The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would delay implementation of a controversial Adverse Market Refinance Fee by two months, to Dec. 1.
Category: News and Trends
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“We welcome [last week’s] announcement from the FHFA amending the recently announced Adverse Market Refinance Fee from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Extending the effective date will permit lenders to close refinance loans that are in their pipelines and honor the rate lock commitments they made to their borrowers, ensuring that economic relief in the form of record low interest rates will continue to flow to consumers.”
–MBA President & CEO Robert Broeksmit, CMB.
MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Flat
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey reported loans in forbearance decreased by just 1 basis point, from 7.20% of servicers’ portfolio volume as of Aug. 16 from the prior week. MBA estimates 3.6 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
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“The extremely high rate of initial claims for unemployment insurance and high level of unemployment remain a concern, and are indications of the challenges many households are facing. While new forbearance requests remain low, particularly for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, the pace of exits from forbearance has declined for two straight weeks.”
–MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.
Black Knight: Mixed Results on Delinquencies; Monthly Prepayment Activity Hits 16-Year High
Black Knight, Jacksonville, Fla., said its “First Look” Mortgage Monitor showed while overall delinquencies continued to show improvement, serious delinquencies rose by 376,000 and are now up more than 1.8 million from their pre-pandemic levels.
July Existing Home Sales Ride the Wave
Existing home sales surged by a record 24.7 percent in July, the second straight double-digit monthly gain, the National Association of Realtors reported yesterday.
TransUnion: Consumer Credit Market Withstands Coronavirus Challenges
TransUnion, Chicago, reported the total percentage of accounts in “financial hardship” status dropped during July for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and personal loans – marking the first such decrease since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Longer-Term Challenges to Multifamily Risk Outlook Emerge
The multifamily sector made it through the first half of the year with less turmoil as some anticipated. But the pandemic could create longer-term challenges for the sector, said Phoenix American, San Rafael, Calif.
ATTOM: Refis Make Up 2/3 of 2nd Quarter Loans, Highest Level in 7 Years
ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif., released its second-quarter U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report, showing 1.69 million refinance mortgages secured by residential properties (1 to 4 units) originated, up nearly 50 percent from the prior quarter and more than 100 percent from a year ago, to the highest level in seven years.
CFPB Extends Comment Period on ECOA/Reg B RFI to Dec. 1
Bowing to requests by the Mortgage Bankers Association and other industry trade groups, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Aug. 19 said it will provide an additional 60 days for public comment on its Request for Information on expanding access to credit through Regulation B, which implements the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.