Mortgages

Critics of the Federal Home Loan banks fundamentally misunderstand the purpose and necessity of the system.

Gateway First Bank, a former nonbank home lender, rode the pandemic era's mortgage wave to No. 1 on American Banker's latest list of top-performing banks based on full-year 2022 data. Now it has to cope with the housing market slowdown.

The top five community banks have more than $670 million in combined home equity loan portfolios as of March 31, 2023.

Consumer advocates are protesting specific risk-weighting changes affecting borrowers with lower down payments. Also, a broader increase in requirements may discourage depository holdings of servicing.

There's divergence of opinions between one more rate hike this cycle and no further actions.

The 30-year fixed, which was threatening going above 7% again according to Freddie Mac data, was 18 basis points lower this week.

The bank said it would continue to make multifamily loans to current customers that have depository or other bank relationships. The move comes amid rising concerns about the impact of high interest rates on the apartment sector.

A lack of affordable starter homes, increasing homelessness and stubbornly high prices for the homes that already exist have created a pickle that only careful planning and political buy-in can solve.

The Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision said regulators will adapt supervisory practices to account for advancements in machine learning.

But the volume of activity for distressed properties is still lower than the historic norms, Attom Data Solutions said.