Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria said the controversial amendments made to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac‘s Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements in late January should be just the start. “I said in January when the PSPA were signed — there needs to be another set of amendments. January really is a bridge,” he told Wells […]
Summary List Placement Two years after it was first introduced, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts reintroduced the Green New Deal on Tuesday. The resolution, which Markey and Ocasio-Cortez first introduced in February 2019, laid out goals for a 10-year national mobilization to upgrade US infrastructure, convert to zero-emission […]
Summary List Placement Sen. Elizabeth Warren has extended an invitation to one of her most vocal critics to debate her marquee policy, the wealth tax, on Capitol Hill. On Monday, Warren invited billionaire Leon Cooperman to testify at a hearing for the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, which Warren chairs, […]
Appraisal-management tech provider AppraisalWorks is now available through the ICE Mortgage Technology Platform, the company announced Tuesday. ICE Mortgage Technology, formerly known as Ellie Mae, is a cloud-based loan origination platform provider for the mortgage industry. With this integration, lenders can now order, assign, monitor, and review real estate valuations from a marketplace of AMCs […]
Summary List Placement A policy instrument designed as a buffer for unemployed Americans is broken in 33 states, according to a new report released Tuesday from the California Policy Lab. The Extended Benefits program is meant to provide jobless aid to people who exhausted regular benefits in high-unemployment states. Earlier federal rescue packages that Congress […]
Summary List Placement Many household goods are getting more expensive, as companies like Procter & Gamble and General Mills hike prices to combat shortages and rising shipping costs. During their third-quarter earnings call, P&G said it has started raising prices on some of its paper goods, including baby-care, feminine hygiene products, and adult diapers. The […]
Patrick, a 25-year old tech worker, had his heart set on buying a home in the Reading, Massachusetts area, where he grew up. He wasn’t looking for a fixer-upper. That turned out to be nearly impossible as home prices in the small town north of Boston accelerated. The first house he submitted in an offer […]
Summary List Placement The American student-debt problem encompasses 45 million people with a combined $1.7 trillion of debt, and much of the burden falls on communities of color. Civil-rights organizations want President Joe Biden to change that by canceling $50,000 in student debt per person. On Monday, 36 civil rights organizations, led by the Leadership […]
Servicers’ total number of loans in forbearance dropped for the seventh week in a row, down another 16 basis points last week to 4.5% of portfolio volume, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Following the massive decline the week prior, the share of loans in forbearance has dropped a total of 40 basis points in […]
Summary List Placement Growing wealth inequality has been exacerbated by the pandemic, as the global middle class shrinks and millions fall into poverty. One question has lingered: What can be done to address both the economic scars of the pandemic, and the inequality that’s grown alongside them? For some, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, wealth taxes […]
Summary List Placement President Joe Biden wants to increase taxes on corporations with his American Jobs Plan — and he let some leading business executives know before he announced it. According to The Washington Post, the Biden administration briefed Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, and David M. Solomon, the CEO of Goldman […]
Last year, Laura Grannemann’s dedication to providing Americans with access to safe and affordable housing earned her a spot as one of HousingWire’s 2020 Women of Influence. Today, her passion is still apparent in the work that she’s doing to help those in underserved communities own homes and build wealth. “COVID-19 has starkly highlighted housing […]
Summary List Placement The US national debt is measured at over $28 trillion, and for decades, it has been a source of concern — and inhibition — for lawmakers. The Republican Party tends to cite the runaway federal debt when it is not in possession of the White House, while Presidents Donald Trump and George […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is making good on its threats to police mortgage servicers. In late January, the agency released weeks a series of authority actions warning servicers that it needs to do right by consumers who need access to forbearance programs. According to a new report from Reuters, the government watchdog is […]
Summary List Placement Americans have built up excess savings worth $2.6 trillion since the start of the coronavirus pandemic that will help power the economy’s recovery from the crisis, according to Moody’s Analytics. The US has amassed the most excess savings of any country, with the cash pile amounting to 12% of gross domestic product. […]
