Daily Dose

NCUA sued Wachovia, which was acquired by Wells Fargo in 2008, in 2011. The Association filed suit against Barclays, the U.S. subsidiary of the British financial services firm, in 2012. Once the settlements are completed, NCUA will dismiss pending suits against both firms in federal district courts in California, New York and Kansas. As part of the settlement, neither Wachovia nor Barclays do not admit any fault.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has advanced three specific legislative proposals aimed at eliminating regulatory burden on community banks and financial institutions, according to an address from Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry at the Interagency Outreach Meeting on The Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act (EGRPA) in Chicago this week.

The default rates for both first mortgages and second mortgages dropped from August to September, fueling the decline in the composite index. The first mortgage default rate fell by eight basis points down to 0.76 percent and the second mortgage default rate dropped by 10 basis points down to 0.47 percent in September. Both rates are close to the historic lows for the first and second mortgage default rates of 0.74 percent and 0.42 percent, respectively, both reached in May 2015.

A combination of a lack of housing inventory, especially discounted and distressed, and a surge in demand for rental housing has caused more investors to turn to the build to rent strategy—that is, building a single-family home with the specific intent of renting it rather than sell it to an owner occupant.

Although the third quarter of 2015 only saw seven RMBS transactions from six issuers, a continued decline from 12 transactions in the first quarter and 10 transactions in the second quarter, the 29 transactions and approximately $10.1 billion of issuance so far this year have already exceeded the 26 transactions and $8.3 billion issued for the entire year of 2014.

In an editorial titled “How Not to Fix Fannie and Freddie,” Antonio Weiss, Counselor to the Treasury Secretary, called the push to recapitalize the GSEs and release them from the FHFA’s conservatorship “misguided.” Weiss claims that such a “recap and release” proposal, if executed, could raise the cost of mortgages and potentially expose American taxpayers to another bailout.

The research behind every real estate transaction is based on antiquated and manual methods that have not changed dramatically in decades. Repetitive tasks in the title production process can slow productivity and generate opportunities for errors—creating the need for ‘straight-through processing’ (STP).

Morgan Stanley reported net revenues of $7.8 billion for the quarter ending September 30, 2015, compared to net revenues of $8.9 billion from the same reporting period a year earlier. Net income applicable to Morgan Stanley for Q3 was also down from a year ago, from $1.7 billion at the end of Q3 2014 ($0.83 per diluted share) to $1.0 billion at the end of Q3 2015 ($0.48 per diluted share).

The macroeconomic picture in the U.S. continues to battle economic headwinds—namely a September jobs report that came in below expectations and an appreciating dollar which will pressure the already growing U.S. trade deficit, Fannie Mae said. Yet, housing remains in a fairly positive zone, considering all of the factors weighing it down.

Christie responded that the way to do it is to bring all the Republicans and Democrats from Congress and put them together and ask each side what it can live with and to stay together until they come up with a list of items that both sides agree on. And as president, he said, he would support the list that the sides agree on.