Economy

The percentage of borrowers who have asked to temporarily suspend payments due to coronavirus-related hardships is down overall, but in the Ginnie Mae market, they're still inching up.

The future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Fed’s supervisory regime for the biggest financial institutions, reform of the Community Reinvestment Act and a host of other industry-related issues are on the ballot this November.

Mortgage lender loanDepot is taking steps toward rebooting plans for an initial public offering, about five years after scrapping one at the last minute, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been slammed for planning an additional refinancing charge to cover COVID-related losses, but the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency defended the policy in House testimony.

Low rates, along with increased new and existing home sales activity drives the latest forecast.

The only rational strategy for holding MSRs is to be very aggressive on protecting the servicing assets via loan recapture. This is one of the chief reasons that banks have been willing to give up their share in lending and servicing as they collapse back to retail-only lending strategies.

A new report on bank-held commercial real estate and C&I loans indicates troubled borrowers may be skipping payments on loans they won't be able to refinance or extend over the next year, leading to a potential wave of defaults over the next four to six quarters.

Electronic notes did come in handy this year given the mortgage industry's need to operate remotely, but they also increase the government-sponsored enterprises' responsibility for monitoring the risk of multiple counterparties.

The Harrisburg, Pa., area real estate market has come a long way since it was shut down completely by Gov. Tom Wolf due to COVID-19 back in March and reopened slowly in April and May.

After being approved, retroactively denied and having a second application rejected, the firm is appealing the decision with federal regulators.

The government-sponsored enterprise’s seller/servicer guide is now integrated into the online portal. Freddie also improved the readability of loan-level reporting it provides, and has further changes in the works.

The proposals offer lenders both cause for celebration and for concern.

The company's outgoing CFO discussed ways the asset cap is stunting growth, but provided no updates at an industry conference on when the restriction might be lifted or the types of jobs it will cut.

The guidelines are somewhat similar to those the Federal Housing Finance Agency established for the government-sponsored enterprise market in response to the high number of loans impacted by coronavirus-related hardships.

The GSEs began sharing their risk with the private market in new ways during conservatorship, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposed capital framework currently discourages the use of those strategies. Industry leaders voiced concerns in a FHFA listening session this week.

When Jane Fraser takes the reins of Citigroup in February, she will have to tackle the company’s cards slump, lagging performance metrics and challenges presented by employees’ return to the office.

Uncertainties in the job market drove mortgage credit availability down again, falling to the lowest point since March 2014, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Anticipated population growth has multifamily investors spending more on apartment buildings despite sales volume dropping by 50% for the first half of 2020, compared to the year-ago period, in Miami-Dade and Broward.

As bidding wars raged on and mortgage rates remained near historic lows, housing market confidence grew in August, according to Fannie Mae.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's proposal could undermine the companies’ mission to support the housing market and penalize consumers in underserved communities, industry and consumer groups say.