Loan Think

Contrary to expectations about growing mortgage lending volumes, current industry trends suggest a gradual reduction in capacity for both lending and servicing that should alarm policymakers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can determine nearly anything to be an unfair, deceptive or abusive act or practice, and it's more likely to do so when lenders try to take advantage of regulatory loopholes.

Starting in 2010, regulators warned banks about the risks associated with rising interest rates. The problem has turned out to be just the opposite: persistently low rates.

Over the next 40 years, the rate of homeownership is likely to continue to decline further as changes in demographic trends, increased regulation and stagnant incomes make that dream harder to achieve.

The events of the past 40 years pale in comparison to the strides the mortgage industry has made with technology, from pen-and-paper processes to handheld interest rate checks in minutes. The most exciting part: the best is yet to come.

It was 1976, the year of the U.S. Bicentennial, the dawn of Apple Computer and supersonic commercial flight aboard the Concorde jet. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage was 8.87% and the median sales price of existing homes was $38,100. And in an apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side, National Mortgage News was born.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can still manage their risk exposure even after reducing or eliminating "loan level price adjustment" fees.

The greatest responsibility lenders and servicers have to homeowners is making sure property tax payment is accurate and on-time.

Regulatory infighting over bond loans offered by down payment assistance programs has the potential to curtail lending to first-time buyers and do real damage to homeownership.

Concern around billionaires from abroad creating a price bubble by sheltering wealth in U.S. real estate is nothing more than hype caused by market commentators for the sake of ratings and page clicks.