Top Story Lending Related

HUD and the Census Bureau have jointly announced new residential construction statistics for August 2016—

• BUILDING PERMITS: Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,139,000, 0.4 percent below the revised July rate, and 2.3 percent below the August 2015 estimate. Single-family authorizations in August were at a rate of 737,000, 3.7 percent below the revised July figure. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 370,000 in August.
• HOUSING STARTS: Privately owned housing starts in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,142,000, 5.8 percent below the revised July estimate, but 0.9 percent above the August 2015. Single-family housing starts in August were at a rate of 722,000, 6.0 percent below the revised July figure. The August rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 403,000.
• HOUSING COMPLETIONS: Privately owned housing completions in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,043,000, 3.4 percent below the revised July estimate, and 8.3 percent above the August 2015 rate. Single-family housing completions in August were at a rate of 752,000, 0.3 percent below the revised July rate. The August rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 283,000.

HUD has announced the publication of a final rule, "Equal Access in Accordance With an Individual's Gender Identity in Community Planning and Development Programs," to ensure that all individuals have equal access to many of the Department’s core shelter programs in accordance with their gender identity. The new rule will require a recipient, subrecipient, or provider to establish, amend, or maintain program admissions, occupancy, and operating policies and procedures (including policies and procedures to protect individuals' privacy and security), so that equal access is provided to individuals based on their gender identity. This requirement includes tenant selection and admission preferences.

In written and oral testimony yesterday before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Comptroller Curry discussed supervision leading up to the recent enforcement actions against Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., for unsafe and unsound sales practices. In his written presentation, Curry said he strongly supports interagency work to complete work on a final rule on incentive-based compensation. The OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC, SEC, FHFA and NCUA issued a proposed rule (see our Top Story), published on June 10, 2016.

CFPB Director Cordray presented written testimony to the Committee. He discussed what the agency’s investigation found about the sales practices at Wells Fargo; what it is seeking to achieve by its Order; and some initial thoughts about what further steps need to be taken to improve the culture and practices of the banking industry.

The Federal Reserve Board has released the September 2016 mortgage debt outstanding report, with data as of June 30, 2016.

Treasury has released the July 2016 Treasury International Capital (TIC) data. The sum total in July of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a monthly net TIC inflow of $140.6 billion. Of this, net foreign private inflows were $162.7 billion, and net foreign official outflows were $22.1 billion. Foreign residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in July; net purchases were $72.6 billion. Net purchases by private foreign investors were $90.5 billion, while net sales by foreign official institutions were $17.9 billion. U.S. residents decreased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $31.3 billion.

On Friday, September 16, OFAC announced additions to and deletions from the SDN List. See our OFAC Update for information on the changes.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published, at 81 FR 64142 in the September 19, 2016, Federal Register a Notice of Availability of Revised Methodology for Determining Average Prime Offer Rates. The methodology statement describes the method used to calculate average prime offer rates for purposes of Regulation C and Regulation Z. The Bureau removed from the methodology statement the references to the sources of survey data used to calculate average prime offer rates. The Bureau's sources for the data used have changed.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has released a list of recently-issued enforcement orders taken against national banks, federal savings associations, and individuals currently and formerly affiliated with national banks and federal savings associations. Included were the previously-announced actions taken against First National Bank of Omaha and Wells Fargo Bank, NA, and a consent order to cease and desist and for a civil money penalty of $50,000 against the former chief executive officer and director of First Place Bank (now merged), Warren, Ohio.

The CFPB has posted an article discussing the percentage of fourth-year undergraduate students age 18 to 24 with student loan debt by race. The article reports federal government data shows that over 90 percent of African-American and 72 percent of Latino students leave college with student loan debt, compared to 66 percent of white students and 51 percent of Asian-American students. While Asian-American students may be less likely to borrow federal student loans, separate research has shown that Asian-American students who need to borrow more than $30,000 may be more likely to rely on private student loans to finance their higher education—loans that offer fewer consumer protections for borrowers.

The FDIC has announced the publication of The Affordable Mortgage Lending Guide, Part I: Federal Agencies and Government Sponsored Enterprises, and launched an online resource center to help community bankers learn more about single-family housing products offered by federal agencies and government-sponsored enterprises. The Guide describes federal programs for single-family housing lending that support home purchase, refinance, manufactured housing, and some home improvements. It covers programs that are intended to assist a variety of communities, including rural areas and Native American communities, as well as low- and moderate-income individuals, first-time homebuyers, and veterans. The FDIC's Affordable Mortgage Lending Center is an online resource center featuring data, fact sheets, and mortgage lending studies from the FDIC and other federal resources. The center includes the full version of the guide and also provides links that take the reader directly to the program.

• Related document: FIL-60-2016