Tag Archives: Urban Institute

As the GSE conservatorship surges forward with no hope for reform in the near term, many in the industry cannot help but wonder what will happen next.

Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League and former the Mayor of New Orleans, proposes some ways to close the economic gaps between races and reform the housing finance system in America.

The mortgage portfolios of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac expanded slightly to start the year. Will this have an effect on winding the portfolios down while they are under the FHFA's conservatorship?

Why is the FHFA extending its principal reduction program to only 33,000 borrowers when there are three million underwater borrowers nationwide?

America's housing finance system is in what some call a "dysfunctional limbo." Not only is it underperforming, but it is also outdated and in desperate need of a complete revamping among its mission, activities, products, and services.

Credit availability in the mortgage industry increased slightly in the fourth quarter, reversing a long-time downward trend over the last four quarters.

The GSEs began their risk-sharing initiatives in 2013 as a way to transfer risk from taxpayers to private investors while the Enterprises remain in conservatorship of the FHFA. Since then, the GSEs have transferred a substantial portion of the credit risk for mortgages totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid principal balance (UPB).

The authors of the report found that 96 million American renters have never had a mortgage—and 42 percent of them have some other type of consumer debt in collections.

One-mighty private-label securities‒‒mortgages without government involvement‒‒ have been a bit player since the financial collapse of 2008. And according to the Urban Institute, deal agents may just be the way to bring the sector back.

In 2014, mortgage debt was the third-highest form of debt among consumers, with 28 percent holding some form of housing-related debt, the report showed. The highest percentage of consumers have mortgage debt in their late 30s through their early 60s. For borrowers with mortgages, debt balances averaged $160,000 in 2014, up from $150,000 in 2010.