Fudge Resigns As HUD Secretary

Marcia L. Fudge, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is unexpectedly resigning due to personal circumstances. Her exit comes after three years at HUD’s helm, having served for almost all of the Biden presidency.  Fudge attributed her decision to her 92-year-old mother, with whom she wants to spend more time, and says she has no plans to run for office again. “It’s time to go home,” Fudge told USA Today. “I do believe strongly that I have done just about everything I could do at HUD for this administration as we go into this crazy, silly season of an election.” Fudge will be just one of a few cabinet members to leave the Biden administration, giving…

Housing Costs Will Affect Voters In November

More than half of homeowners and renters will partly base their choice for President on housing affordability. That’s according to a new survey commissioned by Redfin and conducted by Qualtrics last month.  The survey found that 53.2% of respondents will be informed by housing in November’s presidential election. On top of that, 64.2% of homeowners and renters said the state of housing makes them feel negative about the economy.  “Housing affordability is top of mind for voters because elevated mortgage rates and home prices, along with an acute housing shortage, have pushed the dream of homeownership out of reach for many Americans,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.  Analysts say the economy is actually doing well by many metrics, but…

Biden Addresses Housing Crisis In State Of The Union

President Biden used the State of the Union address Thursday to tackle the nation’s housing crisis and propose big plans to boost activity. “I know the cost of housing is so important to you. If inflation keeps coming down, mortgage rates will come down as well. But I’m not waiting,” he said in the address. The administration proposed a mortgage relief plan providing first-time homebuyers an annual credit of $5,000 for two years, effectively a $10,000 mortgage rate buydown that would save as much money as a 1.5% rate reduction. Another credit, aimed at current homeowners, would offer a one-year, $10,000 credit to families who sell their starter homes, helping to turn inventory over. More than 3.5 million middle-class buyers…

The Racial Homeownership Gap Is Worst For Black Millennials

While the racial homeownership gap exists in every generation, Black Millennials have it worse off than any other age group. That’s according to a new analysis from Redfin, which found that just one-third of Black Millennials own their home (33%), compared to 65% of white Millennials, the largest divide of any generation. By comparison, 52% of Black Gen Xers own their home, compared to 80% of white Gen Xers. Six in ten Black Boomers own their home, while 85% of white Boomers do. White and Black adult Gen Zers own their homes at rates around 30% and 16%, respectively – not as bad as the Millennial divide, but still significant. Black Americans face challenges ranging from the impact of racist…

HUD Commemorates Black History Month

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development commemorated Black History Month by highlighting its impact on the Black community. “This Black History Month, we celebrate all that Black Americans have contributed to our great nation,” Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a statement. “As the 18th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and a student of history, today I honor the legacy of one of my personal heroes, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. Dr. Bethune was a scholar, activist, and champion of racial and gender advancement. Despite being born Black and a woman in America at a time when both groups were denied equal protection under the law, she worked tirelessly to change our country for the better. Like Dr. Bethune,…

FHA Unveils Payment Supplement For Struggling Borrowers

The Federal Housing Administration introduced a new offering to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure. The offering, called the Payment Supplement, is a loss mitigation home retention option available to borrowers with FHA-insured single-family mortgages.  Payment Supplement gives mortgage servicers a tool to reduce the borrower’s monthly payment by up to 25% without modifying the rate by using funds from a Partial Claim, enabling the borrower to access up to 30% of the outstanding balance of their mortgage. The claim amount is placed in a junior lien and paid back when the homeowner sells or refinances, or when the mortgage otherwise terminates. “HUD uses every tool in our toolkit to ensure we can help struggling borrowers avoid foreclosure,” said HUD Secretary…

Will The Affordability Of Homes Sway Voters In 2024?

By KIMBERLEY HAAS Home affordability continues to be problematic for American families. High prices, elevated mortgage rates, and a low supply of inventory have kept adults in their 20s and 30s off the housing ladder. At the same time, homeowners with growing families are unable to move up that ladder into properties that would better accommodate their needs for the same reasons. It’s an issue that touches all generations because older adults are worried about their children and grandchildren. They’re also aging but if their house is paid off, it often does not make financial sense to move, even if they no longer need three bedrooms on a regular basis. But will the affordability of homes push people to vote…

MBA Responds To Yellen’s Non-Bank Lender Concerns

The Mortgage Bankers Association responded to comments by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen who said that independent mortgage banks require regulatory oversight as they navigate commercial real estate debt. In a hearing for the Senate Banking Committee, Yellen said the Financial Stability Oversight Council is focusing on nonbank mortgage companies because they “lack access to deposits, which banks have.” She suggested that financial stress from commercial real estate weakness and low residential refinancing activity could lead to some IMBs failing. “[Non-bank lenders are] reliant on short-term financing that may be a lot less stable than deposits, and in stressful times, their credit lines can be pulled,” Yellen said. “There is concern that in stressful market conditions we could see the…

FNB Pennsylvania To Pay $13.5M In Redlining Settlement

First National Bank of Pennsylvania will pay $13.5 million to settle redlining allegations raised by the U.S. Department of Justice and the state of North Carolina. FNB was accused of discriminating against borrowers in predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Charlotte and Winston-Salem, NC, from 2017 to 2021, via Carolina-based Yadkin Bank, which it acquired in 2017. The bank “failed to provide mortgage lending services” to those neighborhoods and “discouraged people seeking credit in those communities from obtaining loans,” according to a press release. Other lenders generated applications in these neighborhoods two-and-half times the rate of FNB in Charlotte and four times the rate in Winston-Salem. It also only operated in white areas, shutting down its sole branch in a…

Op-Ed: Jerome Powell’s Hollow Commercial Property Market Assurances

By DESMOND LACHMAN In March 2008, then Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke assured us that the sub-prime loan and housing market problems were not of systemic concern to the financial sector. Yet, in September 2008 Lehman Brothers failed in large part because of its leveraged exposure to subprime and housing market lending. Lehman’s failure in turn triggered a U.S. and world financial crisis that resulted in the 2008-2009 Great Economic Recession. Fast forward to today. Last Sunday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave a television interview to 60 Minutes on the monetary policy challenges that lay ahead. In that interview, he went out of his way to provide assurances similar to those of Ben Bernanke in 2008 about the stability of…