Free Republic

The most prominent purveyor of homewashing is the massive government-sponsored enterprise known as the Federal Home Loan Banks. There are 11 regional FHLBs from Boston to San Francisco and points in between. They and their 6,500 member institutions follow a simple business model. The FHLBs borrow at a deep discount due to their government status. They then pass part of the government subsidized discount on to their members in the form of low-cost advances. As of Sept. 30, the FHLBs had over $1 trillion in taxpayer-subsidized debt outstanding. Subsidized advances to members stood at $655 billion, an 86 percent increase...

There are a plethora of housing finance bills being written or circulating. These include the deeply flawed Corker-Warner bill, the Crapo-Johnson bill (that I have not seen), the PATH Act from the House. Now we have another House GSE reform bill, The New Fair Deal Banking And Housing Stability Act of 2013, from Representatives Justin Amash (sponsor), Jeff Duncan, Jim Jordan, Doug Lamborn, Tom McClintock, Mark Meadows, Tom Price and Matt Salmon. The New Fair Deal Banking and Housing Stability Act of 2013 takes decisive action to end the cycle of booms and busts, of bad behavior and bailouts: -...

House prices generally fall from about August until March every year. Except for 2012-2013. House prices rose from August to March … and then picked up the spring/summer trend of growth. Here is the Case-Shiller 20 metro index non seasonally adjusted. csnsass The CoreLogic Loan Performance index shows the same pattern. loanhp090913 So, is this recent change in the house price regime sustainable? No, unless investors keep pouring in from foreign lands. 1. Home affordability is falling. The NAR’s Homebuyer Affordabilty index is dropping as house prices boom and mortgage rates continue to rise. homeaffordhop 2. Real Median Household Income...

Link only, per FR copyright and posting policy