“Gradual improvements in the labor market and economy helped more renters and homeowners make their housing payments at the end of 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause financial stress for millions of Americans, and particularly for those who rent and have student loan debt." --Gary V. Engelhardt, Professor of Economics in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, on latest findings of a report from the MBA Research Institute for Housing America

The Mortgage Bankers Association submitted a comment letter Thursday to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, asking that a Bureau proposal on consumer access to financial records provide a level playing field for all authorized data users and promotes consumer awareness in the ways that data are accessed and used.

ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif., released its fourth-quarter U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, which noted an increase to 17.8 million residential properties in the United States considered equity-rich—the combined estimated amount of loans secured by those properties was 50 percent or less of their estimated market value.