MBA Newslinks Archive

“The TCPA was not intended to obstruct effective communications between mortgage servicers and their borrowers.”–From an MBA petition to the Federal Communications Commission, asking for an exemption for mortgage servicing calls from the prior express consent requirements of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

“Given the weak job market report for May, it was no surprise that the FOMC decided to hold the fed funds rate target unchanged following their June 2016 meeting. The Committee noted that the pace of economic activity has picked up and there continued to be positive news with respect to the housing sector and consumer spending, but that the pace of job growth has slowed significantly.” –MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.

“We want homeowners to build wealth and enjoy the freedom of owning a home. Refinancing is a very helpful step to stay in their home and build household wealth. The whole purpose of homeownership is to create wealth. We are trying to make sure homeowners succeed.”–Rural Housing Service Administrator Tony Hernandez.

“Despite applications being down in May, each month this year has seen positive year over year growth in mortgage applications for new homes, and we expect modest growth in housing starts to be reported later this week as the spring building season continues.”–MBA Vice President of Research and Economics Lynn Fisher.

“The decisions the nation’s Baby Boomers and other older homeowners make will have an enormous impact on the demand for housing and new mortgage credit for the foreseeable future. Whether they buy new homes or decide to refinance and renovate their current ones, the size of this generation and the fact that they hold close to two-thirds, approximately $8 trillion, of the nation’s home equity makes it very important that we watch what they do.”–Dave Lowman, executive vice president of Single-Family Business with Freddie Mac, McLean, Va.

“At this point, the inclusion of the subject question would only create confusion, uncertainty and potential liability. Given the implications across federal agencies, we urge the FHFA to abandon this proposal or, at the very least, seek broader interagency and stakeholder input before proceeding further with this addition to the URLA.”–From an MBA/trade group letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency expressing concern over a proposed question addition to the Uniform Residential Loan Application on language preferences.

“Chris has held leadership roles within MBA and the California MBA in recent years, and his experience in these positions, as well as his knowledge and understanding of the industry, will help him serve our diverse membership and their broad range of issues.”–MBA Chairman Bill Emerson, on the nomination of Christopher George as 2017 MBA Vice Chairman.

“Production profits in the first quarter of 2016 showed modest improvement over the fourth quarter of 2015 despite declining volume and an increase in per-loan production expenses. On the servicing side of the business, a drop in mortgage interest rates resulted in mortgage servicing right impairments and hurt profitability.”–MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh.

“Strong fundamentals and property prices, as well as still low interest rates, continue to support the performance of commercial and multifamily mortgages.”
–MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell.

“We’re now in the heart of the spring home buying season and, as has been true for several years, there are still reports of tight inventory.. One driver is that while delinquent borrowers are still more than twice as likely to list their homes for sale, there are far fewer of these borrowers, as well as a much lower share of such homes listed for sale, than in 2012.”–Black Knight Data & Analytics Senior Vice President Ben Graboske.