There is a well-known analogy about a frog and a pot of water. If you drop a frog into a boiling pot of water, the frog will leap out. But if you drop a frog into a pot of cold water and turn the heat up slowly, the frog will boil. Personally, I think the […]
Summary List Placement Hospitality workers in California who lost their jobs during the pandemic will get priority for new roles with their former employers, per a statewide bill Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday. The bill requires employers in the hospitality and business-services industries, including hotels, airports, and large event centers, to give qualified former employees […]
Summary List Placement The predicted baby boom is looking more like a baby bust. While many thought a year locked up would lead to some serious babymaking, Brookings Institute economists Melissa Kearney and Phillip Levine forecasted the opposite last June: The pandemic would lead to 300,000 to 500,000 fewer births in 2021, they said. So […]
Summary List Placement A congressional battle line was forming last week over former President Donald Trump’s SALT tax cap, which is threatening to derail President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal. A bipartisan group of more than two dozen lawmakers, calling itself the SALT Caucus, formed to push for Trump’s cap on tax deductions be […]
Summary List Placement A New York City investment manager was charged Friday with stealing more than $2.4 million from five lending institutions through Payment Protection Program loans, prosecutors said in a statement. Gregory Blotnick, 33, is accused of applying for five separate PPP loans between April 2020 and August 2020, and lying about the number […]
Summary List Placement With buyer demand high and inventory low, home prices in the US continue to rise. A new report by the Seattle-based real estate brokerage, Redfin, found that for the four-week period ending on April 11, the median home-sale price shot up to $341,250, a 17% year-over-year increase. Homes that were sold during […]
Summary List Placement Throughout the pandemic, Washington Post economics correspondent Heather Long has been providing indispensable context to the Department of Labor’s monthly unemployment announcements in thoughtful Twitter threads. As soon as lockdowns began last March, job losses skyrocketed to literally unprecedented levels, and Long’s analysis helped explain the reasons behind the numbers, what those […]
Summary List Placement Infrastructure talks are starting to gain momentum in Congress two weeks after President Joe Biden rolled out his sprawling $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. A Republican-led group of 20 lawmakers is gearing up to make a counteroffer in a bid to strike a bipartisan deal on a smaller package. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito […]
Summary List Placement Fed Chair Jerome Powell said this week that while US government borrowing at current levels is “unsustainable,” the current debt level is “very sustainable” and won’t be a concern in the near-term. “The US federal budget is on an unsustainable path, meaning simply that the debt is growing meaningfully faster than the […]
Blend Labs filed a confidential registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, signaling its intent to enter the public markets. The dropping of the S-1 closely follows the mortgage tech firm’s big venture capital raise in January, in which it raised $300 million in a Series G round from Tiger Global Management […]
Summary List Placement In recent years, Federal Reserve economists have estimated that 600,000 US businesses have permanently closed each year. But a Fed study released on Thursday found that the pandemic has resulted in an additional 200,000 permanent closures of businesses over prepandemic levels — or about a quarter to a third above normal. Individual […]
Summary List Placement The US housing boom wasn’t built to last. What began as a hefty uptick in home purchases evolved into an all-out buying spree in a matter of months. Americans taking advantage of low borrowing costs and looking to flee cities for suburbs snapped up homes at a rate not seen since the […]
In 2020, housing was an economic bright spot for a nation shuttered inside. Globally speaking, things look much different roughly a year later – jobs are returning by the millions, a series of viable vaccines are being deployed across America, stimulus checks have hit bank accounts and mortgage rates are ascending rapidly from nearly a […]
Summary List Placement The pandemic cost millions of Americans their jobs, and while the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 9.7 million of them are actively seeking work, businesses are reporting significant labor shortages. Weekly jobless claims are at a pandemic-era low just this past Thursday, but businesses, particularly in the restaurant and service industries, […]
Summary List Placement Everything’s coming up roses for Americans. As more vaccine shots go into arms, consumer optimism is the strongest it’s been in a year — they also have stimulus and low interest rates to thank. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index rose to 86.5 in a preliminary April reading, from 84.9. That level signifies a new […]
