Economy

What was once a bipartisan and broadly popular housing bill has been weighed down with a pair of provisions that banks can't support. Even with those headwinds, the bill is more likely than not to pass, but not without drawn-out negotiations between the House and Senate.

Housing economists at ICE Experience 2026 predict mortgage growth but also say the home finance industry has yet to fully adapt to the disruption of this decade.

For the second week in a row, the 30-year fixed increased by 11 basis points, Freddie Mac found, a result of reaction to oil price hikes from the Iran conflict.

The Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to keep rates unchanged, but all eyes will be on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's commentary about the economic impacts of the Iran war and its longer-term impact on inflation.

A White House executive order issued Friday afternoon directing regulators to ease Dodd-Frank compliance burdens comes as a bipartisan housing bill advances on Capitol Hill.

The Senate passed a bipartisan housing bill in an 89 to 10 vote, but how quickly and easily the bill can pass the House remains unclear.

The conflict pushed oil price futures above $100 a barrel for a short time earlier this week, which affected bond investors and the 10-year Treasury yield.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman outlined upcoming changes to the bank regulatory capital framework in a speech Thursday, focusing on streamlining bank capital requirements through Basel III and global systemically important bank surcharge rules.

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency would continue to pursue its view on federal preemption of state banking policy in court and in Congress.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy lost 92,000 jobs in February while unemployment held steady at 4.4%, a development that could spur the Federal Reserve to question whether interest rates are truly in balance.

While this only shows a 2-basis-point rise in the 30-year fixed since last week, the Lender Price product and pricing engine data is 30 basis points higher.

Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released new legislative language Monday night that includes a ban on institutional investors' purchase of single family homes and a temporary ban on the Federal Reserve issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency.

Markets were bracing for the chaos of a regional war; banks may be the target of sophisticated cyberattacks, experts warn.

Rocket Mortgage and Compass launched a three-year Redfin listing partnership, expanding access to 500,000+ homes, with executives saying they see no RESPA compliance issues.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., moved to consider the housing package next week, but it's not clear what version of the bill senators will be voting on as the House, Senate and White House are still negotiating priorities.

The bill, offered by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Todd Young, R-Ind., would allow Federal Home Loan bank members to establish tax-exempt community infrastructure development bonds.

For the first time since early September 2022, the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey has the 30-year below 6%, but the 15-year gained this week.

Total consumer debt in the United States hit $18.2 trillion by the end of last year, with $12.8 trillion attributed to first mortgages, according to Equifax.

President Donald Trump talked about institutional single-family home ownership and housing affordability, as well as inflation, but left credit card rate caps, debanking and even crypto alone at the State of the Union address.

While the Freddie Mac survey recorded a weekly decline, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield had moved back up by 6 basis points around midday on Thursday.