Posted on 12/11/2013 10:50:40 AM PST by whitedog57
There are two pieces of mortgage application index news today.
First, Mel Watt (D-NC) was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new FHFA Director by a vote of 57-41. Only two Vichy Republicans, Bob Portman (VR-OH) and Richard Burr (VR-NC) voted for the confirmation of Mel Watt, a person with no regulatory experience and an affordable housing hawk. Watt will now be the “regulator” for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants in conservatorship with the FHFA.
Why would President Obama nominate someone (and the Democrats confirm) with NO regulatory experience for perhaps the most important regulatory job in the world? After all, the liabilities for the GSEs is almost as large as the Federal debt. And was larger than Federal debt during the housing bubble of the last decade.
gseliabdebt
Ed DeMarco, the acting Director of FHFA, stood for safety and soundness of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Not only did President Obama not push for him to be appointed permanent director, President Obama wanted Mel Watt, the anti-safety and soundness choice. Watt is likely to push for HARP expansion and perhaps mortgage writedowns at Fannie and Freddie’s (aka, TAXPAYER) expense.
Second, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released their weekly survey of mortgage applications. They rose slightly from the previous week.
Mortgage purchase applications rose 37% NSA rom the previous week, filling a hole in the downward trend.
Over the longer time frame, mortgage purchase applications SA remain at 1995 levels.
Mortgage refinancing applications rose 2% SA from the previous week. This is the area where Mel Watt will try to influence by expanding HARP.
Of course, purchase applications are stalled primarily due to the long-term decline in real median household income since 2000.
As a consequence, Mel Watt may have trouble succeeding in his agenda since there is a bad income trend for the bottom 60% of the population.
I think Mel Watt’s appointment has killed any chance of housing finance reform, unless it is to strengthen the government’s role in housing.
julius-caesar-death-2
Until we restore the import tariffs and stop the off-shoring of jobs and American industries, mortgages will be a risky investment. They resume job income will continue. And that’s an increasingly risky assumption.
Until we restore the import tariffs and stop the off-shoring of jobs and American industries, mortgages will be a risky investment. They resume job income will continue. And that’s an increasingly risky assumption.
This is a symptom, not the reason. The reason is the declining income, which is directly tied to increasing and unstable regulatory actions throughout the economy.
Our economy is being strangled by unachieveable “green” requirements, Ocare, EPA regs, IRS regs, etc. Until we get a Congress with the guts to actually GUT the regulatory agencies and strip them of their regulatory abilities, we are doomed to decreasing employment in the primary sectors.
If we can’t kill these Federal mortgage monsters outright, wouldn’t it at least be a good idea to stop putting their control into the hands of crooks like Gorelick, Raines and Watt?
It shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out why 0 put Mel Watt in this position. Think hard.
I guarantee you that this will mean more ‘income redistribution’ from those who work for their money to those who vote democrat.
> Obama and Democrats going in for the kill.
They want us living on the streets while they sip $500 a glass wine and eat caviar
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