REFinBlog

Editor: David Reiss
Cornell Law School

April 19, 2017

How Tight Is The Credit Box?

By David Reiss

Laurie Goodman of the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center has posted a working paper, Quantifying the Tightness of Mortgage Credit and Assessing Policy Actions. The paper opens, Mortgage credit has become very tight in the aftermath of the financial … Continue reading

April 17, 2017

This Is What GSE Reform Looks Like

By David Reiss

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Division of Conservatorship release an Update on Implementation of the Single Security and the Common Securitization Platform. As I had discussed last week, housing finance reform is proceeding apace from within the FHFA notwithstanding assertions … Continue reading

April 13, 2017

Fannie + Freddie = Frannie

By David Reiss

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released its 2016 Scorecard Progress Report. It contains some interesting information about the FHFA’s ongoing efforts to reshape Fannie and Freddie notwithstanding the inaction of Congress. These efforts are not broadcast very clearly, but they … Continue reading

April 6, 2017

Is There a Bipartisan Fix for Fannie and Freddie?

By David Reiss

The Hill published my latest column, Congress May Have Finally Found a Bipartisan Fix to Fannie and Freddie. It reads, It is welcome news to hear that Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) are looking to craft a bipartisan … Continue reading

March 15, 2017

Fannie and Freddie’s Credit Risk Transfers

By David Reiss

The Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center has released its February 2017 Housing Finance at a Glance Chartbook, always a great resource for housing geeks. Each Chartbook highlights one topic. This one focuses on GSE credit risk transfers, an important … Continue reading

March 13, 2017

Three Paths to Housing Finance Reform

By David Reiss

The Urban Institute’s Jim Parrott has posted Clarifying the Choices in Housing Finance Reform. It opens, The housing finance reform debate has often foundered under the weight of its complexity. Not only is it a complicated topic, both in its … Continue reading

February 22, 2017

GSE Investors’ Hidden Win

By David Reiss

The big news yesterday was that the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled in the main for the federal government in Perry Capital v. Mnuchin, one of the major cases that investors brought against the federal government … Continue reading