Government

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently issued an update to mortgage-backed security (MBS) structure, also known as Single Security. The new changes to the Single Security structure are based on 23 responses to a “Request for Public Input: Proposed Single Security Structure (RFI)” released in August 2014 by the FHFA.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently released a new working paper titled, “How Low Can House Prices Go? Estimating a Conservative Lower Bound,” identifying a conservative lower bound for home prices in relation to long-term trend.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently issued a bulletin to help mortgage lenders evade illegal discrimination against applicants that include vouchers from the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Homeownership Program in their income when applying for a mortgage loan. This type of discrimination may violate federal fair lending protections.

Nationwide Biweekly Administration, Inc., Loan Payment Administration LLC, and the company’s owner, Daniel Lipsky, are being sued by the Consumer Financial Bureau (CFPB) in federal district court. The CFPB claims that Nationwide falsely advertises the interest savings consumers will achieve through a biweekly mortgage payment program called the “Interest Minimizer” and deceives consumers about the price of the program.

The nearly two-month long court battle between the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Nomura Holdings came to an end Monday when a federal judge found the bank liable for selling shoddy mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac prior to the 2008 financial crisis.

The House Financial Services Committee has issued subpoenas to two federal government agencies and a branch of the central bank requesting information and documents regarding the government's "too big to fail" designation and the Obama Administration's debt ceiling, according to an announcement Monday on the Committee's website.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Director Jeremiah O. Norton has resigned from that position effective June 5, according to an announcement from the FDIC. Norton has served as FDIC director since April 2012.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their “Employment Situation—April 2015” report today, showing that the total number of non-farm payroll employment has increased by 223,000 in April, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged from the previous month at 5.4 percent.

Speaking at the Greenlining Institute 22nd Annual Economic Summit, Watt announced a one-year extension of the government's two affordable housing programs, which began in 2009 in response to the housing crisis. HARP was set to expire at the end of this year, while HAMP was extended last July until the end of 2016.

There are many metrics by which to judge the current administration against those of the past. This week, ValueWalk ranked the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ presidents as judged by their homeownership rates. Making ValueWalk’s ‘best’ list were Presidents Clinton, Johnson (Lydon), and Carter who saw homeownership expand during their presidencies by 5.1 percent, just over 1.1 percent, and just under 1.1. percent, respectively. ValueWalk ranks President Obama as one of the worst presidents when it comes to homeownership numbers, followed by President Regan