News

The president reported in his speech that the housing market has not come all the way back yet and there is still work to be done. But according to one analyst, the president may have overestimated how far the housing market has come back and the administration's role in the recovery.

Citing concerns about the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) low capital reserve ratio and its 2013 bailout, senators Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and David Vitter (R-Louisiana) are calling on the Obama administration to reconsider its plan to cut FHA's annual mortgage insurance premium by half a percentage point.

The New York Federal Reserve's year-end Survey of Consumer Expectations showed little change between November and December, though there was a small pullback in Americans' financial expectations, according to results released Monday. The results mirror the latest National Housing Survey results released last week by Fannie Mae.

In a mortgagee letter issued Friday, HUD announced that the reduction in annual premiums—which will bring premiums down to 0.85 percent on most FHA loans—will affect mortgages with case numbers assigned on or after January 26.

Florida-based Aces Risk Management (ARMCO), a provider of Web-based audit technology for the financial services industry, has tapped mortgage quality control expert Phil McCall to serve as COO.

With 2015 less than two weeks underway, Fitch Ratings is the latest forecaster predicting great things for housing in the coming year. However, unlike other commentators, whose projections were based on encouraging market trends, the ratings agency says it's a combination of recent government actions that reinforces its view.

Taking data from its monthly home price tracker, Black Knight Financial Services found in its latest report that while high-value properties in the country's hardest-hit states have made solid strides in recovering to their pre-crisis peaks, low-value homes are still struggling to make progress.

Oregon's Department of Finance and Corporate Securities (DFCS) is now using the National SAFE Mortgage Loan Originator (MLO) Test with Uniform State Content, making it the 46th state agency in the country to streamline its originator licensing process.

Sixty-six percent of respondents in a recent survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling said that "I want financial stability, but don't know how to get there." Nearly one quarter of respondents (23 percent) said that "I don't think financial stability is attainable for me."

December's job gain was close to 2014's average monthly increase, and 2014 was the best year of job growth in the United States since 1999. According to Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan, the underlying data may not be so encouraging for the housing market, however.