Economy

Just 2.15% of the loans in the pool financed properties in Los Angeles County, and the surrounding areas that have been impacted by the recent wildfires.

Valley National Bank and Dime Community Bancshares expect a better balance of deposit costs to help boost their net interest margins in 2025.

Higher mortgage rates will persist through 2026, affecting sales and refinancings. Those expectations led Fannie Mae to cut its volume outlook for the next two years.

Obligors are slightly more concentrated but the percentage of obligors in higher credit quality grades—2 through 5—increased to 56.9%, from 41.3% from the previous deal.

Sunsetting the federal oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could ease the cost of renewing President Trump's 2017 tax act, but doing so is an uphill battle.

The inaugural deal is expected to close by the end of the month. Among its structural features are cash trap and cash sweep provisions.

Classes A through E, do not allow for payment-in-kind, which allows borrowers to use assets other than cash—such as equity or shares—to make interest payments.

The Freddie Mac mortgage rate tracker on Thursday morning showed the conforming 30-year fixed rate mortgage creep closer to the 7% level last seen in May.

Mortgage rates should decline very gradually next year as the Federal Reserve will keep to its implied path of short-term rate reductions, Freddie Mac said.

Economists say the U.S. economy is leaving 2024 healthy, with unemployment low, inflation manageable and growth robust. Unknown variables — including the depth and scope of President-elect Donald Trump's immigration and tariff policies — could change that course, but likely not until 2026.