NAFCU March Economic & CU Monitor on Housing
WASHINGTON, DC (March 22, 2017) —
Good afternoon,
Attached is NAFCU’s March Economic & CU Monitor, which includes an “Industry and Economic Briefing” overview from NAFCU Chief Economist and Director of Research Curt Long, who is available for interview. The March Monitor features an in-depth look at Housing. Highlights follow below.
Industry and Economic Briefing
- The credit union industry ended 2016 with a flourish, as estimated member growth topped 4 percent and loan growth exceeded 10 percent.
- With the Fed’s preferred measure for price growth approaching its two-percent target, the policy-setting committee may have to ramp up the pace of rate hikes this year.
Special Topic – Housing
- Credit unions continue to support their members in extending mortgage loans, but ease of access to the secondary mortgage market is crucial to helping members achieve their dreams of homeownership.
- Roughly one-third of survey respondents use credit union service organizations or Federal Home Loan Banks to sell mortgages to the secondary market, while 21.4 percent use private placement.
- On average in 2016, the survey found, 22.5 percent of credit unions’ mortgage loans were sold to the two government-sponsored enterprises. However, compared with pre-recession volumes, about 22 percent of respondents reported selling proportionally more mortgage loans to the GSEs prior to their conservatorship in 2008.
- More than 68 percent of respondents are opposed to the elimination of the GSEs and the full privatization of housing finance without a government guarantee, the survey found. More than 62 percent favor preservation of an explicit government guarantee, particularly to protect the 30-year mortgage.
- Nearly half of the respondents have no objections to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac pursuing chattel loan pilot initiatives but the majority (52.9 percent) is still unsure about this prospect.
If you’d like further comment from Curt Long, please let me know.
Thank You.
Falen Taylor
Communications Coordinator
National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions
3138 10th Street North
Arlington, VA 22201
About NAFCU
The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions is the only national trade association focusing exclusively on federal issues affecting the nation’s federally-insured credit unions. NAFCU membership is direct and provides credit unions with the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance. For more information on NAFCU, go to www.nafcu.org or @NAFCU on Twitter.
