Mortgage Banking News, Rates & Policy
Mortgage industry coverage for bankers, including mortgage rates, lending trends, housing policy, servicing, secondary markets and risk shaping the mortgage market.
Though changes to bank capital rules previewed by Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman in February are being viewed as welcome, experts say other more significant hurdles — not all of them regulatory — are keeping banks on the sidelines of mortgage servicing and lending.
Mortgage rates edged higher after the Fed held rates steady, with markets weighing political shifts, Treasury moves and mixed signals on where borrowing costs head next.
President Trump's concept, which is framed as a potential bipartisan effort, could mean a new route to a goal Dems targeted via foreclosure sale restrictions.
Caution around the move is growing as focus has shifted to affordability, and current trading prices make near-term action unlikely, according to Wedbush.
MBS buying has become the near-term focus but a 2026 offering is still possible, Federal Housing Finance Agency official Bill Pulte told Fox Business.
-
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy lost 92,000 jobs in February while unemployment held steady at 4.4%, a development that could spur the Federal Reserve to question whether interest rates are truly in balance.
-
The bank announced Tuesday its Blueprint for Housing Opportunity plan, a five-year commitment dedicated to increasing the supply of housing.
-
Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said in a speech Monday morning that the central bank will introduce two capital proposals that she said are aimed at boosting banks' role in the mortgage market.
-
A Washington court denied a plaintiff request, pointing to past Supreme Court rulings that showed a compelling interest for the state's special-purpose credit program.
-
The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its delayed January employment report Wednesday morning, showing the economy added 130,000 jobs in January. But the agency also sharply revised its estimates for total jobs created in 2025 to 181,000 from 584,000.
-
The Housing for the 21st Century Act includes provisions covering policy, manufactured homes and rural infrastructure introduced in a prior Senate proposal.
- PaymentsDelivered Every WeekdayAn early-morning roundup of important headlines from the past 24 hours.
- TechnologyWednesday, ThursdayThe latest industry developments from digital banking to cybersecurity to AI.
- RegulationTuesday, ThursdayCoverage of the CFPB, Fed, FDIC, and Dodd-Frank.
- Best of the WeekFridayThe most important and widely read stories from the previous week.
-
Mortgage servicing rights are one of the most notoriously volatile assets in financial markets. The Federal Reserve's plan to loosen their capital treatment could foretell major problems in the future.
-
Branchless and out-of-state banks are harvesting deposits in Florida and lending them out elsewhere, a situation that leads to serious underinvestment in desperately needed infrastructure and affordable housing.
-
The federal government should step in to prevent an emerging patchwork of state regulations from stifling the benefits of applying the tools of generative artificial intelligence to the mortgage market.
-
Partner Insights from Fuse -
Partner Insights from Alteryx 26 -
Partner Insights from Alteryx 26 -
Parnter Insights Alteryx 26
