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Summary List Placement This week, four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles withdrew from the 2020 Olympic Games to care for her mental health. After a wobbly vault run where Biles risked serious injury, the athlete admitted that the high stakes of the Olympics felt like too much, and the stress was affecting her performance.  “I have […]

It was August 2020, six months into a global pandemic, when I laid out what I thought at the time was a compelling case against a wave of foreclosures similar to the one that the nation experienced during the Great Recession.  A year later, and with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I’m more convinced than […]

Summary List Placement Congressional Democrats are rushing to assemble legislation to renew a federal eviction ban before it expires. Democrats in both chambers are trying to draft a bill and put it to a rapid vote sometime in the next two days. The moratorium expires on July 31. After that, around 6 million people are […]

Earlier this month, Ginnie Mae proposed significant increases in financial requirements for independent mortgage bank issuers and a new bank-like risk-based capital requirement. The Community Home Lenders Association (CHLA) acknowledges that Ginnie Mae has a responsibility to monitor the risk of its issuers. But, as the only national organization exclusively representing IMBs, CHLA is concerned […]

An op-ed I wrote that appeared recently in HousingWire on the nature of nonbank mortgage company risks and Ginnie Mae’s proposal to impose risk-based capital and liquidity requirements on their issuers highlighted nonbank lighter safety and soundness regulation as a concern for generally higher risk profiles of these firms relative to depositories.  In light of […]

Summary List Placement The federal government embarked on a $6 trillion spending spree to keep individuals, businesses, and state governments afloat during the coronavirus pandemic — and it seems to have succeeded in lifting a lot of people out of poverty. Much of that cash led to the biggest expansion of the social safety net […]

Summary List Placement The American economy grew at a 6.5% annualized rate in the second quarter, a headline number that disappointed many and fell below economists’ expectations of 8.5% growth in April, May, and June. Even with that disappointment, real GDP surpassed its previous high from before the pandemic struck, in the final quarter of […]

Summary List Placement The second stage of pandemic-era migration has begun in the US. The pandemic and related lockdowns sparked a mass exodus from densely populated cities, as millions of Americans moved throughout the crisis, with many fleeing metropolitan areas. The vaccine-led reopening is far along enough now that some of these trends are reversing […]

Freddie Mac reported $3.7 billion in net income in the second quarter of 2021, exceeding each of the previous four quarters. The government sponsored entity said the increase was due to higher net revenues and a credit reserve release. Its net revenues increased $1.7 billion year-over-year to $5.9 billion, due to continued growth and strong […]

Summary List Placement Troy Nowak wanted to move his family to a laid-back place with outdoor activities, low crime, and no traffic. He chose Cheyenne, Wyoming. The new Microsoft employee, a Southern California native most recently living in North Carolina, bought a three-bedroom house on half an acre in a newly built neighborhood called Whitney […]

Summary List Placement A group of key Senate Republicans and the White House announced Wednesday that they had reached an agreement on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package. The bill includes $550 billion in new spending — $30 billion less than the original bipartisan agreement hashed out last month. While there will likely be more […]

Summary List Placement The Biden administration isn’t extending an eviction moratorium that expires in two days, citing the likelihood of a challenge that would wind up at the Supreme Court. Instead, it says the ball is in Congress’s court. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that the administration’s hands were tied […]

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased slightly to 2.80% for the week ending on July 29, halting a streak of weekly declines, according to mortgage rates data released Thursday by Freddie Mac‘s PMMS. According to Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac, while there is some uncertainty about the Covid-19 Delta variant, the housing market […]

Summary List Placement The pandemic and related lockdowns naturally affected what Americans do every day, and new data shows that women spent more time on homeschooling and care responsibilities than men did in 2020.  The American Time Use Survey released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows just how people spent their lives, […]

Summary List Placement Filings for unemployment insurance fell last week, signaling the labor market’s recovery is back on track after an unexpected increase the week prior. Jobless claims slid to 400,000 last week, the Labor Department announced Thursday. The median estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a decline to 385,000 claims. The previous […]

