Government

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is facing a lawsuit from a housing group for allegedly failing to uphold the GSEs' obligations to make contributions to a housing trust fund. The National Low Income Housing Coalition announced the suit Tuesday. According to the group, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have not met their requirements to pay into the National Housing Trust Fund. Law requires the enterprises to transfer a portion of the value of their new business into the fund, though it was suspended in 2008.

Six financial regulatory agencies issued on Wednesday a proposed rule to exempt a subset of higher-priced mortgage loans from certain appraisal requirements. In a joint release, the agencies proposed to provide exemptions from Dodd-Frank appraisal requirements for loans of $25,000 or less, certain streamlined refinancings, and certain loans secured by manufactured housing.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has expressed support mixed with concern for the common securitization platform the Federal Housing Finance Agency is developing as part of its strategic plan for this year. While MBA condones the potential taxpayer savings and market efficiencies, the industry group continues to argue for more transparency and industry input in the platform development. In a paper released Wednesday, the MBA explained its vision for a successful common securitization platform.

Merscorp Holdings, Inc. announced it received another favorable ruling in a recording fee suit. The town of Johnston in Rhode Island brought suit against Merscorp, Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS), and other defendants, which included large banks and servicers, alleging the MERS system used for mortgages and mortgage assignments violated state law.

In separate statements Tuesday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), FDIC, and the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) proposed a rule that would require insured depository institutions of certain banks to meet a 6 percent supplementary leverage ratio to be considered ""well capitalized."" The proposal would also require covered bank holding companies to maintain a tier 1 capital leverage buffer of at least 2 percent above the minimum supplementary leverage ratio requirement of 3 percent, for a total of 5 percent, the regulators stated.

The number of job openings edged up in May, increasing for the for the first time since February as hirings continued to improve, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Tuesday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). According to the JOLTS, report, the number of persons unemployed for each job opening in May remained at April's level of 3.07 but was down from 3.09 in February.

According to Fannie Mae's latest National Housing Survey, 57 percent of consumers expect prices will continue to rise in the next 12 months--a survey high. The average price change expectation was 3.8 percent, a slight drop from May's high of 3.9 percent. More notable was the pickup in mortgage rate expectations. The number of consumers expecting rates will rise over the next 12 months spiked 11 percentage points to 57 percent, another survey high. Only 4 percent said they expect rates will drop.

In April alone, nearly 107,000 loans were refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), up from 99,000 in March, according to data FHFA. April's figure raises the total since the program's 2009 inception to 2.56 million. The program also continued to help a large share of underwater borrowers. From January to April, 44 percent of GSE borrowers who refinanced under the program had loan-to-value ratios greater than 105 percent.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a set of bills last week that will impact that the state's foreclosure laws.

National monetary policy alone cannot reliably prevent or reverse housing bubbles, according to a recent report from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The downfall lies in the fact that housing prices and housing markets vary widely across the country, stated the researchers in the report. Monetary policy and large national programs such as the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) may help some markets while hurting others, according to the report.