Economy

Like its competitor Fannie Mae, the enterprise's earnings were higher year-over-year but recorded a quarterly decline in part due to a legacy shareholder lawsuit.

The government-sponsored enterprise's net income was balanced by climbing interest rates, which drove a large increase in fair value gains.

High interest rates and constrained inventory will take its toll on originations and securitization activity in 2024, the rating agency commented.

In conjunction with an announcement last week, federal agencies will conduct training workshops to help developers, lenders and other stakeholders benefit from the Biden administration's housing supply plan.

Consumer spending has driven core inflation metrics to their highest levels in months, according to data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Higher inflation will likely serve as a signal to the Federal Reserve to maintain high interest rates.

At the same time, the 15-year fixed rate loan rose above 7% for the first time in nearly 23 years, Freddie Mac reported.

The Federal Reserve released its semiannual financial stability report highlighting elevated asset values, funding issues and pockets of leverage as top concerns.

The Fed's higher for longer statements have pushed up the 10-year Treasury in recent weeks to levels last seen in 2007 and that is affecting pricing.

While on the positive side, Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar said the loan defect rate has dropped 75%, she and Freddie Mac President Michael Hutchins noted that they're closely examining disruptive servicing transfers and standards for multifamily properties.

At a Senate Banking subcommittee meeting, Republican and Democratic lawmakers both promoted the mission of community development financial institutions and warned of upcoming threats to their funding and proposals to revamp the CDFI certification process.

Residential starts increased 7% last month after falling by the most in over a year in August, according to government data released Wednesday.

Providing support to affordable rental developments is a key component in the Biden administration's efforts to increase housing supply.

But the industry will still have to go through some pain in 2024, Wharton Professor Susan Wachter told attendees at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention.

The lucrative broker commission system at the heart of the residential housing market is facing unprecedented antitrust scrutiny from the Justice Department and two private class-action lawsuits that risk weakening the National Association of Realtors, the industry's powerful lobbying group.

While great progress has been made towards the goal of reducing capacity by 30%, job reductions should continue for several more quarters.

An analysis of previously released S&P data suggests the Federal Housing Finance Agency's initiative would have mixed impacts on the price of loans and eligibility that vary by individual.

Numbers the Federal Housing Finance Agency just reported for 2022 were the third lowest since the program began, and this year's probably won't be high either.

While some observers believe that by year-end, the 30-year FRM would be lower than current levels, chatter about an 8% mortgage exists.

Policymakers should instead focus on how different components of core inflation are decelerating — with cooling still needed especially in housing inflation.

Even as Freddie Mac's survey put rates at their highest since December 2000, factors like rising oil prices and a government shutdown could slow the economy.