By PATRICK LAVERY
It wasn’t a reversal by any means, but the Federal Reserve Board voted Wednesday to maintain the federal funds rate target range.
Following the July unfreezing of June’s pause, that range is, for now, staying at 5.25% to 5.5%.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in remarks to the press following the board’s latest release on monetary policy, stated once again his “dual mandate” to stabilize prices while keeping employment high.
“Given how far we have come, we are in a position to proceed carefully as we assess the incoming data and the evolving outlook and risks,” Powell said. “Real interest rates now are well above mainstream estimates of the neutral policy rate, but we are mindful of…
Despite recent optimism surrounding the Federal Reserve’s “soft landing” strategy, economists at Fannie Mae are still expecting a mild recession next year.
Fannie Mae’s Economic and Strategic Research Group wrote in a note that mixed economic signals this month make it difficult to guess the near future, but a “modest contraction” in early 2024 remains the most likely outcome of the Fed’s inflation fight.
They cite consumption outpacing incomes, big differences between gross domestic product and gross domestic income over the past three quarters, and previous policy tightening still moving through the systems as signs of what’s to come.
Additionally, households are expected to restrict spending in the latter part of the year as inflated prices catch up to budgets.…
By PATRICK LAVERY
With the end of the third quarter of 2023 in sight, indications are that the Federal Reserve will pause hiking its federal funds rate this week – as it did in June before again raising the target range in July – and investors will be watching closely on Wednesday to see if Chairman Jerome Powell gives any indication as to what they might do to end the calendar year.
The FOMC’s course of action, while holding no direct bearing on mortgage rates, acts as a strong indicator of what direction those rates will go in next. According to Business Insider, a pause on the part of the Fed won’t do much to move mortgage rates, currently above…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Officials at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have awarded funding from a program established by the Inflation Reduction Act to owners of assisted multifamily housing properties and the money is going to climate-related investments.
The act, signed into law by President Joe Biden on Aug. 16, 2022, has done little to reduce inflation but is considered the most significant policy action on clean energy in United States history. It established the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, providing HUD with $837.5 million in grant and loan subsidy funding and $4 billion in loan commitment authority.
According to a press release issued on Wednesday, money from the program will enable building owners to invest in geothermal…
In a move geared toward improving and streamlining credit access to qualified borrowers, the FHA is getting rid of the Mortgage Credit Reject screen.
Up until now, the FHA required lenders to flag information about denied applications due to a provision in its Single Family Housing Policy Handbook. That information was flagged for a six-month period, to be reviewed by one of the agency’s Homeownership Centers when applicants tried for an FHA-insured loan from other lenders.
Borrowers may have been denied a loan again because of this initial rejection, even if they qualified otherwise. FHA officials have concluded that the process “does not improve risk management and is often why other lenders will reject an applicant even when that applicant…
Prominent political player and lobbyist George Rogers has joined the Mortgage Bankers Association as vice president of legislative affairs, the group announced in a press release.
Rogers will advocate on behalf of MBA’s legislative and policy priorities, focusing largely on Republican members of the United States Senate. He holds a Juris Doctor from Indiana University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Prior to the MBA, he co-founded Republican Consulting, LLC, a government relations and lobbying firm.
In his decades working for the Senate and House, Rogers managed six committees on behalf of Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). Notably, he served on the presidential transition team of Donald Trump.
Rogers also…
By CHUCK GREEN
Back in 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in trouble. In fact, without government intervention, they faced imminent collapse, and on Sept. 6 of that year, both were placed in conservatorship by the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
With those conservatorships hitting their 15th anniversary, William Emmons, an adjunct lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis, said the takeover was historically significant because they were the first large-scale government interventions in what came to be known as the Global Financial Crisis.
“In other words, their collapse was a bellwether of things to come. Lehman Brothers failed one week later, which triggered the chain reaction of collapsing banks, AIG, and market confidence,” Emmons told The…
By SCOTT KIMBLER
As officials work to address racial bias in home valuations, leaders at a public policy think tank in Washington, DC, are saying recent recommendations made by a federal task force miss the mark.
The Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity, or PAVE for short, was created in June of 2021 to tackle the problem of racial and ethnic bias in home valuations. Comprised of 13 federal agencies and offices, it is co-led by officials at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the White House Domestic Policy Council.
In March of 2022, the PAVE Action Plan was released, and this past June the Biden-Harris administration announced a set of actions to deliver…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Addressing affordability issues by allowing for creative living solutions may be the key to getting more Millennials into homeownership.
According to the 2023 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report published by the National Association of Realtors, the share of Millennial buyers has declined. Millennials between 24 and 42 years old made up 28% of all buyers surveyed.
The share of Millennial buyers dropped because Baby Boomers between 58 and 76 years old were on the move in the last half of 2021 and the first half of 2022. They made up 39% of buyers and were the largest share of homebuyers, taking the top spot from Millennials, who had held the position for eight years.
Overall,…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Federal housing officials have pledged to support people affected by the wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui as the state’s governor warns developers to stay away.
Officials from Ginnie Mae, the Federal Housing Administration, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs issued a joint statement on Friday saying they are “committed to providing homeowners flexibilities and assistance so they feel the security of knowing they will have the option to return and rebuild when it is safe to do so.”
FHA-approved lenders doing business in Maui are encouraged to familiarize loan officers and operational teams with FHA’s 203(h) Disaster Mortgage, which provides up to…
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