Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

Uncertainty is the greatest hindrance to the housing recovery today, according to Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth A. Duke, who speak before the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday. Duke called on policymakers to "move forward with the difficult decisions that will affect the future of the mortgage market," deeming this the "most important solution" to today├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós struggling market. While the economy and the housing market are beginning to see some signs of ripening, Duke pointed out that lending remains tight.

Three federal regulatory agencies finalized stress-testing guidance Monday for financial institutions with total assets worth more than $10 billion. The Federal Reserve, FDIC, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released the guidance after receiving 17 comment letters from banks, financial advisory firms, and trade groups. The agencies stressed the importance of capital and liquidity, saying that systemically important financial institutions should apply stress tests to these areas on a regular basis as the rule moves forward.

House Republicans recently called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to release financial plans and performance targets for the next year. In a letter obtained by MReport, Reps. Michael Fitzpatrick, Randy Neugebauer, and James Renacci slammed the agency by calling it unresponsive to their requests for budget details. The House members frequently made mention of the national debt, tying perceptions of government excess and waste to their demands for congressional oversight of the bureau. The Fed-funded bureau remains at the center of a political storm.

With an upsurge in demand, banks resumed tightening standards for residential mortgage loans, the Federal Reserve said Monday in a quarterly survey for bank lending standards. According to the survey, a net 30.2 percent of bank surveyed in the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey saw increased demand in the first quarter for traditional mortgage loans compared with a net 3.8 percent reporting stronger demand in the fourth quarter. The survey found that a net 1.9 percent of survey respondents also reported tightening loan standards.

Twenty-four trade groups and associations signed off on a comment letter Friday that calls on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to give creditors more legal leeway when it comes to Qualified Mortgages. The two-page letter ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô headed up by the American Bankers Association, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Home Builders, and National Association of Realtors, among others ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô framed forthcoming rules around credit availability and sound home loans. Influential trade groups continue to criticize the rule.

Life insurer MetLife announced Thursday that it will exit the reverse mortgage origination business, with plans to sell the division responsible for these loans to Nationstar Mortgage LLC. It was not immediately clear how much Nationstar paid to buy the reverse mortgage portfolio from MetLife. The life insurer also said that it would cease receiving any new reverse mortgage loan applications and registrations. MetLife said that retail banking, including reverse mortgages, accounted for less than 2 percent of operating earnings for the company last year.

Debt crises in Europe once more left interest rates for mortgage loans near record lows. Finance Web site Bankrate.com found 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 4.09 percent, down from 4.10 percent last week, alongside a 15-year loan that hit 3.28 percent this week, down from 3.32 percent. Bankrate.com found said that 5-year and 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages meanwhile fell from 3.05 percent last week to 3.03 percent this week. News out of Britain this week found that the bulwark economy slipped into a double-dip recession during the first quarter.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland has released its spring Forefront report addressing the budget shortfalls throughout the U.S. Examining the risk that weakening public finances have on specific regions of the country, the Cleveland Fed is forecasting an uncertain future for the country's financial stability. The pension funds, which would deliver a shock to the broader financial system upon failure, appear more stable than previous reports have suggested. The bank evaluated bank capital requirements and tax system tradeoffs.

Touting its unique platform, Tradeweb Markets LLC has announced that the company recently reached a new benchmark, with more than $1 trillion in mortgage securities risk offset through the use of its trading technology. Tradeweb credits the company's new round-robin functionality of its programs for its success in the to-be announced-mortgage-backed securities (TBA-MBS) market.

Weak economic news out of Europe and comments from the Federal Reserve chairman last week conspired to keep interest rates for mortgage loans near all-time lows ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô and flat ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô for another week. Real estate Web site Zillow found the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hovering at 3.81 percent, down from 3.88 percent last week. The 15-year loan averaged 3.04 percent, even while the 5-year and 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages hit 2.57 percent. The Web site found mortgage rates zigzagging in states across with the union, with those in California and New York each falling furthest at a clip of 11 basis points.