CFPB: Report Warns that Taking out a Reverse Mortgage Loan can be an Expensive Way to Maximize Social Security Benefits
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today issued a report warning older consumers about taking out a reverse mortgage loan in order to bridge the gap in income while delaying Social Security benefits until a later age. The CFPB report found, in general, the costs and risks of taking out a reverse mortgage…
HUD and Census Bureau: New Residential Home Sales July 2017
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau today jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for July 2017: NEW HOME SALES Sales of new single-family houses in July 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 571,000, according to estimates released jointly today by…
Federal Reserve: Revised Interagency Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Sampling, Verification and Resubmission Procedures
The Task Force on Consumer Compliance of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) recently developed the attached interagency Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA)1 Examiner Transaction Testing Guidelines that include sampling, verification, and resubmission procedures for use in connection with HMDA data collected beginning on January 1, 2018 pursuant to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s…
FHFA: U.S. House Prices Rise 1.6 Percent in Second Quarter 2017
Washington, D.C. – U.S. house prices rose 1.6 percent in the second quarter of 2017 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI). House prices rose 6.6 percent from the second quarter of 2016 to the second quarter of 2017. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for June was up 0.1 percent…
CFPB: What you Need to Know about the New FFIEC HMDA Examiner Transaction Testing Guidelines
Today, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) members announced new FFIEC Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Examiner Transaction Testing Guidelines (Guidelines) for all financial institutions that report HMDA data. The Guidelines will apply to the examination of HMDA data collected beginning in 2018 and reported beginning in 2019. The Guidelines will help ensure accurate…
FHFA: Modifications Announced to High LTV Streamlined Refinance Program and Extension of HARP through December 2018
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced modifications to the streamlined refinance program for borrowers with high loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. On August 25, 2016, FHFA announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) would implement a High LTV Streamlined Refinance program to provide much-needed liquidity for borrowers who are current on their mortgage…
FHFA: Refinance Volume Continued to Slow in Second Quarter 2017
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that more than 356,709 refinances were completed in the second quarter of 2017, compared with 510,074 in the first quarter. FHFA’s second quarter Refinance Report also shows that more than 9,700 loans were refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program, bringing the total number of HARP refinances…
Federal Reserve: The Effect of Interest Rates on Home Buying
The Effect of Interest Rates on Home Buying: Evidence from a Discontinuity in Mortgage Insurance Premiums (PDF) Neil Bhutta and Daniel Ringo We study the effect of interest rates on the housing market by taking advantage of a sudden and unexpected price change in a large government mortgage program. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insures…