VA loan foreclosures paused for 6 months

Good morning! It’s Mortgage Nuggets, your daily dose of mortgage news, minus the side effects of confusion.

• Programming note: We will not publish an issue on Friday. We’ll be off for Thanksgiving and can only hope you’re getting some time off too. You work hard. You deserve it. See you next Monday.

1. VA loan foreclosures paused for 6 months

The US Department of Veterans Affairs has asked mortgage servicers to halt foreclosures on veterans through May 2024.

This six-month pause will give the government time to roll out a new program, announced by the White House in October, that will help veterans who are behind on mortgage payments but “who do not qualify for traditional home retention options.”

“This will empower us to work with veterans experiencing severe financial hardship to adjust their loans — and their monthly payments — so they can keep their homes,” a spokesman for the department said.

2. Rocket TPO: 25 bps credit on non-owner-occupied agency loans

Rocket Pro TPO, the wholesale division of Rocket Mortgage, announced a new promotion for agency mortgages on non-owner-occupied homes.

The announcement, made via social media by Mike Fawaz, executive vice president at Rocket Pro TPO, states that for new locks as of Nov. 20, brokers will see a credit of 25 basis points for non-owner-occupied agency loans.

“This is a huge win for any brokers who have clients shopping for a second home or an investment property or even those who want to take some cash out of one of their properties that has grown in value over the last few years,” Fawaz said in an emailed response to HousingWire.

3. Catch up quick

💰 A 30-Year Trap: The Problem With America’s Weird Mortgages. (New York Times)

📈 The Share of Americans Who Are Mortgage-Free Is at an All-Time High. (Blmberg)

🏠 Morgan Stanley Makes a Bold Prediction for Home Prices in 2024. (Fortune)

💼 CMG Financial Adds Shamrock’s $300M-Plus Origination Team. (HousingWire)

4. FHFA issues final rule on GSEs commingled securities

The FHFA yesterday issued a final rule amending several provisions of the Enterprise Regulatory Capital Framework (ERCF) for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The final rule, which will be effective from April 1, 2024, includes modifications related to guarantees on commingled securities, multifamily mortgage exposures secured by government-subsidized properties, and derivatives and cleared transactions.

Here are some of the key changes;

1. Reduction in risk weight and credit conversion factor for guarantees on commingled securities to 5% and 50%, respectively.

2. Introduction of a risk multiplier of 0.6 for multifamily mortgage exposures secured by properties with certain government subsidies. It replaces the current exposure methodology with the standardized approach for counterparty credit risk.

3. Update of the credit score assumption for single-family mortgage exposures originated without a representative credit score to 680. The timing of the first application of the single-family countercyclical adjustment has been aligned with the first property value adjustment.

Dig deeper.

5. Existing-home sales dip in October

Sales of previously owned US homes fell by the most in nearly a year in October, highlighting the toll elevated mortgage rates and still-high prices continue to take on the resale market.

Contract closings decreased 4.1% from a month earlier to a 3.79 million annualized pace, still the lowest since 2010, National Association of Realtors data showed Tuesday.

Sales declined in the Northeast, South, and West, but remained unchanged in the Midwest. Nevertheless, all four regions experienced year-over-year sales declines. LINK

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