Headlines

Consumer attitudes toward the current condition of the home selling market and future home rental prices may launch purchase activity forward for the rest of 2015, according to Fannie Mae’s June 2015 National Housing Survey. Optimism among consumers about the housing market has reached new survey highs and strong job and income growth are making consumers appear more favorable in the selling market, indicating a possible increase in the existing home supply.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on cybersecurity last week highlighting that banks and other depository regulators need better data analytics and depository institutions want more usable threat information. The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) & the National Credit Union Association (NCUA) both responded to the GAO's recommendation on vendor authority.

In order to provide a clear time frame for claim payments, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) recently announced its proposal to establish a maximum time period for lenders to file insurance claims. The FHA also intends to revise its policy on reimbursement of eligible expenses and debenture interest when foreclosure and claim filing deadlines are missed.

Commentary is an ongoing series on theMReport.com that focuses on opinions, ideas, and insights from experts across mortgage banking. This advisory piece features Steven Russo, EVP of CertainSafe, discussing how legal practitioners hold, store, and transfer critical, privileged and highly sensitive information entrusted to them, which by default, makes them prime targets for hackers.

National Appraisal Congress (NAC) has announced the formation of the Society of Young Appraisal Professionals, an NAC subcommittee focused on addressing the declining workforce in the residential valuations space. The new subcommittee's focus will be on actively recruiting, educating, and promoting apprentice appraisers and on brainstorming ideas and developing solutions to help appraisers who have been in the valuation space for five years or less.

Consumers grow uneasy as the spring season comes to a close and recent gains in the housing market begin to decline. Clear Capital, Inc., a provider of data and solutions for real estate asset valuation and collateral risk assessment, recently released its Home Data Index (HDI) Market Report with data through June 2015 that shows that 2015 will be a non-growth year.

Dedicated, visionary, and optimistic about the future of homeownership, Golding has spent more than 25 years in mortgage finance in both the public and private sector. Prior to joining HUD in 2013, he held several senior positions during a 23-year tenure with Freddie Mac—where he served as SVP of Economics and Policy, Program Executive of Making Home Affordable, SVP of Economics and Strategic Analysis, and SVP of Capital Oversight and Economics. Despite his busy schedule shaping the future of American homeownership, Golding sat down with us this month to address your pressing questions on the FHA, mortgage insurance, housing, down-payment assistance, and more. Editor's note: This select print feature appeared in the July 2015 edition of MReport magazine, available now.

The average fixed mortgage rates have reached new 2015 highs, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS). According to the survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.08 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending July 2, 2015. This is an increase from last week when it averaged 4.02 percent.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently issued the host state loan-to-deposit ratios that the agencies will use to determine compliance with section 109 of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994. The agencies reported that Utah had the highest loan-to-deposit ratio at 101 percent, while Delaware had the lowest ratio at 47 percent.

Arch Mortgage Insurance Company a leading provider of private mortgage insurance and a wholly owned subsidiary of Arch Capital Group Ltd., announced today the launch of a new online resource to provide information and resources to lenders to help them prepare for the expected October 3, 2015 launch of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rules.