Summary List Placement The leaders of the Republican party have argued that President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan funds too many things that aren’t physical, or traditional, infrastructure, saying that less than 6% of its spending goes to rebuilding roads and bridges. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed the plan the same day Biden […]
Summary List Placement Insider has been warning of a potential inventory crisis in the housing market since last summer. It’s just gotten worse since then, with a record low number of homes for sale. Builders are racing to catch up. New residential construction surged more than anticipated in March as builders rushed to address the […]
Summary List Placement In recent years, big companies like Amazon have publicly increased the minimum wage they pay workers. And it turns out those moves can lead to nearby businesses also bumping up their pay, according to a recent working paper. “If a bunch of large employers in the labor market raise pay, other employers […]
Summary List Placement CEOs at more than 300 of the top public companies in US received median pay of $13.7 million in 2020, up 15% from $12.8 million the year before, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal. Executive pay rose thanks to a revived stock market and changes to compensation structures. Less […]
Summary List Placement Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is open to a multitrillion-dollar infrastructure plan. He just wants to see the bill covered. That could be bad news for Republicans hoping he’ll break with his party on the next massive plan from President Joe Biden’s desk. Manchin — a moderate Democrat with incredible influence […]
Summary List Placement Dogecoin is the earnest cryptocurrency, born out of a meme that its creators thought was “hilarious.” Now, that random joke created to lampoon the market is becoming a valuable asset itself. Just this year, the animal-themed currency went from trading for less than a penny to hitting a price of 14 cents […]
venue Summary List Placement President Joe Biden kicked off a major debate in early April when he proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% to fund his $4 trillion infrastructure plan. Now JPMorgan has weighed in on the matter and it finds corporate tax revenue is lower in the US than elsewhere, even […]
HousingWire’s fourth-annual Engage Marketing event will feature experts focused on the specifics of mortgage and real estate in a purchase market. While appetite for refinance loans will plunge in the second half of the year, a huge demographic wave of first-time homebuyers is looking to join the market — assuming they can find a house […]
Summary List Placement Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is reportedly pushing GOP senators to praise Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona as they come under pressure to support scrapping the filibuster. Politico reported that McConnell told Republicans during their Wednesday caucus lunch that the Democratic pair could “save this institution” […]
Summary List Placement It’s going to be twice as hard for Gen Z to build wealth as it was for millennials. At least, through stock and bond investments. The generation can expect average annual real returns of just 2% on their investment portfolios, according to Credit Suisse’s global investment returns yearbook. That’s a third less than the […]
The average U.S. mortgage rate fell for the second consecutive week, down nine basis points to 3.04%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Despite rates mirroring mid-march levels, Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, doesn’t expect them to hold. “The economy is improving on the demand side and on the supply side, a variety of […]
Summary List Placement On his 20th anniversary of working at University of Tennessee Health Science Center, electrician Tony Patton was called in to a meeting. That’s when he found out that he was one of 70 frontline facilities workers being laid off. Patton had heard whispers about layoffs about a week before. Carpenter Michael Garrett […]
Summary List Placement Even millionaires have a wealth gap. One out of every 10 millionaires has a net worth between $5 to $30 million, which Wealth-X defines as “very high net worth” (VHNW) individuals in its annual report. But the wealth among this wealthy class is lopsided. Two-thirds of the VHNW class (about 1.7 million […]
Summary List Placement America’s richest keep getting richer. The six richest Americans are worth more than the GDP of 13 states combined, including Delaware, Maine, and Vermont, according to data from Forbes and the US Department of Commerce. The publication’s rich list contains six “centibillionaires” — people worth at least $100 billion each. In a […]
Summary List Placement Over the last 13 months, American billionaires added $1.62 trillion to their wealth — a 55% increase. This was a finding in the latest report from the left-leaning Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF). Both groups have tracked billionaire gains throughout the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen […]