical role the department plays in helping millions of American families.”–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB, in a letter to Senate leadership urging approval of Seth Appleton as HUD Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research.

“By prohibiting a subset of VA-guaranteed refinances from serving as collateral for Ginnie Mae MBS, HUD’s determination effectively ‘orphans’ these loans, reducing their liquidity and lowering their market value. As such, the lenders that originated these loans in accordance with the VA and Ginnie Mae requirements in place at the time will likely take losses, which in some cases may be substantial.”–From an MBA letter to HUD regarding its treatment of certain mortgage-backed securities under the recently passed Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act.

“Our sense is that builders remain constrained by the tight job market for construction labor and rising input costs, particularly lumber costs.”–MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.