Good morning! Today is Wednesday, October 7. President Trump stopped negotiations with Congress over additional Covid-19 stimulus funding until after the election. New York Gov. Cuomo warns that religious institutions can be shut down for Covid violations. Hurricane Delta is bearing down on Mexico, with a U.S. Gulf Coast landfall expected later this week.
And in mortgage and housing news …
URBAN FLIGHT: Could the trend toward greater suburbanization – and migration among states – have an impact on next month’s election in the United States?
BETTER TO OVERDO: Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, called the economic recovery “incomplete” and highlighted that it was better to overdo the pandemic policy response than to undershoot.
ELEVATED DISTRESS: Delinquencies could continue exceeding pre-pandemic levels until 2022 due to the impact of the coronavirus on health and the economy, according to Black Knight’s latest Mortgage Monitor report
FORBEARANCE MISSTEPS: Sen. Warren asks the Federal Reserve to weigh Wells Fargo’s mortgage missteps in asset cap evaluation.
SMALLER METROS GAIN: People are changing jobs on average every four years, according to the recent release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. With telecommuting likely to continue long after the pandemic, employee tenure may be impacted since many people will be able to work from anywhere.
NEEDLESSLY DELINQUENT: There are about 400,000 mortgage borrowers “needlessly delinquent” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic who did not use available forbearance options, according to a report from the Urban Institute.
LOT SIZES SHRINK: The New homes are being built on smaller lots. The median lot size for single-family homes that sold in 2019 dropped to 0.188 of an acre (or 8,177 square feet)—the smallest on record, according to Census Bureau data recently analyzed by the National Association of Home Builders.
COLORADO: Colorado’s COVID-19 housing assistance program only reaches a fraction of those in need.
CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS: The latest trends on the perception to obtain credit and income growth from the Federal Reserve Board of New York’s Survey of Consumer Expectations.