Housing Secretary nominee Scott Turner offered few specifics during his confirmation hearing last week. But he outlined plans to review agency programs and maximize their budgets.

With a new federal administration in charge, the MBA renewed its calls for reductions to FHA premiums. However, the Trump administration is unlikely to cut premiums.

The new policies were established days before the end of the Biden administration and won’t take effect until February 2026. The policies won praise from industry trade groups.

VA origination fees will stay at elevated levels through mid-2034 rather than coming down near the end of 2031. The extension was prompted by a bill that passed Congress with broad bipartisan support.

HUD gets acting secretary; FHA revises qualification requirements for single-family nonprofit program; exemption from hiring freeze excludes VA’s home loans program.

Deliveries to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac of mortgages with private MI more than quadrupled from the third quarter, hitting $6.58 billion in the fourth quarter.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, the ranking member of the committee, said she was prepared to vote in favor of Turner’s nomination but first wanted to see results from a pending background check on the nominee by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The brunt of insurance burdens tied to natural disasters fall on property insurance providers, though private MIs could see an uptick in delinquencies.

The settlement includes $19.4 million in disgorgement of profits the SEC said BMO generated between December 2020 and May 2023 through misleading sales of agency CMOs.

Agency refis with primary MI skyrocketed in the fourth quarter of 2024 while purchase-mortgage business declined somewhat. Lenders tightened underwriting standards on refis as volume flowed. (Includes three data tables.)