Federal Government
David Stevens: Here’s the MBA View on GSE Reform
Mortgage Bankers Association head David Stevens summarizes MBA’s views on GSE reform. In particular, he addresses MBA concern with the idea that the mortgage market could best be served by a system that entails revising the current charter of Ginnie Mae and allowing a new Ginnie Mae to apply its guarantee to private sector mortgages.
Rental Programs
Harvard JCHS: America’s Rental Housing 2017 – Executive Summary
On December 14, the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) released its biennial review of the nation’s rental housing. This report is a companion to JCHS’ annual State of the Nation’s Housing report. Following is a link to the report’s executive summary.
Potential ‘Turning Point’ for Rental Housing?
A summary of the key findings of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies' (JCHS) biennial review of the nation’s rental housing.
Agency Lenders Still Rule the Multifamily Loan Market
Despite growing competition from banks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to dominate the multifamily lending market. They offer relatively high levels of leverage, low interest rates and certainty of execution to a broad range of borrowers.
Homeownership Programs
Major IRS Glitch Could Delay Closings by Months
A change in the technology utilized by the Internal Revenue Service has created a glitch in a system used by home lenders that could end up delaying mortgage closings by months. The Yves system is used by the mortgage industry to verify that tax returns supplied by an applicant for a residential loan are not fraudulent. A vast majority of the 6 million mortgages processed each year depend on the system due to investor and regulatory requirements.
How Much is Your Home’s Collateral Value?
Recently, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced plans to waive the requirement of a professional appraisal on qualified purchase loans with a loan-to-value ratio at or below 80 percent. This brief article summarizes CoreLogic’s analysis of the differential values obtained through appraisals and alternative valuation methods, and their impact on underwriting loan-to-value ratios.
Fitch: These Four Things Keep Driving Up the Cost of Mortgage Servicing
The cost of mortgage servicing, at least those collateralized into bonds, keeps rising — a trend Fitch Ratings believes is not likely to end. This article briefly summarizes four factors driving costs higher, with the number one being compliance.
Housing Market Trends
Out-migration from Virginia Continues for a Fourth Consecutive YearOut-migration, especially of Millennials, has impacted Virginia’s growth, economic environment and housing costs. UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center provides updated data on this trend and discusses its causes and implications. For the first time, Virginia is experiencing new out-migration on a statewide basis, and is beginning to display the demographic trends already in place in the states to our north.