MBA Newslinks Archive

“Many state regulators were reluctant to give up ‘their’ test. Some groups whose members only operate in one state saw the UST as a competitive threat. We beat back that opposition state by state and we now have a uniform nationwide testing standard. We were successful only because of the hard work of the state and local mortgage banking associations and volunteer advocates among our member companies.”–MBA Senior Vice President of Residential Policy and Member Engagement Pete Mills.

“Application activity remained slow, which is in line with weak trends in other housing indicators such as home sales and housing starts. Both purchase and refinance activity decreased last week. Purchase applications decreased for the third week and the purchase index was at its lowest level in a month as low housing inventory and rising home prices continue to be an issue.”–Joel Kan, MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting.

“Affordability concerns have clearly cooled buyer interest but may be bringing out more sellers. Tax law changes may be contributing to rising inventories of higher-priced homes in some areas.”–Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wells Fargo Securities, Charlotte, N.C.

“This will protect residential and commercial real estate markets from potential harm, and provide stability for those that sell and administer the policies to millions of Americans. MBA now calls on Congress to negotiate a long-term reauthorization of the NFIP which provides certainty and protections for consumers, expands the private flood insurance market, and exempts commercial/multifamily properties from NFIP mandatory purchase requirements.”–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB.

“Rising property cash flows have buoyed property values, but for most property types two-thirds or more of the total return has come through income, as opposed to appreciation.”–MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell.

“Despite widespread and consistent home value growth today, the scars of the recession still run deep for millions of longer-term U.S. homeowners, and it may take years of growth for their home to regain the value lost a decade ago. And while stabilizing growth in rents is likely a relief for those renters saving to become homeowners, many of those would-be buyers in a number of the nation’s hottest markets will be contending with home prices that are as high as they’ve ever been.” –Zillow Senior Economist Aaron Terrazas.

“MBA commends the House for recognizing the urgency of extending the National Flood Insurance Program. While we would prefer a long-term extension of the NFIP–preferably for five years–we appreciate the House action. We now urge the Senate to pass an extension before the July 31 expiration date so that homeowners in more than 20,000 communities across the U.S. have access to a robust flood insurance system.”–Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO David H. Stevens, CMB, following House passage yesterday of legislation that would extend the National Flood Insurance Program for another four months.

“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.