The annual increase in conforming loan limits creates a natural experiment for economists to examine how competition from nonbanks influences the operations of depositories.

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.

If past is prologue, the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s plan to hire as many as 141 employees may only be aspirational.