Economy

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.

TransUnion projected moderate growth in 2026 for mortgages, projecting purchases and refinances to increase 4% and 4.2% year over year.

In a speech Tuesday, Federal Reserve Gov. Michael Barr said it was possible that artificial intelligence will boost productivity in an undisruptive way. But he said policymakers should also be wary of a financial crash if those gains are not realized or a rapid adoption that could lead to labor displacement.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will add loan-level buydown data to MBS this spring, giving investors clearer insight into prepayment risk tied to temporary rate incentives.

A House subcommittee hearing discussing the future of the government-sponsored enterprises, noted both are still severely undercapitalized.

The income needed to afford a home had been rising on an annual basis nearly every month for five years, but affordability has been improving since the summer.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its delayed January employment report Wednesday morning, showing the economy added 130,000 jobs in January. But the agency also sharply revised its estimates for total jobs created in 2025 to 181,000 from 584,000.

Borrowers in the lowest-income areas have seen their 90 or more day delinquency rates soar since 2021, jumping from 0.5% to nearly 3%, the New York Fed said.

The real estate industry has paid over $1 billion in combined settlements in the longstanding cases from home sellers challenging commissions payments.

A housing bill that already passed the Senate cleared the House Monday evening, but included bipartisan community banking provisions that have already raised objections in the upper chamber.

Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook said in a speech Wednesday night that the central bank's credibility depends on its ability to bring inflation back to its 2% target.

WomenVenture, a Minneapolis-based Community Development Financial Institution, was already under strain from stalled federal CDFI funding. The recent immigration crackdown added significant uncertainty for its customers as well.

Even with the 4 basis point rise in the 30-year fixed over the past two weeks, mortgage rates are still hovering near three-year lows, Freddie Mac said.

The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based bank expects the pace of loan growth to quicken this year, driven in part by its nine-month-old warehouse lending business.

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage increased 3 basis points this past week, off of a three-year low point, but are nearly a percentage point lower than a year ago.