House Democrats argue that HUD’s cut to the Continuum of Care Program could push 170,000 people to homelessness.

Years ago, the Federal Housing Administration helped finance thousands of loans for manufactured housing. An effort to restart that program would help millions of Americans afford their own homes.

The new phone books are here, the new phone books are here! Oh, wait a minute. The new conventional conforming loan limits are here! The new conventional conforming loan limits are here! True, lenders that are entirely focused on non-Agency products like non-QM (without many of the loan level price adjustments or gfees) may not care too much, but for most, Freddie Mac’s and Fannie Mae’s changes are followed closely. For 2026 we’re up from 2025’s $806,500 to $832,750. This beats the $819,000 by about $13k that many lenders and investors moved to in late September/early October. They can all rejigger their systems. (More conforming news below.) All this focus on conventional conforming programs reminds me that LO comp is still a huge issue, and the source of litigation; it shouldn’t be put on the backburner. I continue to hear promises that made to potential recruits that are in violation of LO comp rules. Who is going to research and penalize infractions? The CFPB? Lenders shouldn’t have to pay the same for a conventional conforming loan as a bond program, and most agree that change is needed: LO comp rules being ignored can hurt companies. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s are sponsored by The Big Point of Sale, which delivers a fast, flexible, and low-cost mortgage POS that gets lenders up and running in hours (not months) while empowering loan officers and consumers to collaborate seamlessly from any device. Hear an interview with Panorama’s Hector Amendola on home sales trends, borrower sentiment, rate psychology, and how originators are winning business in the current environment.)

Wednesday was far less eventful than the first two days of the week as far as mortgage rates were concerned. The average lender raised rates just a hair, but apart from yesterday, these are the lowest levels in a month and very close to the lowest levels in more than 3 years. Bond markets and mortgage lenders will be closed tomorrow for Thanksgiving. While Friday is technically open, 9 times out of 10, it may as well not be. In other words, the Friday after Thanksgiving rarely sees any meaningful movement in mortgage rates or the underlying bond market.  

Bonds were just slightly weaker overnight but are losing more ground in early trading.  The culprit: both of this morning’s 8:30am ET economic releases.  Jobless Claims data is probably the bigger deal as it continues to show no signs of labor market distress (216k vs 225k f’cast). The other report, Durable Goods, is more stale (pre-shutdown), but was also clearly upbeat with the core cap-ex figure coming in at a robust 0.9% vs 0.2% f’cast. The resulting sell-off in bonds is minimal but not massive. 10yr yields are up only 2.5bps at 4.021 and MBS are down less than an eighth. 

Swalwell alleges Pulte obtained and used the lawmaker’s personal mortgage records in violation of US privacy laws and constitutional protections for political expression.

The New York Stock Exchange disclosed the news on Monday of the sudden passing of its head of International Capital Markets.

The Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a final rule Tuesday that softens leverage demands for the biggest and most systemically risky banks and lowers the community bank leverage ratio to 8%.

An expanded data set based on the third quarter annual price changes is what U.S. Federal Housing uses to calculate next year’s conforming loan limits.

The administration has previously said the finalists are Fed Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, former Governor Kevin Warsh, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and BlackRock Inc. executive Rick Rieder.