Summary List Placement Central banks need to issue digital currencies as cash will become outdated, a UBS chief economist said. These digital currencies won’t operate like cryptocurrencies and will have no wild swings in value, Paul Donovan said. The supply of an officially backed coin depends on a central bank’s authority to regulate the currency’s […]
The broader economy showed signs of recovery last week, pushing the average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan up eight basis points to 3.17%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey Since January, mortgage rates have increased roughly 50 basis points from historic lows and home prices have risen, leaving would-be homebuyers with less purchasing power. Unfortunately, […]
Summary List Placement The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits declined last week to the lowest level since the unemployment crisis began one year earlier. New jobless claims totaled an unadjusted 684,000 for the week that ended Saturday, according to the Labor Department. That compares to the median estimate of 730,000 filings from economists […]
Digital mortgage and fulfillment platform Maxwell has raised $16.3 million in a Series B funding round, the company said on Thursday. The round was led by Fin VC and TTV Capital. Other investors included Rotor Capital, The Mortgage Collaborative Emerging Technology Fund, Prudence Holdings and existing investors including Anthemis Group, Route 66 Ventures, and Sovereign’s […]
The Mortgage Bankers Association on Tuesday sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria expressing concern over several amendments to the Senior Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements announced in January, including changes to investment properties. The MBA said several of the revised PSPA amendments could cause “unnecessary disruptions […]
LoanDepot, the nation’s second-largest nonbank retail mortgage lender, struck up a joint-venture with Schell Brothers, a homebuilder based in Delaware. The venture is to be called Henlopen Mortgage, the firms said in a statement this week. Through the JV, Schell Brothers, which builds energy-efficient homes along the beaches of Delaware and in Virginia, will have access […]
Summary List Placement When it rains, it pours, and when there’s a drought, prices go up. In this case, the drought is in Brazil and it has the US running low on coffee. That means your morning cup of joe is about to get more expensive. The drought has decreased crop production just as congested […]
Summary List Placement Though he was labeled as more moderate than some of his opponents in the Democratic primary, President Joe Biden frequently mentioned on the campaign trail that he’d be the most progressive president in history. As far as economic policy goes, that claim is quickly proving true. The $1.9 trillion stimulus package championed by […]
A week after the deadline to pick sides in United Wholesale Mortgage‘s “all-in” ultimatum to mortgage brokers, Fairway Independent Mortgage is speaking out. In a conversation with HousingWire on Monday night, company executives said they’ve actually benefited from the ultimatum, which has divided the broker community into two camps. Since UWM president and CEO Mat […]
Summary List Placement Oakland, California, is about to become the latest city to distribute free money to its residents. Mayor Libby Schaaf announced Tuesday that the San Francisco Bay Area city has officially launched a basic-income pilot that will give $500 monthly payments to 600 low-income families for 18 months. Recipients can spend the stipends […]
Summary List Placement The US and China held their first Biden-era bilateral meeting and press conference last Thursday in Anchorage, Alaska, and it was different. Unlike past meetings — where each party confirmed overall respect for the other while airing specific grievances — this meeting set the stage for what has become a clash between […]
Summary List Placement The federal eviction moratorium that President Joe Biden extended on his first day in office is set to expire in seven days, but two people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post that the White House may extend the ban through at least July. This would help the Americans who have […]
Summary List Placement Add a crippling logistics nightmare to the list of factors sending gas prices higher. You could say it was ever a given. On Tuesday morning, the container ship Ever Given ran aground at the Suez Canal and formed a traffic jam in one of the world’s most critical trade routes. About 600,000 […]
Summary List Placement The systemic exclusion of Black Americans from employment, home ownership, and generational wealth is not a new story. And the wealth gap between Black and white Americans has only persisted: In the fourth quarter of 2020, white households had a total net worth that was over 20 times that of total wealth […]
Mortgage applications decreased for the third straight week – this time down 2.5%, according to the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinance activity dropped to its slowest pace since September 2020 – down a full 5% – with declines in both conventional and government applications, according to Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president […]
