MBA Newslinks Archive

“Rising student debt levels and payment burdens among young renters are likely to impact this group’s long-term finances and their decisions to transition to homeownership. Delinquency and default can harm the ability of young renters to access low-cost credit and qualify for a home-purchase mortgage. Furthermore, student loan payments reduce young renters’ discretionary income and can delay the accumulation of savings toward a down payment on a home.”
–Irene Lew, research assistant with the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.

“Growth in the renter segment will most likely occur through multifamily properties as more than half of those currently renting single-family properties are planning to become homeowners in the near future. Single-family renters are increasingly more dissatisfied than multifamily renters.”–David Brickman, Freddie Mac executive vice president of multifamily.  

“A nationwide housing market recovery, resolution of long-standing troubled loans that eventually proceeded through the foreclosure process and an improving employment outlook that provided distressed borrowers viable alternatives to foreclosure all contributed to the lower delinquency and foreclosure numbers.”
–MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh. 

“FHA and its leadership should be commended for protecting the program, as well as the American taxpayer. One interesting thing to note is the overweight impact that the HECM program is having on the actuarial review. While only 10 percent of the overall portfolio, the HECM program has been responsible for a large part of the value swing in recent years, which is something that policymakers might want to be looking at. That, however, does not diminish what is really good news today, that the capital reserves are now forecast to exceed the 2 percent statutory minimum.”
–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB, on the FHA fiscal 2015 annual report released yesterday.

“You’d have to go back 74 years to observe similar living arrangements among American young women. Young men, too, are increasingly living in the same situation, but unlike women their share hasn’t climbed to its level from 1940, the highest year on record.”
–Pew Senior Researcher Richard Fry, on high percentages of Millennial-aged women and men still living with family.

“On top of normal seasonal slowdown, the October decline in mortgage applications to builder affiliates was likely amplified by some applications being pulled forward into September ahead of the implementation of the Know Before You Owe Rule on October 3. Despite the decrease, our estimate of new single-family housing sales for October was up more than 7 percent from a year ago.” –MBA Vice President of Economics and Research Lynn Fisher. 

“We are grateful that both House and Senate bills continue to fund FHA’s administrative costs through regular appropriations processes, as has been the practice for decades, and reject HUD’s unprecedented request to charge a fee on residential lenders that will undoubtedly be passed on to borrowers and raise the cost of homeownership.”  
–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB, in a letter to House and Senate appropriators on HUD Fiscal 2016 funding.

“Every major investor group and property type except one has seen increases in year-to-date lending volumes, and we expect year-end numbers to continue that trend.”
–MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell.   

“The unemployment rate is well within the Fed’s central tendency for full employment, and the U-6 unemployment rate also ticked down noticeably in the month. Reduced slack in the labor market is beginning to lead to increased wages.”
–John Silvia, chief economist with Wells Fargo Securities, Charlotte, N.C.

“MBA commends the full House for its strong bipartisan vote to pass the Neugebauer-Huizenga amendment and remove from the highway bill an extension of higher Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee fees that would have served as a tax on homeownership, as well as a harmful reduction in the dividend paid on Federal Reserve bank stock. Given the widespread support for the amendment from Republicans and Democrats alike, we will continue to strongly advocate for the House position as House and Senate leaders meet to reconcile the differences between the two chambers’ highway bills.”  
–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB.