Good morning! Today is Friday, January 15. President-elect Joe Biden is urging Congress to back a round of $1,400 per-person direct payments and asking for funding for testing and vaccine distribution. Weekly filings for jobless benefits hit the highest level since July. A NASA study reports 2020 and 2016 are the warmest years on record since 1880.
And in mortgage and housing news …
IPO’D: Even in the middle of an economic recession, IPOs are booming and mortgage companies don’t want to miss out. The mortgage industry at large is at a peculiar crossroads and companies and investors are jumping to cash in on a unique set of circumstances, at least in the short term.
GSE NO CHANGE: The Trump Administration announced that it would not seek to pull Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship before President Trump leaves office next week.
MORTGAGE RATES: Mortgage rates climbed to their highest levels since mid-November, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 2.79 percent for the week, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
AFFORDABILITY: The salary needed to buy a home in five large U.S. cities.
RENT POLICY: What new Democratic control in the White House and Congress means for renters.
MORTGAGE DELINQUENCY: How are mortgage delinquencies changing?
CAPITOL AGENTS: A perspective on whether it is the National Association of Realtors’ responsibility to discipline Capitol-storming agents.
COLLINS VS. MNUCHIN: The Supreme Court heard oral argument in Collins v. Mnuchin, a case initiated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) as well as a 2012 agreement the FHFA entered into with the Treasury Department that dramatically reduced the shareholders’ ownership interests.
JUMBO MORTGAGES: The 30-year jumbo mortgage rate rises, but it’s still pretty low.
SENIOR LIVING: The outlook for senior living options in 2021 is optimistic.
DOWN PAYMENT HELP: Should you lend your adult children money to help pay for a down payment on a home?
NYC HOUSING: Expect rents to keep falling in NYC, except in neighborhoods hit hardest by the Covid economic downturn. Home sales will rebound in Manhattan.