FHFA to formalize fair housing policies through rulemaking

😎 TGIF, everyone. Welcome back to Mortgage Nuggets. Today's newsletter is 700 words, a 3.5-minute read. Let’s dive in.

1. Mortgage rates rise

The 30-year fixed rate rose for the first time after five weeks of declines, due to recent data indicating a still-resilient economy, the potential continuity of the Federal Reserve's tightening monetary policy, and pressures in the secondary market.

Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed the 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.39% as of April 20, up 12 basis points from last week and 128 basis points from an average of 5.11% this time last year. The survey focuses on conventional, conforming loans for borrowers who put 20% down and have excellent credit.

2. Guild's acquisition spree

Guild Mortgage has picked up eight California branches from Fairway, adding to its ballooning headcount of over 4,000 employees. Forty former Fairway team members have transitioned to Guild, including processors, transaction coordinators, and loan officers, the lender said in a statement Thursday.

The newly added branches, which serve customers in Auburn, Corvallis, Folsom, Gardnerville, Riverside, Santa Rosa, Vacaville and Yuba City, will be overseen by John Lowe, a former division manager at Fairway. This team produced $350 million in loan origination volume last year, making the coup more like a mini-acquisition.

3. Fair housing update

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has proposed a rule to formalize many of its regulatory policies regarding fair housing and lending, including fair lending oversight requirements and equitable housing finance plans (EHFPs) for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Home Loan Banks.

The proposed rule will make it harder for future administrations to unravel fair housing and fair lending policies. Affordable housing advocates have praised the move, and industry stakeholders have 60 days to comment on the proposed rule.

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4. Existing home sales

Existing home sales in the US dropped by 2.4% MoM to an annual rate of 4.44 million in March. On a YoY basis, sales were down by 22%. Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, noted that home sales were sensitive to changes in mortgage rates but also highlighted that multiple offers on starter homes are common, indicating the need for more supply.

The median existing home sales price fell by 0.9% YoY in March to $375,700. Despite higher mortgage rates, sales prices have only slightly decreased due to the limited inventory. NAR reported that the inventory of unsold existing homes was up to 980,000 at the end of March, an increase of 1.0% MoM and 5.4% YoY, representing 2.6 months of supply at the current sales pace.

5. More Nuggets

🎰 How to beat roulette: One gambler figured it out and won (Bloomberg)

⚒️ Homebuilders are on a roll, with the stocks rallying to the highest since 2022. (Bloomberg)

💰 Entry-level home shoppers most likely to face bidding wars this spring (Zillow)

⚖️ Motto sues UMortgage for ‘tortious interference’ in franchise contract (HW)

6. CFPB data breach

The CFPB has disclosed a "major incident" where a former employee forwarded confidential information on thousands of consumers to a personal email account.

The CFPB said the employee sent two spreadsheets containing transaction-specific account numbers and names related to approximately 256,000 consumer accounts at a single institution and confidential supervisory information on 45 other institutions.

The agency said it has referred the matter to the Office of the Inspector General. The breach has raised concerns about the CFPB's internal compliance issues and public image, and has given Republicans in Congress more ammunition to target the bureau.

☀️ See you on Monday!

2 other* things: Why we get great ideas in the shower. Also, here’s what I’m watching.

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