Category: Top National News

Reuters, Aug. 7, 2019–Richard LeongSome $8.4 trillion in mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae have been rocked by the swift decline in bond yields on worries that a wave of mortgage refinancing would erode the value of these bonds. (MBA mention)

HousingWire, Aug. 7, 2019–Kathleen HowleyIn a 17-page paper published on Monday, “GSE Reform: None or Mostly Done?”, Former Freddie Mac CEO Donald Layton reveals a conversation he had a few months ago in a meeting with an unnamed senior official in the U.S. Treasury who told him: “GSE reform has already mostly happened.”

National Mortgage News, Aug. 7, 2019–Bonnie Sinnock (subscription)Falling rates: The phrase is music to a mortgage originator’s ears. But is it possible, even when it comes to the volume stimulating effects that a favorable rate environment brings, for there to eventually be too much of a good thing?

Bloomberg, Aug. 7, 2019–Laruen Coleman-Lochner, Eliza Ronalds-HannonMall landlords accustomed to offering rent reductions to ailing retailers are mulling a new strategy to forestall the industry’s collapse: positioning themselves as lenders to tenants struggling to stay afloat.

National Mortgage News, Aug. 6, 2019–Bonnie Sinnock (subscription)Steeper rate declines contributed to a deeper quarterly net loss at Ocwen Financial, forcing it to extend its timeline for returning to profitability.

HousingWire, Aug. 6, 2019–Jessica GuerinA recent report from Moody’s revealed that banks reported a 0% net change in residential mortgage underwriting standards in the second quarter of 2019. And, with interest rates falling, it expects standards to “remain stable and possibly to tighten modestly.”

Bloomberg, Aug. 5, 2019–Frances SchwartzkopffIn the world’s biggest covered-bond market, a Danish bank says it’s now ready to sell 10-year mortgage-backed notes at a negative coupon for the first time.

Reuters, Aug. 5, 2019–Ann SaphirU.S. banks left loan standards unchanged on commercial and industrial loans to large and mid-sized firms during the second quarter, even as they eased standards on such loans to smaller firms and eased most terms for all size firms, according to a survey of bank officers published on Monday.

National Mortgage News, Aug. 2, 2019–Kate Berry (subscription)Mortgage lenders are fearful that the bottom will fall out of the housing market if the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposal to revise underwriting rules reduces the volume of loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

New York Times, Aug. 4, 2019–Jim Tankersley, Ben CasselmanThe mortgage-interest deduction, a beloved tax break bound tightly to the American dream of homeownership, once seemed politically invincible. Then it nearly vanished in middle-class neighborhoods across the country, and it appears that hardly anyone noticed.