Donald Trump

Americans are divided over housing impacts of immigration, tariffs

A new Redfin survey reveals sharp divides among Americans over how immigration and tariffs are affecting housing affordability, reflecting a complex and politically charged landscape. More than half of U.S. homeowners and renters (51.2%) believe that reducing immigration could worsen housing affordability by shrinking the pool of construction workers and limiting the number of new […]

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Judge blocks CFPB bid to undo Townstone redlining settlement

A federal judge on Thursday blocked an attempt by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to reverse a $105,000 settlement with Townstone Financial, a Chicago-based mortgage broker accused of discouraging Black applicants. U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama ruled that allowing the CFPB to unwind the deal, finalized last year, “would erode public confidence in the

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CFPB enforcement head resigns, citing ‘no intention to enforce the law’

Cara Petersen, who has served as the principal deputy enforcement director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) since late 2017, resigned this week with a letter that’s highly critical of the enforcement posture at the bureau under the new administration of President Donald Trump. Petersen’s resignation letter was obtained and initially reported on by

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Senators call on FHFA’s Bill Pulte to pause GSE privatization plans

A group of 14 Democratic senators, led by Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), have called on Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte to pause any potential plans to release government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship. The letter, first reported by Bloomberg, said that any potential

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How the Trump/Musk dispute could influence mortgage rates

Today marked a significant development in the ongoing dialogue between President Trump and Elon Musk, as their relationship appears to have reached a critical point of conflict. The question for those in housing is: How could this impact mortgage rates moving forward? The 10-year yield saw a slight increase earlier as it reacted to the

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Mat Ishbia: GSEs acting ‘private’ in conservatorship could be best of both worlds

Mat Ishbia, the president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), said last week he doesn’t think that releasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship is a major focus for the Trump administration — and he isn’t sure “whether it should be.”  One thing he is confident about: If ending the conservatorship results in

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Mortgage rates unfazed by crazy economic headlines

In one of the most chaotic weeks for economic headlines of the year, mortgage rates remained relatively stable, which is a stark contrast to the madness caused by the Godzilla tariffs a few weeks ago. Can this stability last?  Despite elevated rates, having fewer wild fluctuations on a day-to-day basis creates a healthier mortgage market

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How Bill Pulte has reshaped FHFA and the GSEs

A key decision maker in the federal housing apparatus, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) oversees the regulator of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and the Federal Home Loan Banks. But Bill Pulte has been anything but a conventional FHFA director (pardon the term, since we’re not talking about conforming loan limits just

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Whiplash: As second court orders halt to tariffs, appeals court keeps them in place

Following a late Wednesday night decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade to halt President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on trade partners, a second federal court issued a similar decision in which it ruled that the invocation of a 1977 law does not give the president unilateral authority to impose such levies. But a

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Trump to Powell: It’s a ‘mistake’ to not lower interest rates

President Donald Trump met Thursday with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the White House to discuss economic developments, as Trump continues to press the Fed to lower interest rates. During the meeting, Trump told Powell he’s making “a mistake” by not lowering interest rates, the White House said Thursday. The meeting was at Trump’s

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