Originations

The title proposal is part of a broader housing cost reduction proposal being discussed in the State of the Union speech.

But those rates are still relatively high, and that is a barrier to entry for potential homebuyers, Freddie Mac said.

The latest inflation news has created concern that the Federal Reserve's pivot on short-term rates could be delayed.

Loan volumes fell for the third straight week, with depressed demand for government lending driving activity downward, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

For the first time since mid-December, the Freddie Mac survey reports mortgage rates over 6.7%.

The company was able release credit reserves because of actual and forecasted prices that boosted net income, CEO Priscilla Almodovar said.

The government-sponsored enterprise financed 955,000 mortgages last year, down from the 1.8 million loans it backed in 2022.

Only a few dozen mortgage firms could likely afford the $7 million ad for this year's big game, a marketing veteran said.

Even with the 9 basis point rise this week, they have remained at the same level since mid-December, and that should bring people into the market, Freddie Mac said.

Its January forecast reverses the call first made in April 2022 that the U.S. economy would slip into an extended downturn.

A common concern in housing finance reactions has been the lack of accommodation for strategies routinely used to manage credit, rate and liquidity exposures.

"Someone somewhere has not taken a victory lap for the work that has been done to rehabilitate the enterprises." Priscilla Almodovar said in a Bloomberg interview.

The move is somewhat counterintuitive relative to other market signals but Fannie Mae generally forecasts a net positive shift in lending conditions this year.

The former Obama administration official and MBA head died unexpectedly on Jan. 16.

Navy Federal, the nation's largest credit union, is facing a lawsuit about its allegedly discriminatory mortgage lending practices.

For the past week, the benchmark 10-year Treasury closed above 4%, as the markets priced in an increase in the consumer price index.

But this week the 30-year fixed rate mortgage average increased for the first time in two months.

Rates that have been below 7% for two consecutive weeks have given originators a gift at what's typically a slow time of year, Freddie Mac said.

The lawsuit accuses Navy Federal of violating the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act after a CNN report that the lender approved a lower percentage of Black and Latino mortgage applicants.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is appealing a lower court ruling that the agency exceeded its authority in bringing an anti-discrimination enforcement action against a Chicago mortgage lender after he made disparaging remarks about Blacks and Hispanics.