Summary List Placement One of the most important shipping routes in the world, the Suez Canal, has been blocked by a massive container ship for a day. Ever Given, a nearly 200-foot-wide, 1,300-foot-long cargo ship sailing under a Panamanian flag, has caused a transcontinental logjam in the Egyptian waters, which directly connect Europe to Asia. […]
Summary List Placement President Joe Biden’s economic team is in the early stages of drafting a $3 trillion infrastructure plan that could be split into several packages. But Republicans in Congress panned it on Tuesday, a fresh sign that a bipartisan deal may be hard to reach in the months ahead. Senate Republicans unloaded on […]
Profit margins for independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks shrank dramatically in the fourth quarter of 2020 as costs climbed. IMBs reported a net gain of $3,738 per each originated loan in the fourth quarter, down from $5,535 during the third quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association‘s latest quarterly performance […]
Summary List Placement Infrastructure talks are ramping up in Congress and in the White House, and instead of putting together a single colossal bill, President Joe Biden’s advisors are expected to present a proposal worth up to $3 trillion this week, consisting of two legislative pieces. The New York Times first reported the outline of […]
Brad Wayman Citigroup named Brad Wayman as head of U.S mortgage after serving in the role since December. Wayman first joined Citi in 2003, and most recently, he held the position of head of U.S mortgage sales, where he led distributed retail sales, direct to consumer sales, strategic market business development, community reinvestment strategy and […]
Summary List Placement Last week, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona canceled $1 billion in student loan debt for about 72,000 defrauded borrowers. The decision, his first major one as Biden’s education chief, came after a series of investigations over the last decade of for-profit schools for engaging in fraudulent behavior related to federal loans. Corinthian Colleges […]
Summary List Placement Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been clear since her confirmation hearing and subsequent press appearances that the Biden administration needs to raise new tax revenues. It’s a key part of the administration’s ambitious agenda, which includes a $1.9 trillion stimulus and now potentially a $3 trillion infrastructure package. At the same time, […]
After eight consecutive months of improvement, the national mortgage delinquency rate rose in February from to 6% from 5.85%, according to a report from Black Knight on Tuesday. The data giant pointed to February’s seasonality as it is a shorter month and ended on a Sunday this year, allowing for fewer days to process payments. Last month’s […]
Summary List Placement Although a federal minimum wage increase to $15 an hour didn’t make it into the stimulus bill, Senate Democrats are meeting today to find a way to get it done somehow, a Democratic source told HuffPost. According to the source, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will meet with the progressive senators who […]
Summary List Placement Despite lower COVID-19 case counts, encouraging economic data, and an improved rate of vaccination, the US economy has plenty of work to do to fully recover, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said. The US is nearing the end of the tunnel. Widespread vaccination suggests the country could have a grasp on the […]
Summary List Placement From the end of 2019 to 2020, the top 1% of Americans added just about $4 trillion to their wealth. According to data from the Federal Reserve, the top 1% of Americans held about $34.58 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2019. By the fourth quarter of 2020, they had $38.61 trillion. […]
With just more than a week away from the one-year anniversary of the CARES Act, new forbearance requests dropped to their lowest level since March of 2020, pushing the total number of loans in forbearance down nine basis points to 5.05% of servicers’ portfolio volume, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Monday. Alongside a dampening […]
Summary List Placement Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are too volatile to replace the dollar, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Monday. Bitcoin has surged in price as companies including Tesla and Square invest in the token. The Fed is still exploring use cases for a digital currency issued by the central bank, Powell said. Sign up here […]
Summary List Placement Instead of pushing a single colossal spending bill through Congress, President Joe Biden’s advisors are reportedly expected to present a proposal this week that includes $3 trillion in spending aimed at boosting the economy and fighting climate change through separate legislative pieces. The New York Times first reported that Biden’s economic advisors […]
Summary List Placement Vaccine distribution is ramping up, stimulus checks are being sent, and summer is on the horizon. It’s a hopeful combination that’s got Americans itching with wanderlust. Airline, hotel, and restaurant spending are all up compared to a year ago when the pandemic first ravaged the country, although still not close to pre-pandemic […]