Summary List Placement In case one unprecedented, world-shaking pandemic wasn’t enough, a lot of people in rich countries think there will be more.  That’s according to new polling from the Center for American Progress, completed by Global Progress and YouGov. They surveyed 11,433 adults in the G7 countries — the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, […]

Summary List Placement President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure agreement advanced in the Senate in a major test vote late on Wednesday afternoon. The procedural vote was 67-32, allowing it to move ahead in the Senate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was among the 17 Republicans that voted to approve the plan, along with […]

An Oakland homeowner says the home valuation process failed her due to the color of her skin, according to a complaint filed with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cora Robinson, who is Black, claims that appraiser Thomas Kearney violated the Fair Housing Act by undervaluing her home by over $400,000. Kearney’s valuation, the […]

Summary List Placement Remarks from a McDonald’s earning calls shows one strategy that may have helped the fast-food giant hire workers amidst the US labor shortage: Paying more. In a Wednesday earnings call, CEO Chris Kempczinski linked the chain’s announcement of a wage hike to more ease in filling positions. McDonald’s was one of a […]

As was alluded to in June, the FHA late last week published a fully revised version of their “waterfall” loss mitigation options for borrowers coming to the end of their forbearance period. In order to streamline the process, the administration is scrapping their old waterfall framework and is instead providing two options for servicers processing […]

Summary List Placement Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took aim at Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, a fellow Democrat, after Sinema came out against her party’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. Sinema told the Arizona Republic in a statement that she thinks the bill is too costly, and “will work in good faith to develop this legislation with my […]

Summary List Placement Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona came out in opposition to the Democratic $3.5 trillion spending blueprint, virtually ensuring her party will be forced to make substantial cuts to get her onboard. In a statement to the Arizona Republic, the moderate Democrat said while she supported efforts to bolster the country’s economic competitiveness […]

It is rare to see a regulator so afraid of its own programs as we are witnessing at Ginnie Mae. In an alarming move, Ginnie Mae has unleashed a plan that, if implemented, will significantly alter the mortgage markets and raise costs on loans that the majority of first-time homebuyers and minority homebuyers depend on. […]

Summary List Placement In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Sen. Elizabeth Warren again took aim at now-earthbound billionaire Jeff Bezos in her latest push for a wealth tax. When it comes to taxing the assets of America’s wealthiest, Warren said, “it shouldn’t make a difference whether you have real estate, or whether you have […]

Summary List Placement GOP Sen. Rob Portman announced that a group of Republican senators and the White House have reached an agreement on “major issues” to move forward with an infrastructure plan.  “We’re prepared to move forward,” Portman said, according to Bloomberg reporter Erik Wasson. Another GOP negotiator, Sen. Susan Collins, said she was “delighted” […]

While the reverse mortgage industry has seen strong business numbers for most of the past year with endorsements largely staying above 4,000 loans a month, the amount of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM)-to-HECM refinance transactions being done alongside other market factors frankly outside of the reverse mortgage industry’s control are doing very little to commensurately […]

Summary List Placement Democrats in Congress are starting to ramp up pressure on the Biden administration to extend an eviction moratorium that ends in three days, given that only a small fraction of rental aid has flowed out from a stimulus program. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranked Senate Democrat, said the Biden administration […]

Summary List Placement In January of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the beginning of our country’s “War on Poverty” by saying, in part: “Our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it.”  President Johnson’s war on poverty was ambitious, radical, and intensely optimistic […]

Mortgage applications increased 5.7% for the week ending July 23, mostly on the back of fast-falling mortgage rates. The 10-year Treasury yield went into free fall last week, as investors grew concerned about the rise in COVID-19 variant cases and the potential economic fallout, according to Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and […]

Loan officers’ wallets slightly deflated in the second quarter, with commissions earned per LO decreasing by 6% year-over-year, according to LBA Ware’s quarterly loan compensation report. Loan volume per LO also took a dive of 4%. The reason? Lenders have more LOs these days. “That meant that LOs had to share the loans a little […]

