The pressure to create a servicing liquidity facility heats up

In today’s Daily Download episode, HW+ Managing Editor Brena Nath discusses a new push by the nation’s top Democrats and banking regulators to aid the housing industry’s struggling mortgage servicers. This week, House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, along with the state banking regulators in all 50 states, sent a letter to Department of the Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, pressing them to create a servicing liquidity facility.

Following Nath, HousingWire Digital Producer Alcynna Lloyd touches on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development that indicates U.S. housing starts plummeted to a 36 year-low in March, Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey that reveals mortgage rates have now averaged 3 basis points above an all-time low, and data from the Labor Department that reports another jump in the nation’s unemployment claims.

The Daily Download examines the most captivating articles reported from the HousingWire newsroom. Each afternoon, HousingWire provides its readers with a deeper look into the stories that are not only chronicling the biggest announcements within the housing finance industry but are also helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd.

Since the servicing liquidity facility story is far from over, be sure to tune in daily for the latest updates.

HousingWire articles covered in this episode:

• Top Democrats, state banking regulators now also pushing government to help struggling mortgage servicers
• Housing starts post the biggest monthly drop in 36 years
• Average mortgage rate is 3 basis points from all-time low
• Jobless claims topped 5 million last week