Servicing Newslinks Archive

“Homeownership cannot, and must not, be used as the nation’s piggybank.”
–From an MBA/trade group letter to House and Senate Budget Committee leadership, urging them to resist using Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac guaranty fees to fund other appropriations.

“The performance of commercial and multifamily mortgages remains strong, with continued improvement in the delinquency rates of loans held by banks and in commercial mortgage-backed securities. Strong property fundamentals and values, coupled with still low interest rates, are likely to continue the positive trend.” 
–MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell. 

“The real estate finance industry continues to deal with a host of complex policy challenges. The industry’s ability to navigate and manage these changes is critical to our efforts to serve consumers and responsibly grow our businesses.”
–From the Mortgage Bankers Association’s 2016 Residential Issue Priorities.

“As the job market has improved and national home prices have rebounded, fewer borrowers were becoming seriously delinquent, while borrowers previously behind on their payments were in a better position to pursue alternative options to resolve delinquent loans.”
–MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh.

“The lack of housing stock, particularly affordable inventory, is a growing issue and will limit a full housing recovery in the short to medium term.”
–Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif.

“FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be commended for their work over the last four years on the representation and warrant framework. The independent dispute resolution process is an important final piece to this effort. In its totality, the representation and warranty framework will provide much needed certainty and transparency for lenders of all sizes and help broaden access to credit for borrowers.”
 –MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB.

“More commercial and multifamily mortgages are maturing in 2016 and 2017 than have the last few years, but early refinancings and pay-downs are chipping away at those totals. The bottom line is that the ‘wall of maturities’ that has been the focus of concern the last many years is receding.”
–MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell.

“Consumer credit default rates are low and stable, and consumer sentiment measures are upbeat…There was no response among consumers to the Fed’s recent rate increase, no rush to apply for mortgages.”
–David Blitzer, managing director & chairman of the Index Committee with S&P Dow Jones Indices. 

“When Congress established the FHLBank membership framework, it didn’t limit membership to only certain insurance companies. FHFA’s decision to disqualify captive insurance companies removes a vital component of the FHLBank membership which provides liquidity for the real estate finance market.”   
–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB, on a Federal Housing Finance Agency  final rule on Federal Home Loan Bank membership that retains a controversial Mortgage Bankers Association-opposed restriction on captive insurers. 

“We strongly encourage the FHFA to review the goals of this proposed survey, identify genuinely unique data points not otherwise captured by existing surveys, utilize focus groups and, ultimately, reissue a more complete survey for comment.”   –From an MBA/trade group letter expressing concerns over a proposed Federal Housing Financial Agency survey of mortgage borrowers.