National Mortgage News, Sept. 24, 2019–Brad Finkelstein (subscription)Commercial and multifamily mortgage delinquency rates should stay at historically low levels in the near future even as economic uncertainty over trade affects U.S. businesses, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Category: Top National News
5 Changes Lenders Want from CFPB’s Rewrite of QM Rule
American Banker, Sept. 24, 2019–Hannah Lang (subscription)The effects of that rule, which requires lenders to verify borrowers’ ability to repay and provides legal protection for “qualified mortgages” with low debt-to-income ratios, so far has been limited, because of the GSE “patch.” (MBA mention)
Banks Counting on GSE Reform to Stop Mortgage Share Erosion
National Mortgage News, Sept. 24, 2019–Andy Peters (subscription)Banks have been ceding market share in home lending to nonbank lenders for years, but that could change under a Treasury Department proposal to remove Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship.
Average Mortgage Payments Slide for First Time in Years
The Mortgage Reports, Sept. 24, 2019–Aly J. YaleHome prices might be up, but American mortgage payments are actually falling. In fact, according to new data, the average monthly mortgage payment has dipped over 6 percent in just the last year.
Repo-Market Tumult Raises Concerns About New Benchmark Rate
Wall Street Journal, Sept. 23, 2019–Daniel Kruger, Vipal Monga (subscription)The tumult in the market for short-term cash loans highlights some analysts’ concerns about the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, the Federal Reserve’s proposed replacement for the troubled London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR.
How Supreme Court Could Decide CFPB Constitutionality Question
National Mortgage News, Sept. 23, 2019–Kate Berry (subscription)A Supreme Court review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s leadership structure looks even more likely now that the Department of Justice and the agency’s own director have agreed that that structure is unconstitutional.
Fannie, Freddie Recapitalization Unlikely Before 2020 Election: KBW
National Mortgage News, Sept. 23, 2019–Brad Finkelstein (subscription)Recapitalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac prior to the 2020 election is unlikely even if the net worth sweep ends, according to a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods report.
More Baby Boomers Are Living in Multigenerational Housing
Bloomberg, Sept. 20, 2019–Arianne CohenA 2018 Columbia University study found that healthy adults who reside in multigenerational housing live longer. And a Pew Research Center analysis last year found that Americans are increasingly residing multigenerationally-20% of Americans live in a home that includes adults from two or more generations, up from 12% in 1980. Developers have taken note.
Fannie, Freddie Poised to Keep Profits in an Initial Privatization Move
Wall Street Journal, Sept. 22, 2019–Andrew Ackerman (subscription)Mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are expected to start keeping their earnings as early as this week, pausing a yearslong arrangement in which they handed nearly all of their profits to the Treasury Department.
Emerging Trends in Real Estate: Investors Still Favor U.S. CRE
U.S. commercial real estate remains a favored asset class even as economic uncertainty looms, said the Urban Land Institute and PwC.