Housing

The House passed a bill Thursday that would authorize state insurance commissioners to approve flood insurance policies for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other federally backed mortgages.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco has selected Greg Seibly to be its new president and chief executive starting May 12. He will take over from Dean Schultz, who is retiring after 25 years at the helm of the bank.

The courts would not be getting involved in defining the reach of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if the architects of the agency had instituted a commission to oversee it.

Freddie Mac has revised downward its economic forecast for the remainder of 2016 following a tepid first quarter, but still remains upbeat about the housing market.

Federal regulators unveiled a long-awaited proposal Thursday designed to target incentive-based pay arrangements for executives at banks and credit unions, the agencies' second attempt after their initial plan met fierce resistance.

WASHINGTON — Michael Wilson officially assumed the titles of president and chief executive of the merged Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines on Monday, a little sooner than expected.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., is seeking input from the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office on the future of policies dealing with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The National Association of Realtors is teaming up with a coalition of environmental groups, taxpayer advocates and insurance companies to push Congress on flood insurance reforms.

Freedom Mortgage of Mount Laurel, N.J., has agreed to pay $113 million to settle government allegations that it failed to comply with Federal Housing Administration requirements for originating and servicing FHA-insured loans.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is continuing to reject calls to slash the annual premium for the Federal Housing Administration despite a renewed push by the National Association of Realtors. But some predict the FHA may eventually cave in.

FHFA Director Mel Watt acknowledged that the principal reduction program may seem "too small and too late."

Quicken Loans plans to appeal a recent federal labor ruling that the Detroit lender and other companies owned by Dan Gilbert violated employees' rights.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's experiments with selling credit risk to investors are a critical element of new plan to merge the two entities and move them out of conservatorship, but what form so-called credit risk transfers take could make a big difference.

The housing market has been improving but mortgage credit remains "stubbornly" tight on loans bought by the government-sponsored enterprises, according to a chief housing adviser at the White House.

The majority of first-time homebuyers plan to skip the starter-home step and move straight into the home that would meet their long-term needs, according to the Homebuyer Insights Report from Bank of America.

The agency's insurance-rate cut could spur the rehab of thousands of affordable units, but it's far from a total solution, housing advocates say.

Third Federal Savings and Loan in Cleveland has long offered mortgage refinancing in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. Now it plans to offer purchase loans in those states.

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to sell its U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development mortgage origination business to Freedom Mortgage of Mount Laurel, N.J.

The government agency that guarantees securitizations of Federal Housing Administration-insured loans is testing a pool type that consists only of modified and reperforming loans.

Bankers are fighting back against a plan that would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invest in low-income housing tax credits, arguing they are critical for meeting Community Reinvestment Act requirements.