Tag Archives: FHFA

U.S. home prices made quite a jump over the last year, according to recent data. However, the price increases are highly dependent on geography, with some regions experiencing minimal upticks—or even declines—and others seeing more significant jumps in recent years. So where are prices rising most? And which regions offer the more stable housing costs?

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.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has released its monthly index on mortgage interest rates, surveying 17 lenders and a total of 4,437 loans closed during the last 5 business days of April. Lenders report a decline of 14 to 15 basis points on all loan interest rates as well as a slight decline in the average loan amount. April marks the second straight month the FHFA’s survey has reported a drop in interest rates.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is looking to the public for input regarding Limited English Proficiency (LEP) in the mortgage lifecycle. LEF borrowers currently face challenges applying for mortgages because they risk not understanding or relying too much on a source that could mislead them. FHFA looks to better understand the experience LEP borrowers have in order to improve support from the mortgage industry.

Quarterly house prices were up for the 23rd time in a row, according to the FHFA’s Q1 House Price Index report. They were also up year-over-year for the 21st time in a row. But Q1’s rate of growth nationally was a lightweight compared to quarterly growth rates of the past few years.

On Thursday, both FHFA Director Melvin L. Watt and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin separately addressed the current state of the GSEs. Though Mnuchin discussed the priority of housing finance and regulatory reform in front of the Senate, at an industry conference Watt described the many successes of the FHFA in the last nine years. Watt warned that reforms made during conservatorship should not be ignored by congress during the reworking of housing finance reform.

On Thursday, FHFA Director Melvin Watt told a senate committee that the future of the U.S. housing finance system is unsustainable as-is. He implored Congress to solve numerous tough questions involved in moving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out from under federal conservatorship. If not, taxpayers could be on the hook.

According to the enterprise’s recent financial results, Freddie Mac posted a net income of $2.2 billion for Q1 and will pay as much in dividends to the U.S. Treasury. The income is lower than Q4 2016, as are the agency’s single-family revenues, purchase volumes, and mortgage-related investments. Freddie attributed these declines to largely steady interest rates and low market spreads.

According to the Federal Housing Administration on Thursday, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages decreased nationally from February to March. As interest rates dropped, prices have been on the rise, as shown in the FHFA’s last House Price Index for February, which released on Tuesday. House prices rose an average of 6.4 percent that month year-over -year, and up 0.6 percent month-over-month.

Home prices are up yet again, both over the month and over the year. The latest House Price Index shows a more than 6 percent uptick over 2016's prices and nearly a full percent jump since January of this year. The most annual growth was seen in the Mountain region.