Good morning! Today is Thursday, April 16. The White House says the nation likely passed the peak of recording new coronavirus cases. Some industry leaders want more testing and strategic protections before reopening the economy.
And in mortgage and housing news …
MORTGAGE APPS: Mortgage applications in coronavirus hotspots appear to have bottomed out in the midst of the pandemic.
BUILDERS CONFIDENCE: Builder confidence takes biggest hit in history.
NONBANK LENDERS: National Association of Real Estate Brokers President Donnell Williams say the CARES Act ignores the needs of non- bank lenders, jeopardizing these institutions and the homeowners from the communities they serve.
BORROWER PROTECTION INFO: The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a new initiative that allows them to share information to ensure borrowers are getting information about mortgage relief during the coronavirus pandemic.
BIG BANKS STRONG PERFORMANCES: Big banks’ trading desks posted their strongest results in yearsduring the first three months of 2020, even as the deepening coronavirus crisis wreaked havoc on the lenders’ consumer businesses.
SKIP NOW, PAY LATER: Quicken Loans chief Jay Farner told CNBC the company wants to educate peoplethat if they “skip the payment,” they’ll still have to pay it eventually.
RENT PAYMENT TRACKER: The National Multifamily Housing Council (found that 84 percent of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by April 12.
I-BUYER LAYOFF: After raising more than $1 billion in the last few years, Opendoor laid off over 600 of its employees as the company struggles to deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus.
MSR VALUES: Determining valuations for Mortgage Servicing Rights is getting trickier now that the pandemic-related volatility has discouraged routine trading and complicated the outlook for loan performance and costs.