A disparity between black and white homeowners regarding the value of their homes is making the racial wealth gap much worse, according to a new study from the Urban Institute.
The mortgage market expects output to be flat this year, but digital mortgage lender Better.com said it could double its production to $2.5 billion. “We did about $1.3 billion last year, which is three times what we did in 2017,” the company’s President Jerry Selitto said.
In a lackluster market amid rising interest rates and limited inventory, advisory firm Strategic Mortgage Finance Group has advice on how mortgage lenders can remain profitable.
Industry groups have once again requested federal regulators delay a new accounting standard for credit losses. The Current Expected Credit Loss standard is scheduled to be implemented on a phased-in basis beginning in January.
Commercial banks and savings institutions increased the amount of mortgage servicing rights they handle for other investors in the fourth quarter of 2018, although valuations for the asset softened. [Includes one data chart]
Retail mortgage lending remained the dominant originations channel in 2018, but it lost some luster to third-party production channels. [Includes two data charts]
Late last month, Bloomberg reported that Kushner Cos., the real estate investment firm owned by the family of President Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner, was in negotiations with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for as much a $1.15 billion in loans. Some facts, though, make it difficult to know if the story is accurate.
When the Federal Reserve has finally “normalized” its balance sheet, allowing much of the $4.25 trillion in Treasuries and agency securities that it acquired through quantitative easing to gradually run off, there will still be as much as $1 trillion on the ledger, according to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last week.
Last month, a pair of watchdog organizations asked the inspectors general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Department of the Treasury to investigate whether media leaks by officials at FHFA or the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency were part of an insider trading scheme.