FHFA will not cut Fannie and Freddie loan limits

👋 Good morning. This is Mortgage Nuggets; we tell you what’s going on in the industry in less than 5 minutes, so you can spend the rest of your day closing.

1. Pulte won’t cut conforming loan limits for Fannie, Freddie

The newly confirmed director of the FHFA, Bill Pulte, who oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said he will not lower the conforming loan limit, or the maximum value for the loans the two firms will buy and guarantee.

This ends speculation that the Trump administration would look to substantially shrink the size of the two GSEs through limiting the size of loans they could buy. That limit is calculated each year according to current home prices.

2. NAR opts to keep Clear Cooperation, but adds a new option

After months of debate, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced yesterday its new Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy, complementing the existing Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP). NAR emphasized that the policy provides sellers and agents greater flexibility in property marketing.

The policy was developed through extensive consultations with MLS and association leadership, brokerages, agents, multicultural organizations, and industry experts.

Under the new policy, NAR introduced "delayed marketing exempt listings," enabling sellers to "instruct the listing agent to delay marketing a listing through Internet Data Exchange (IDX) and syndication for a period of time," according to the NAR release.

3. More Nuggets

📝 Brokerages, portals react to NAR's decision to save Clear Cooperation. (inman)

🤺 Trump zeroes in on Fed, setting up potential fight with Powell. (TheHill)

🏦 Podcast: How to start a bank. (Planet Money)

🚫 Southern states had the highest mortgage denial rates in 2023. (NAR)

🆕 CoreLogic overhauls branding and debuts new name: Cotality. (Corelogic)

📊 Here's where you'd pay the highest state income taxes. (Axios)

4. Trump administration lifts FHA appraisal bias protections

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has withdrawn appraisal review guidelines previously used by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to streamline the appraisal process.

The withdrawn guidelines eliminate the reconsideration of value (ROV) procedures introduced during President Biden's administration aimed at addressing appraisal bias. An ROV allows financial institutions to request an appraiser to reconsider the valuation of a property based on consumer feedback or additional information.

According to the American Bankers Association, the FHA cited an executive order from President Trump instructing agencies to reverse policies negatively affecting key industries, including housing, as justification for this change.

5. Mortgage applications dip

Mortgage rates held steady last week, averaging 6.71%, but overall mortgage application volume declined by 2%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Home purchase applications rose slightly by 1%, reaching their highest level in almost two months, driven largely by increased FHA loan activity amid easing inventory and modestly declining rates. In contrast, refinance applications fell by 5%, marking the lowest point in a month, though still sharply higher than the same period last year.

☀️ You’re all caught up. See you on Friday!

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