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Unlikely Allies Fight Loan Risk Provisions
American Banker (06/01/11) P. 1 Adler, Joe
The Mortgage Bankers Association has teamed with several consumer groups to press for looser risk-retention rules, arguing that the narrow definition of qualified residential mortgages would hike costs for borrowers. David Stevens, CEO of the industry group, said, "We're doing briefings on the Hill and we're hoping to meet with regulators, arm in arm with consumer groups that are strongly concerned about impacts to homeownership access for moderate-income families across this country with the way rule is written." He supports elimination of hard limits for debt-to-income and loan-to-value ratios and warns that FHA risk could increase as a result of a narrow QRM definition.
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Single-Family Delinquencies Continue to Decline at Freddie Mac
LoanRateUpdate.com (06/01/11) Michael, Brian
The delinquency rate for single-family homes in Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolio fell to 3.57 percent in April, down from 3.63 percent in March and 4.06 percent a year earlier. The multifamily delinquency rate, meanwhile, rose for the fourth straight month to 0.40 percent, up from 0.36 percent in March and 0.22 percent last April. The total mortgage portfolio shrank at an annualized rate of 3.2 percent in April.
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Home Prices Hit Lowest Level Since April '09 in Double Dip
Washington Post (06/01/11) P. A12 ElBoghdady, Dina
The S&P/Case-Shiller index shows that U.S. home prices slid 4.2 percent in the first three months of this year, falling to the lowest point since 2009. The movement, with values now below pre-crisis levels, represents a "double dip." Wells Fargo Securities senior economist Mark Vitner notes that there are 2.2 million homes in foreclosure and another 2 million mortgages that are more than 90 days late. For prices to stabilize, he says, about a third of those foreclosures must be cleared.
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Banks Hit Hurdle to Foreclosures
Wall Street Journal (06/01/11) P. A4 Timiraos, Nick
Some distressed homeowners are successfully arguing that their mortgage companies have no proof that they own the loans and, thus, have no legal standing to seize the properties. While such cases have been making their way through the courts for the past few years, judges recently have been halting foreclosures after concluding that flawed paperwork is a more serious problem than initially believed. Borrowers are arguing that banks did not properly assign ownership of the loans after they were bundled into securities, while others allegedly backdated or fabricated documents to fix those errors.
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Fed's Research Chief to Retire
Philadelphia Inquirer (06/01/11)
The head of U.S. economic research and forecasting at the Federal Reserve will retire Sept. 30. David Stockton briefs Fed policymakers on interest rates as well as foreign and domestic economic developments, along with two other top Board of Governors staff officials. The Fed has not named a successor for Stockton.
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