PolicyCast: Unlocking the Data Driving Housing

The Urban Institute’s Laurie Goodman joins the Arch MI PolicyCast to discuss the rising importance of non-bank mortgage lenders, strategies for boosting the housing supply and proposed bank regulations that could raise costs for lower-income borrowers. Read More

Regulators Revisit Redlining

If you thought redlining was a housing practice found just in history books, think again. Federal agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), are putting lenders under a microscope and looking at redlining in a whole new light. Read More

Will Banks Abandon Home Lending?

If scorching summer temperatures weren’t bad enough, the housing finance industry is hot under the collar due to new bank capital requirements, found in the so-called Basel III Endgame, for home loans Read More

Common Woes Offer Hope for Housing

Sadly, the days are already getting shorter here on the other side of the summer solstice. We thought it a good time to shorten this issue of Capital Commentary, too, by a couple of hundred words while still providing an optimistic outlook. Read More

FHFA under Fire

The dog days of summer haven’t yet hit Washington, but the temperature was plenty hot for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) at two House committees investigating the regulator’s decisions on the mortgage market. Read More

LLPA Changes Stir Controversy

Anyone following housing policy knows that one issue has dominated recent headlines: Changes to upfront loan prices paid by borrowers on loans sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac that took effect May 1. Read More

Will Climate Change Housing’s Future?

Climate change’s long-term implications for housing come under scrutiny in the latest Capital Commentary. Homeowners insurance and heating bills are increasing while policymakers wrestle with climate-exposed loans that lenders are shifting to the GSEs. Read More

Growing Risks to Housing Finance System?

This issue of Capital Commentary highlights new potential risks to the housing finance system: reducing the effectiveness of transferring credit risk and eliminating title insurance and full appraisals on many loans. Read More