Current Housing Indicators |
| CURRENT | PREVIOUS | ||
| Existing Home Sales | 4.49m | ▼ | 4.74m |
| New Home Sales | 309,000 | ▼ | 344,000 |
| Housing Starts | 583,000 | ▲ | 477,000 |
| Building Permits | 547,000 | ▲ | 531,000 |
| HMI | 9 | UNCH | 9 |
| Existing Home Prices | $170,300 | ▼ (annually) | $199,800 |
| New Home Prices | $201,100 | ▼ (annually) | $232,400 |
More Videos
- Watch Foreclosures, Seriously
- Home Buyer Tax Credit Expansion Heads to Obama
- Congratulations America, We're All Landlords Now
- Wells Fargo Bets on Housing Recovery
- Home Buyer Tax Credit Done: Does it Matter?
- Better Times for Mortgage Banking
- 'Beleaguered Big Builders' Sitting On Piles of Cash
- Home Buyer Tax Credit: Final Deal?
- A Compromise on Home Buyer Tax Credit?
- Mortgage Bankers Can't Afford Their Own Home
MOST SHARED
- Solar Market Heating Back Up?
- Realty Execs See Pain Ahead
- US Becomes Top Country Brand Under Obama: Survey
- Sweeping Health Care Overhaul Bill Passes House
- Easy Money & Stocks
- BoA Board in Civil War Over Lewis' Succesor
- Administration Rejects Plan to Buy Fannie Mae Credits
- Want the Homebuyer's Tax Credit? Here Are Some Tips
- Food Network, HGTV Drive Scripps Networks' Upside Surprise
- Tommy Lee, Medical Tourism and Nasty Santa, Your Emails
- U.S. Markets Gain 3% for the Week Despite 10.2% Unemployment
- Disney's 'Carol' Tests Widest 3-D Release Ever
- Stimulus II? Jobs Tax Credit=Cash For Clunkers
- Rockwell Automation Earnings: What Options Are Saying
- Gold Will Touch Higher Lows and Higher Highs: Analyst
- Is Misery Alive And Well in Your Office?
- Consumers Haven't Changed, They Are Just Pickier
- Sweeping Health Care Overhaul Bill Passes House
- For the Jobless, 10% is Harder Than Before
- Week Ahead: Stocks Search for Catalyst in Quiet Week
- Outlook: Dollar Likely to Ride Higher on Bleak Jobs Report
- Geithner: More Stimulus, Not a Bank Tax
- Windfall is Seen as Bank Bonuses are Paid in Stock
- Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Says Net Income Tripled
- Cramer: Earnings, IPOs Dominate Next Week
- Buying Fear: How to Own Volatility
RSS FEED
Realty Check
Text Size 
You may or may not have heard, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, announced his legislation for mortgage lending reform today. This is expected to be the bill that will or will not change the way the mortgage business does business.
The 66-page bill (much like your mortgage) is designed to “diminish predatory lending while continuing to support a rigorous mortgage market.” That’s what Frank said on a conference call this morning, although he didn’t actually have a copy of the bill with him, nor did I have a copy of it in front of me. That came later.
The bill prohibits financial incentives for brokers and bankers to steer borrowers toward more expensive loans. It also prohibits prepayment penalties on subprime loans and limits prepayment penalties on prime loans. The penalties would actually have to expire three months before an interest rate on an adjustable rate mortgage would reset.
The bill also makes securitizers responsible for bad loans; yup, that’s you Wall St. Not totally responsible, of course, but there would be “assignee liability” to ensure that folks like Bear Stearns and the like are really making sure those new underwriting standards are enforced. The idea is that borrowers should not be given loans they can’t afford (did we need a law for that?? Guess so.)
Reaction? Mixed. The Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, has given a thumbs up in the past to limited assignee liability, but the Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson has expressed concern that this would make investors slightly skittish. The issue among banking groups has to do with the fact that the bill leaves a lot of this stuff up to the states.
The Mortgage Bankers Association is looking for a more uniform national standard. "That will go a long way toward getting rid of confusion in the mortgage market place. It's a national mortgage market. Most of the funding comes out of the GSE's or Wall Street. Without that, the bill is a non-starter for the industry," Kurt Pfotenhauer or the MBA told me.
He also said the bill is extremely complex and "the possibility of unintended consequence is high." He'll be testifying at Chairman Frank's hearing on the issue Wednesday, so stay tuned.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes