Category: Top National News

Corporate Real Estate Journal Thomas Kim, MBA Senior Vice President, recently authored a paper for the UK-based Corporate Real Estate Journal on the role of venture capital, startups and technology-based investments in the commercial real estate industry. 

Bloomberg Tax, Mar. 21, 2019The real estate and banking lobbies asked, the White House’s regulatory review office listened-and then the administration helped those industries become eligible for a $414.5 billion perk in the 2017 tax law. Pete Mills, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s senior vice president of residential policy, said in an emailed statement that the group was “pleased that the final rule reflected changes in the definition of ‘dealing in securities’ that were consistent with the recommendations in our formal comments.”

National Mortgage News, Mar. 21, 2019–Hannah Lang (subscription)Freddie Mac made it official on Thursday that David Brickman, a 20-year veteran with the mortgage giant, will become CEO effective July 1.

HousingWire, Mar. 20, 2019–Jacob GaffneyLaw firms, mortgage lenders and servicers were just awarded more protection in serving non-judicial foreclosures, according to a recent Supreme Court ruling.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 21, 2019–Ben Eisen, Laura Kusisto (subscription)High-end home buyers are turning cautious, a blow to banks that refocused their mortgage businesses around wealthy borrowers in the years after the financial crisis.

World Property Journal, Mar. 19, 2019–Michael GerrityAccording to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Commercial and Multifamily Mortgage Debt Outstanding quarterly report for 2018, the level of commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding in the U.S. at the end of 2018 was $216 billion (6.8 percent) higher than at the end of 2017.

HousingWire, Mar. 19, 2019–Ben LaneAccording to the OCC, an investigation showed that Citibank did not equally offer certain mortgage discounts to all Citi customers, thereby “adversely” affecting some customers based on their “race, color, national origin, or sex.”

National Mortgage News, Mar. 19, 2019–Elina Tarkazikis (subscription)Home equity is sitting above the $15 trillion mark nationwide, according to the Federal Reserve, but interest in more costly forms of debt, such as credit cards or personal loans, has been outpacing that of home equity loans and lines of credit since the financial crisis.

HousingWire, Mar. 18, 2019–Ben LanePricewaterhouseCoopers will pay $335 million to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in a settlement that ends claims that the auditor failed in its duties by not discovering the accounting malfeasance that led to the late-2000s collapse of Colonial Bank, which funded the mortgages originated by Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.

MarketWatch, Mar. 18, 2019–Keith JurowThe author says cash-out refinances could leave some housing markets particularly vulnerable to the same issues that plagued them during the Great Recession.