Economy

Home sales on Maui slumped last month by about 20%, according to the Realtors Association of Maui.

If you live in a single-family home in California, it's likely everyone else in your neighborhood does, too.

In his first public policy speech as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mark Calabria stressed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will have to raise significant capital via a public offering and take other steps in order to escape government control.

Two senators, a Republican and a Democrat, have revived legislation that would prohibit Congress from using certain fees collected by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offset unrelated government spending.

Strong levels of employment and continued economic expansion drove February's mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures to 20-year lows, according to CoreLogic.

Even though mortgage delinquencies increased on a quarter-to-quarter basis, strong overall metrics mitigate any concerns regarding future loan performance, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The median price for single-family homes sold in April increased in both Cuyahoga County suburbs and Cleveland.

Hurricane Michael killed seven people and caused more than $6 billion in damage in Florida in October, a toll compounded by warmer, higher seas and wetter air, the signs of climate change scientists have long warned about.

First-quarter operating revenue in Equifax's Mortgage Solutions unit was the lowest it's been for the fiscal period since 2016, and the company anticipates declines in this division will remain a concern.

While prepayment speeds on agency mortgage-backed securities rose in April, that increase should be short-lived as further significant interest drops are not expected, said a report from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has named three senior advisers for policy, economics and communications.

Amid a state-wide housing shortage, developers say they feel increasingly burdened by unpredictable government service and impact fees that are almost three-times higher than the national average.

Affordability got better for mortgage borrowers at the start of 2019, but housing inventory constraints limited the degree of improvement, according to the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo.

The Government Accountability Office called on Ginnie Mae to undertake four reforms to its operations, citing concerns regarding the ongoing shift in size and capitalization of mortgage-backed securities issuers.

Lower rates hurt the value of Impac Mortgage Holdings' servicing rights and overall earnings in the first quarter, but they could help improve the company's second-quarter results.

Mortgage lending credit standards loosened a bit last month as investors displayed more interest in non-qualified mortgage and nonagency jumbo loans to stay competitive, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Nonbank mortgage companies have traditionally been monoline or focused businesses, but in the current market they must create multiple revenue lines and strike a healthy balance between them to survive.

Payoffs of maturing office loans in securitizations may be delayed more often in the next few years if increasing inventory constrains occupancy and rent growth, according to Morningstar.

Investors can now exchange certain existing Freddie Mac bonds for to-be-announced uniform mortgage-backed securities in preparation for the full launch of UMBS next month.

A GSE exemption in the bureau’s “qualified mortgage” rule is set to sunset in 2021, and regulators should not try to extend it as some experts have suggested.