Morning Roundup (11/29/2021)– BBB Housing Plan Explained, Forbearance Starts Up

Good Morning! Today is Monday, November 29. The new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, may be more contagious among vaccinated people but less deadly overall. Japan, Israel, and Morocco have closed their borders to foreign travelers. Mark Esper is suing the DOD for not clearing his book manuscript for publication due to sections detailing his time working under Donald Trump.


And in mortgage and housing news…


Build Back Better’s Implications On Housing Prices: The House version of President Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan includes about $170 billion for affordable housing and people are asking what that means.


CRA Changes: As the Fed weighs making the Community Reinvestment Act race-specific, what do the data say about CRA loans? Not much.


Forbearance Starts Jump: The number of loans in forbearance remained basically the same leading up to Thanksgiving, but forbearance starts increased significantly for the first time since March.


Betting On The Suburbs: Starwood Capital Group is spending over $1 billion to buy 2,300 single-family rental homes from Pretium Partners.


“Ominous Twist”: Fannie and Freddie’s recent decision to back loans up to $1 million is a repeat of policy that led to the 2008 crash, Peter J. Wallison argues in the Wall Street Journal.


Two Different Breeds Of Crisis: While the housing crisis in the US is affecting one generation of homebuyers, the crisis in China “could wipe out entire generations.”


Will Fed Change Course Due To Omicron?: The emergence of a new Covid-19 variant has some Fed watchers wondering if it will change its plans to taper pandemic policies.


Hedging HECMs: HECM reverse mortgages can offer a hedge against rate-of-return risk on reverse mortgages, Jack Guttentag writes in Forbes.


Interfirst Mortgage Layoffs: Interfirst will lay off 77 people in its Charlotte, NC office early next year, adding to reports of layoffs from other locations.


#GuaranteedLove: Guaranteed Rate raised over $5 million for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention as part of its #GuaranteedLove program.