Economy

With a scarcity of listings driving high home prices, both repeat and new purchasers are putting the most money down in decades, the report found.

The agency is decreasing the dollar amount for the second consecutive year, maintaining the percentage quota for mission-related loans and adding a new exemption.

Between 2020 and 2022, both companies benefited from locked-down consumers that took on renovations.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson is pushing for a quick launch of pilot programs at the 11 Federal Home Loan banks to help underserved communities after its report this week prescribed major reforms to the system.

Broader economic factors, including growing household debt, are also likely to keep the housing market stagnant, Freddie Mac said.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency says it wants to more closely tether Federal Home Loan bank advances to housing and community development. Doing so will first involve clearly defining the banks' mission through regulation.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said in a long-awaited report that it will set up new guardrails for the Federal Home Loan Banks to ensure that the institutions are serving a housing-centric mission.

Often a harbinger of recessions, the fact that short-term yields are higher than long-term is not inherently bad, Federal Reserve Gov. Chris Waller said Tuesday, noting that in this case it could prove that market expectations are anchored.

But the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index still rose in October versus both September and the prior year.

Freddie Mac's survey finds the 30-year fixed loan dropped 3 basis points, but Zillow's tracker showed since the FOMC announcement, they dropped 30 basis points.

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.