Federal Reserve rate cuts and the passage of a stimulus package could provide insurance against a recession, particularly if falling house prices spark a major pullback in consumer spending, according to the American Bankers Association's economic advisory committee. "We may be looking at an unprecedented drop in home prices," said Peter Hooper, chief economist at Deutsche Bank Securities. The consensus of the nine economists on the advisory committee is that there will be a "double-digit decline" in house prices as measured by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller housing price index, and prices will not stop falling until 2009. The consensus says there is a 45% chance of a recession this year. They expect that unemployment will rise to 5.3% and the Federal Reserve will cut the target federal funds rate by 100 basis points to 3.25% by midyear. All nine economists say they expect the performance of mortgage and other consumer loans to deteriorate further over the next six months.
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Elevated delinquency levels have not affected expected losses, however, due to home price appreciation, Fitch Ratings said.
6h ago -
Retail lenders, including Beeline, Tomo Mortgage and Rocket Mortgage, settled with the department over infractions like submitting a false certification to not having the proper liquidity to be in the program.
7h ago -
A pair of bills, one with bipartisan support, look to address the issues around heirs' property so these families can have clear title on their homes.
7h ago -
The agreement, in which the real estate giant admits no wrongdoing, will cover around 70,000 agents.
9h ago -
Doxo plans to fight the FTC complaint, which focuses broadly on consumer finance, but there are signs of confusion about the company's role in mortgages too.
April 25 -
Members of the LGBTQ community were most likely to have experienced housing bias, according to a Zillow survey, which also found many people don't recognize how fair lending laws could help.
April 25