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- Honey, I shrunk the bureau.
Honey, I shrunk the bureau.
By Jeff Walton & Kelly Guest
Abuzz in the Industry:
CHATTER
CFPB About to Shrink - A Lot
The CFPB can go ahead with plans to fire 90% of its staff, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Friday. (HW)
Staff at the CFPB were sent Reduction in Force notices on April 17, but the layoffs were blocked on April 29, allowing staff to continue working. Now, 1,500 of the agency’s staff are expected to be cut, leaving only 200 workers to oversee essential offices.
Fannie Slapped with Defamation Suit
The suit was filed on behalf of 41 of the 100 or so Fannie Mae employees fired earlier this year. The suit centers around comments made by FHFA Chair Bill Pulte regarding alleged unethical conduct and facilitation of fraud. The suit also contends the employees were fired without notice, warning, or due process. (NMP)
Edge One Capital issued a press release with the headline, "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's Conservatorship Is The Largest Shareholder Rights Violation In US History And Must Be Ended." Pretty straightforward when you consider Edge One has amassed a significant stake in both GSEs.
Pricey Products: NAHB Release on Lumber and Tariffs
The week-to-week framing lumber composite price was up 0.7% on Aug. 8, 2025. Softwood lumber prices are up 3.3% over the past month and 15.1% higher than they were one year ago.
Bullish on Texas: FOA & PrimeLending announce dual listings on NYSE Texas
Centerbridge Partners will acquire MeridianLink at a value of approximately $2B. Upon closing of the transaction, MeridianLink will become a private company.
MOVING & SHAKING
loanDepot announced resignation of President Jeff Walsh; Walsh is said to be retiring after over a decade and multiple roles at the organization.
MBA Nominated John Hedlund to be 2026 Vice Chairman; he'll be installed at the annual convention.
Better's Execs Publicly Moonlighting - HW:
Several senior executives in Better’s control and finance teams, including chief financial officer Kevin Ryan, have taken additional jobs or left the company as it navigates financial pressures, according to public announcements and updates to social media profiles.
Opendoor announced a CEO search after current CEO and board chair Carrie Wheeler made the decision to step down from her roles with the company, also effective immediately. Wheeler will act as an advisor to the Board through the end of the year.
ServiceLink has hired Aaron Fain as VP/National Sales Exec, which returns him to the company where he worked from 2006 to 2010.
Shawn Stone is Acra Lending's new CEO.
Nexa Mortgage brought Eric Mitchell on to help company reach LO count of 5000.
MARKET/INDUSTRY
Digging Out in Jackson Hole?
Fed Chair Jerome Powell may have some 'splainin' to do at this week's symposium in Wyoming. Bill Bodnar breaks it down in his latest Master the Markets segment.
Mortgage Rates Continue to Decline: Freddie 8-14-25
Mortgage Applications Increased 3.1% from One Week Earlier: MBA Weekly Survey for the week ending 8-1-25.
Mortgage Credit Availability Increased in July – MBA’s MCAI: The Conventional MCAI increased 0.5%, while the Government MCAI decreased by 0.2%. Of the component indices of the Conventional MCAI, the Jumbo MCAI increased by 0.9%, and the Conforming MCAI fell by 0.5%.
FHA MMI to Outpace Private MI – NMN: Affordability Issues & ‘Higher for Longer’ Rates
The Federal Housing Association is likely to continue to take market share away from the private mortgage insurers for the foreseeable future, according to a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods report.
FHA had 9.7% annual growth, versus just 1.6% annual growth for the private MIs, continuing a trend since mid-2023.
"We expect FHA growth to outpace PMI growth in a higher-for-longer environment as FHA volume continues to benefit from affordability-related factors such as more volume from some large builders and GSE-to-FHA cash-out refinance debt consolidation volume." Bose George and Tommy McJoynt
Nifty Nuggets: Insights from August ICE August Mortgage Monitor
Mortgage lending quietly had its best quarter since 2022 in Q2.
There have been 26 consecutive weeks of year-over-year purchase application increases ranging from +13% to +25% from May through July.
Purchase and cash-out refi lending volume for the quarter was the highest since Q3 2022. Rate-and-term refinance activity improved from Q1 but lagged late 2024 when rates briefly fell below 6.25%.
Who’s in the money?
Entering August, there were 1.6M mortgage holders in the money for a refinance – meaning they could reduce their rate by at least 75 bps by refinancing at prevailing 30-year rates. Two-thirds of this cohort originated their loans in 2023 or later.
With rates dipping below 6.625% following the July jobs report, the number of borrowers in the money for a refinance ticked higher, to a little over 2M.
If mortgage rates fall below 6.375% later this year ‒ as implied by futures prices in early August ‒ that number would climb above 3M, providing increased refinance-related opportunities to both lenders and homeowners.
Who’s doing what – and why?
70% of cash-out refinances are coming from borrowers willing to pay more than their current interest rate to gain access to equity, rendering typical “in-the-money” calculations ineffective for identifying prospects.
In fact, the average cash-out refinancer raised their interest rate by 1.45 percentage points in Q2, taking on a $590 larger monthly payment to withdraw an average of $94K from their home.
While more than 30% of Q2 cash-out refis came from borrowers replacing loans from 2023 and 2024, volumes were spread across vintages, with 37% from 2019 or prior, compared to just 3% for rate-and-term refinancers.
Nearly 90% of rate-and-term refinances came from 2023 and 2024 vintages, with a small share (9%) refinancing out of adjustable-rate mortgages.
The average rate-and-term refi borrower trimmed their rate by 0.85 percentage points and saved an average of $240/month in Q2.
Cash positions still good…
Despite the housing market beginning to cool, both total equity ($17.8T) and tappable equity ($11.6T) hit record highs in Q2.
48M mortgage holders have tappable equity ‒ equity that could be accessed while maintaining a 20% equity cushion ‒ with the average mortgage holder having $213K in tappable equity available.
Equity growth slowed to +1.5% year over year, the lowest rate in two years.
Buyers are Betters? They went ahead and bought anyway:
More than half – 56% – of all recent buyers consider refinancing important or extremely important to their financial wellbeing.
One in four or 25% of buyers consider refinancing ability "extremely important."
The 32-percentage-point gap between young and older buyers represents the largest generational divide in the survey.
Difficulty perception by generation:
Gen Z: 37% of first-time buyers found the process more difficult than expected.
Millennials: 32% found buying more difficult than expected.
Gen X: 19% found buying more difficult than expected.
Other findings from the Truework report:
