Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell—a target of personal attacks and intense pressure from President Donald Trump and others in his administration—is now facing a criminal inquiry over renovations to the central bank’s headquarters. In a highly unusual video message posted to the Fed’s website Sunday evening, Powell said that the Fed was served Friday with…
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) monthly home price index (HPI), which tracks changes in single-family home prices, clocked a modest 0.4% increase in home values for October, with a 1.7% uptick from last year, as the housing market stutters heading into 2026. Largely aligning with expectations, the essentially flat trajectory for home values obscured…
As part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) overseeing the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FHFA is required to set annually updated benchmark goals for how the GSEs’ mortgage purchases will help contribute to affordable housing for lower-income households. On Tuesday, December 23, the FHFA set its enterprise benchmark housing…
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has launched an investigation into Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte over concerns he may have abused his position and government resources to target political opponents of President Donald Trump with criminal accusations. The probe, confirmed this week by the GAO—Congress’s independent investigative arm—and reported by Reuters follows…
Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s biweekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it every other Friday afternoon. As of Nov. 20, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate sat at 6.26%, slightly up from the previous week’s reading of 6.24%. Tracking with higher rates, mortgage applications—tracked by the Mortgage Bankers Association—found that…
The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate. Zillow and Compass hearing begins Tuesday, Nov. 18 On Tuesday, Nov. 18, Compass and Zillow will meet in court for a scheduled four-day hearing held in New York City, the latest round in the ongoing…
As mortgage rates saw little shifts during this past week, President Donald Trump and members of his administration have floated an idea to galvanize new homebuyers: the 50-year mortgage. In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared a photo comparing the proposal to how President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the federally backed 30-year mortgage during…
Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Fannie Mae employs an automated Desktop Underwriter (DU) system. Now, with a recent change in policy, lenders will face one less hurdle in giving loans out processed through the system. Previously, the DU system required that a borrower have a minimum credit score of 620 (or a cumulative minimum of 620 for…