- Congress is back from recess and its schedule puts many bills (see March 31st Tuesday’s Round-up) impacting financial institutions, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Home Loan Bank System.
Author Archives: Serenna McCloud
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Round-Up
- American Enterprise Institute’s International Center on Housing Risk releases Data and Briefing on National Mortgage Risk Index and Other Risk Measures notes the growth of non-banks are holding a growing share of FHA backed home loans
- National Alliance to End Homelessness’ The State of Homelessness in America Report notes a 2% decrease in homelessness from 2013 -2014
- Urban Land Institute’s Real Estate Consensus Forecast 2015 predicts strong growth over the next three years.
Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development Recently Released an Evaluation of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) which finds that NSP was too modestly funded to consistently arrest the declines in property values or achieve the impacts that were hoped for.
Friday’s Government Reports
- Fannie Mae’s Housing Forecast for March Predicts Steady Growth for 2nd Quarter of 2015 Through Year End
- Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Mortgage Metrics Report Shows a Decline in Foreclosure Rates for the 4th Quarter of 2014
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Census Bureau Release New Home Sales Data For February 2015 Which Were Significantly Above Projected Estimates
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Round-Up
- Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Study, The Color of Wealth in Boston Finds, Disparities In Wealth Across Asset Classes and that Non-Whites Are Significantly Less Likely to Own a Home and Hold Mortgage More Debt When they Do
- The NYU Furman Center Recently Released a White Paper, Responding to Changing Households: Regulatory Challenges for Micro Units and Accessory Dwelling Units and a Research Brief, Compact Units: Demand and Challenges Which Assess the Demand for and Affordable Housing Implications in Addition to the Regulatory Challenges of Such Developments
Tuesday’s Regulatory and Legislative Round-Up
- On March 26th the The House Financial Services Committee approved 11 bipartisan bills designed to help strengthen the economy and consumer choice by “relieving community banks and credit unions from some of the harmful regulatory burden imposed by Washington,” these include:
- Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act – which allows privately insured state chartered credit unions to apply for membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank System.
- Community Institution Mortgage Relief Act – which mitigates the high cost of regulatory compliance by amending the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act to direct the CFPB to provide exemptions from the mortgage escrow account requirements of Dodd-Frank and for small servicers that annually service 20,000 or fewer mortgage loans.
- Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities Act – which provides an appeals process for areas to be designated as rural for the purpose of exempting certain loans from the CFPB’s Qualified Mortgage rule.
- Mortgage Choice Act – which rovides clarity to the calculation of points and fees, allowing more loans to qualify as Qualified Mortgages and increasing options for borrowers.
- Mortgage Servicing Capital Asset Capital Requirements Act – Directs federal banking agencies to conduct a study to determine the appropriate capital requirements for mortgage servicing assets for community financial institutions.
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Round-up
- Brookings Institution Spring 2015 Brookings Panel on Economic Activity Research Paper: Risk Management for Monetary Policy Near the Zero Lower Bound Concludes that It Is Better if Interest Rates Stay Low Rather than be Raised Too Soon.
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Report: Highlights How President Obama’s Budget Will Restore 67,000 Housing Vouchers lost During the 2013 Sequestration
- Federal Reserve Board’s Division of Research & Statistics and Monetary Affairs, Report: Crowding out Effects of Refinancing on New Purchase Mortgages, Concludes that High Credit Risk Borrowers Get Approved for Mortgage Loans Nire often When Interest Rates are High.
- The Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer and Community Development Research Team evaluated the success of Neighborhood Stabilization Program in, Have Distressed Neighborhoods Recovered?
- New Climate Economy Report: Provides Comprehensive Estimates of the Costs of Sprawl and Potential Benefits of Smart Growth, Describes Planning and Market Distortions that Foster Sprawl, and Smart Growth policies that can help correct these distortions.
- National Association of Realtors Letter to Senators Delany (D-MD) and Others Thanking them for Re-Introducing the Partnership to Strengthen Home Ownership Act, which would Reform the Housing Finance System
