Government

According to Stegman, under the current system taxpayers remain at risk and the government has yet to provide a long-term plan for the housing market. Under conservatorship GSE senior employees can reap substantial profits while leaving taxpayers the burden of covering the enormous losses. Flaws like this one can only be changed by law.

Neugebauer’s proposal would replace the CFPB director with a bipartisan, five-member commission appointed by the president for five-year terms, with no more than three from a single political party. According to the draft legislation, the CFPB would also be renamed as the “Financial Product Safety Commission” and would no longer be funded by the Federal Reserve, but by its own budget appropriation.

U.S. foreclosures soared in 2008. At that time, one in every 54 households was getting at least one filling notice and nearly 3.2 million foreclosures were filed in 2007. Loss mitigation programs were created in response to the crisis. Now, Watt believes the need for these programs will wind down. An estimated 3.2 million borrowers have completed a HARP refinance since it was introduced in 2009, including more than 95,000 in New Jersey, according to the FHFA.

Stegman said the Administration would not end the conservatorship of the GSEs without a viable alternative that provides that elusive balance between eliminating taxpayer risk while still allowing credit access.

Student loan debt, a slow lag in finding employment, and wage stagnation were cited as some of the reasons why millennials have yet to enter the housing market in record numbers. About 70 percent of students walked away with loan debt in 2013 and the average student racks up almost $30,000 in debt by graduation, according to an annual report on loan debt released by the Institute for College Access and Success.

The strengthening employment sector, declining commodity prices, and rising income prices are some reasons 2015 is set for a pickup, according to Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) Group.

President and CEO of Genworth Mortgage Insurance and Chair of U.S. Mortgage Insurers Rohit Gupta testified on behalf of the Mortgage Insurance Industry (MI) at the House Financial Services Committee Housing and Insurance Subcommittee today stressing the need for balance between the roles of the Federal Housing Administration and MI when to comes to taxpayers.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen in her testimony to Congress on Wednesday said the Fed would be using "patience" on deciding when to increase interest rates. Yellen was cautious about citing any particular date for the increase, citing slow productivity growth as one of the reasons for the delay.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro addressed the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations Wednesday on the Fiscal Year 2016 budget proposal for HUD, where he emphasized ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) will be trying to get the more than 20,000 New Jersey residents still eligible to sign up for the Home Affordable Refinance Program at their fifth outreach event to be held in Newark on March 4.