Summary List Placement President Joe Biden is getting even more serious about raising taxes on the wealthy, according to a new Bloomberg report. It likely won’t look like a “wealth tax,” though. Biden hasn’t said he’d enact a wealth tax like the one proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and instead he’s reportedly considering alterations to […]
Summary List Placement The Americans who endured the toughest employment hits of the past two decades are also the ones most prone to long-term scarring, according to a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It’s the youth. The coronavirus pandemic fueled labor-market turmoil across nearly all groups. The headline unemployment peaked at […]
This month, United Wholesale Mortgage took the industry by surprise when it made a statement that it would block mortgage brokers from doing business with the company if they did business with either Quicken Loans or Fairway Mortgage. With that announcement came a modification to the UWM-broker contract, making note of significant financial penalties for […]
Summary List Placement Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said that the country is seeing the “least responsible” macroeconomic policy of the past 40 years, resting the blame on lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Summers offered the negative economic forecast during an appearance on Bloomberg Television’s “Wall Street Week” on Friday. Summers has […]
Summary List Placement Canadian Pacific Railway has agreed to acquire Kansas City Southern in a deal that will create the first ever rail network that spans across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The combined company will operate 20,000 miles of rail, employ close to 20,000 people, and generate total revenues of about $8.7 billion, […]
Summary List Placement Regime changes are usually identified years after they first emerge. LeBron James’ decision to take his talents to South Beach kicked off a new era of NBA “superteams,” assembled by friendly superstars coordinating their movements via free agency. Robert Downey, Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in 2008 set the […]
Summary List Placement Fresh off their first major legislative victory, Democrats are renewing their push to achieve another key part of President Joe Biden’s agenda: A massive, multitrillion-dollar infrastructure bill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi instructed key House committees last week to start assembling a package. House Democrats scheduled two hearings for Tuesday and Wednesday as well. […]
Summary List Placement A couple bought a home in Riverside, California, in January 2020, but over a year later they haven’t been able to move in because the seller refuses to leave, Fox 11 LA reported. Tracie and Myles Albert bought the four-bedroom home in cash for the asking price of $560,000, real estate agent […]
Summary List Placement It feels like a fever dream now, but for one week in late January all anyone in the media could talk about was Gamestop’s skyrocketing stock prices. In case you’ve already driven the episode out of your memory, here’s a brief recap: A Wall Street hedge fund had placed a big bet […]
Summary List Placement You might have noticed that you’ve been shelling out more for things like houses, gas, and cars. And it’s been hard to get your hands on things like fitness gear, sofas, and roller skates. That’s because America is reopening to a more expensive economy than the one that existed pre-pandemic. For now, it […]
A growing chorus of mortgage industry observers believe the final week of February might have been the last hurrah for sub-3% mortgage rates. And the proof is in the refi pudding. With mortgage rates making their ascension, many late-to-the-game homeowners hopped on the chance to refinance their home loans and pushed refi volume to 68% […]
Summary List Placement As the coronavirus pandemic pummeled the economy starting in spring 2020, states and cities seemed increasingly vulnerable. Would they be forgotten in stimulus relief efforts? Was New York City truly dead? But the recently enacted $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan might provide a strong start for state and local governments, which also […]
National homebuilder Lennar Corp. plans to spin off all its non-core businesses to become a pure-play homebuilder and financial services company, the company announced on Wednesday. In an earnings call this week, Lennar executive chairman Stuart Miller said the move would maximize the technology investments made through LENx, the company’s primary investment vehicle. Those investments […]
Summary List Placement While the lack of a minimum wage increase in the latest stimulus bill was a blow to many progressives, they aren’t giving up the fight to ensure the wage gets increased this year. And on Friday, they joined labor leaders in a call with reporters to share ways they might look to […]
Summary List Placement Although student debt cancellation for every American has not been implemented, debt accrued by students who were frauded by for-profit schools will see their loans forgiven in the coming weeks. In his first major move as Education Secretary for President Joe Biden, Miguel Cardona on Thursday reversed a Trump-era policy that gave […]