The Trump administration’s failure to name acting directors for key federal agencies leaves them either under the control of Biden appointees or without a presidentially appointed leader.
For hours, it was unclear whether a White House memo freezing federal funding would impact mortgage programs. In the meantime, government agencies announced that their single-family mortgage programs were unaffected by the planned funding pause.
The Section 199A deduction for pass-through entities is set to expire at the end of this year. The Mortgage Bankers Association is pushing for an extension, which appears likely. The question is how Congress will pay for massive tax breaks.
The warehouse lending business remains profitable, but that doesn’t mean the sector is without challenges. There’s been two recent exits, but on the plus-side, the nation’s ninth-largest warehouse shop has filed for an initial public offering with plans to quickly double its business.
Bill Pulte, Trump’s choice to run the FHFA, is a scion of a homebuilding industry giant, but his background is mostly in private equity and philanthropy.
The Trump administration will likely take starkly different positions on housing and the mortgage market compared with the Biden administration. Expect changes at the GSEs, while a reduction to FHA mortgage insurance premiums looks unlikely.