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Housing Headlines

Housing Headlines

Economy 

 

Business Insider

Homebuilders are struggling to end the 'new housing crisis'

You're finally ready to buy a house. Got a decent down payment in the bank, a solid credit history and even a preapproval from a lender. You're golden.

 

HousingWire

Five things we learned from the 2016 home-buying season

With vacations over and the holidays coming fast, home buying is beginning to slow down. So, given all of the predictions for 2016 (including mine), let's review the better part of the 2016 home-buying season and see what we've learned, with an eye toward 2017.

 

The Wall Street Journal

More Americans leave expensive metro areas for affordable ones

Americans are leaving the costliest metro areas for more affordable parts of the country at a faster rate than they are being replaced, according to an analysis of census data, reflecting the impact of housing costs on domestic migration patterns. (Subscription may be required.)

 

HousingWire

Yes, the economy is finally ready for another interest rate hike

The median U.S. home value was up 5.5% year over year in September to $189,400, according to real estate listing website Zillow's September Real Estate Market Report.

 

MarketWatch

Residential building can't keep pace with Seattle's surging job market

Surveying the dozens of towering cranes growing into Seattle's skyline, one might wonder if there's a housing boom that will eventually crash as it did in the last Seattle real estate downturn. It's a reasonable reaction for an untrained observer, but it's also a dangerous one for the region's ability to plan for accommodating smart growth.

 

The New York Times

Last pre-election jobs report shows healthy growth and higher wages

The government, delivering the last major snapshot of the economy before Election Day, reported on Friday that employers added 161,000 workers in October, a performance that suggested a healthy outlook for the months ahead.

 

Housing Finance 

 

POLITICO

In shift, White House offers platform for housing reform

The White House called on Congress to rethink its approach to rebuilding the hobbled mortgage market and offered, for the first time, as set of principles for housing reform. 

 

Bloomberg

Obama is making a last stab push to help loosen mortgage lending

President Barack Obama's administration is renewing the call to help lower income borrowers get home loans while it still can.

 

American Banker

How Crapo would lead banking panel if GOP keeps Senate

If Republicans manage to keep a Senate majority following the elections next week, control of the banking panel will likely go to Sen. Mike Crapo, a right-of-center Idaho lawmaker who has proven willing to reach across the political aisle in the past. (Subscription may be required.)

 

National Mortgage News

How Brown would run the banking panel if Democrats win Senate

If Democrats succeed in winning control of the Senate after next week's election, the gavel of the Senate Banking Committee is likely to fall to Sen. Sherrod Brown, a progressive from Ohio who has called on the biggest banks to hold significantly more capital. (Subscription may be required.) 

 

National Mortgage News

Industry welcomes treasury's call to focus on home affordability

The mortgage industry is welcoming the Obama administration's possibly final word on housing finance reform, hoping it will serve as guidepost for the future. (Subscription may be required.)

 

Mortgage News

 

CNBC

Shadow banks are taking over the mortgage market again

Shadow banks are on the cusp of taking the lead from their commercial counterparts in the mortgage market, new data suggests, a phenomenon that hasn't been seen since the 2008 financial crisis.

 

MarketWatch

Non-banks dominate the low-down payment mortgage market

Nearly a decade after the housing crisis, the mortgage market has evolved in unexpected ways, with nontraditional financiers increasingly backing ever-more leveraged loans.

 

HousingWire

Here's a status update on Freddie's 3% down mortgage program

Freddie Mac is adamant about not sharing details on the success of its Home Possible Advantage Program, with no apparent plans to start revealing it.

 

The Wall Street Journal

Banks no longer make the bulk of U.S. mortgages

Banks no longer reign over the U.S. mortgage market. They accounted for less than half of the mortgage dollars extended to borrowers during the third quarter -- the first quarter that banks, credit unions and other depository institutions have fallen below that threshold in more than 30 years, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. Taking their place are nonbank lenders more willing to make riskier loans banks now shun. (Subscription may be required.) 

 

GSEs

 

The Washington Post

Is it time to start worrying about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac again?

Four years ago, the Treasury changed its agreement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and began taking for itself all the profits made by the two companies, which had been placed in government conservatorship in 2008. As part of the 2012 changes, both companies' capital is being gradually reduced and will reach zero at the end of 2017.

 

The Wall Street Journal

Freddie Mac to send $2.3 billion dividend to Treasury

Mortgage-finance company Freddie Mac on Tuesday said it would send a $2.3 billion dividend payment to the U.S. Treasury, after posting a sharp profit increase in its latest quarter. (Subscription may be required.)

 

Flood Plan 

 

National Mortgage News

HUD flood plan provokes battle between home builders, environmentalists

The Department of Housing and Urban Development's proposed guidance for the construction of new homes located in flood plains is sparking a fight between homebuilders and environmentalists. (Subscription may be required.)

 

Affordable Housing 

 

Bloomberg

There are 5.6 million cheap apartments in America. Not for Long

The Hidden Villa Apartments, a 61-unit complex in Beaverton, Ore., is the kind of property investors love and affordable-housing activists ignore.