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Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson was met with strong words Thursday morning when he appeared with the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Appropriations to defend the proposed budget for the fiscal year. He remained poised, articulate, and open as the subcommittee members took turns voicing their specific concerns. Secretary Carson went on to say that the playbook had to be changed, as there was only so much money to go around.

While much buzz has been surrounding the presumed passing of the Financial Choice Act (H.R. 10), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan analysis for the U.S. Congress, released the budgetary effects of enacting the amended bill Tuesday. The original CBO estimate, released May 4, 2017, said enacting the legislation would reduce federal deficits by $24.1 billion over the 2017-2027 period, but the recalculated estimate said budget deficits would be significantly more than originally estimated. The House of Representatives is set to vote on the bill Thursday.

A Purchase Sentiment Index was released Wednesday by Fannie Mae based on answers to six NHS questions that solicit consumers’ evaluations of housing market conditions and address topics that are related to their home purchase decisions. The index ultimately reports on whether consumers think it is a good or bad time to buy or sell a house, what direction they expect home prices and mortgage interest rates to move, how concerned they are about losing their jobs and whether their incomes are higher than they were a year earlier. Findings show patterns only seen twice in the surveys history.

According to a recent ranking published on Tuesday, secondary homes—particularly on the waterfront—may be more affordable than most homeowners believed. That is, if they know where to look. Florida, New Jersey, and Texas are great places to start searching.

Tom Stover has recently been promoted to CSO at DIMONT, a provider of specialty insurance and loan administration services to the residential and commercial mortgage industries. Denis Brosnan, President and CEO of DIMONT, said, “Tom’s promotion is in recognition of his continuing contributions to DIMONT, and his proven ability to develop innovative solutions.”

Pamela Patenaude, current President of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America’s Families, appeared before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for her nomination hearing Tuesday. If confirmed for Deputy Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Patenaude pledged to ensure that HUD’s programs are responsive to the housing needs of U.S. citizens. President Trump confirmed rumors of Joseph Otting’s intended nomination for the Comptroller of the Currency.

In February, the D.C. Circuit panel gave the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) a win over the allocation of profits from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to the Treasury. This affirmed a lower court’s ruling that actions taken under the FHFA’s conservatorship of the GSEs cannot be challenged in court, however Fannie and Freddie shareholders sued the two for agreeing to the deal. Now, the FHFA and Treasury are urging the D.C. Circuit not to modify its ruling.

Critical defects are down compared with Q1 of 2016, according to ACES Risk Management (ARMCO) in its Q4 Mortgage QC Industry Trends. The report details a breakdown of the final quarter of 2016, including defect rates and findings for each Fannie Mae loan category. It also predicts, with the continued understanding of TRID and its impact, critical loan defects should continue to trend downwards in 2017.

A HPI Forecast shows low mortgage rates and increased home prices are on the horizon. The data for April 2017 was released Tuesday showing home prices up both in year-over-year and month-over-month. Increased buying activity was paired with low mortgage rates, which were at their lowest since November 2016.

As both current homeowners and potential homebuyers are settling more into their prospective communities, turning to federally-insured credit unions for their mortgage and banking needs has become a viable option. On Monday the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) released its 2017 Q1 call report data, which reports growth all across the board for federally insured credit unions. Dan Berger, the President and CEO of the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) attributes the overall growth first and foremost to growing membership, which rose 4.2 percent, over 4.3 million more members than were registered a year ago.