Ginnie Mae’s recent proposal to impose liquidity and risk-based capital requirements on their single-family issuers is the right approach for ensuring the long-term financial stability of this segment of the housing finance system.  Unlike lenders or servicers for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae issuers are responsible for passing along payments to investors after […]

Summary List Placement The labor market has a big puzzle at its center: Millions of Americans are unemployed, so why are so many workers not returning to work — or just quitting their jobs altogether? More than half of the governors in America are blaming one thing: Enhanced unemployment benefits.  “Alabama is giving the federal […]

Summary List Placement Over the span of just two weeks this July, two different student loan companies shut down their services. Good, says Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is holding a Senate hearing on Tuesday to discuss how to best protect borrowers as they transition to new servicers. She told Insider that other companies should consider it a warning. “The world has changed for student loan […]

Summary List Placement Millions of Americans are still drawing federal unemployment insurance, but the end of those programs loom. That would be one thing if the economy were recovered or if the pandemic were over, but neither is the case.  Over 20 million Americans are poised to lose all jobless aid on Labor Day, per […]

Summary List Placement With the school year just two months away for most of the US, some students may be eager to return to the classroom after a year of learning online and over Zoom. But some districts facing a teacher shortage are struggling to fill open positions.  That shortage isn’t a new issue, but […]

Summary List Placement The population of the United States could shrink for the first time on record due to a combination of COVID-19 deaths, low birth rates, and immigration restrictions, experts told The Wall Street Journal. Early estimates from demographers show that the US population grew by just 0.35% in the year that ended on […]

Summary List Placement Teen employment rates soared in May as businesses hired young workers in a tight labor market. But new research from Gusto, commissioned by The Washington Post, shows that teen hiring is slowing in states that have scrapped unemployment benefits, as older workers take on available jobs. While some states have opted to […]

Summary List Placement One restaurant worker says the labor crunch is killing tips for servers. In an interview with CNN, 58-year-old server Karen McLaughlin, who works at Provino’s Italian restaurant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, said that the lack of staff meant servers were stretched, which means customers get worse service and therefore pay lower tips. On […]

Summary List Placement Ten Florida residents have sued Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for ending the $300 supplemental unemployment benefits more than two months early. The plaintiffs demanded that DeSantis reinstate the benefits, which he stopped in June, and send retroactive payments for the benefits they missed. Without the benefits, they couldn’t afford housing, utilities, food, […]

The housing market is red hot. The Federal Housing Finance Agency house-price index rose 12% last yeardue to low inventories and high demand. Redfin, the popular real estate website, reports that nearly40% of homes in the past month have sold above asking price. And the National Association of Realtorsreported that, for the first time in […]

Summary List Placement The pandemic revealed just how thin the line between work and life is for American parents. Without adequate childcare, women in particular were forced to make some tough decisions this year that could harm their careers for years to come, according to new data out from the New York Times. Throughout the […]

Another week, another drop in forbearance volume. Servicers’ forbearance portfolio volume fell two basis points to 3.48% from 3.50% last week, according to a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association.  Approximately 1.74 million homeowners are in forbearance plans, the MBA reported. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance also decreased two basis points to 1.81%, and Ginnie Mae loans decreased one basis […]

Summary List Placement Economist Mohamed El-Erian in an interview Monday took aim at assessments of inflation that describe rising prices as “transitory”, stating that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what inflation is and how it is already spreading throughout the economy.  “I always laugh when people say, oh, it’s isolated, it’s transitory,” the Allianz’s […]

Summary List Placement A 20 day strike by 600 Frito-Lay workers in Topeka, Kansas has come to an end after workers negotiated a wage increase, a day off every week, and the end of what workers called “suicide shifts,” where employees get only an eight hour break between shifts. The New York Times first reported […]

New home sales continued to slip in June, falling 6.6% from May to a pace of only 676,000, according to a recent study from the U.S. Census. It’s the third straight month of decreases and the first annual decline since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. June’s pace is also 19.4% below June 2020’s pace […]