TheMReport

60 | TH E M R EP O RT SECONDARY MARKET THE LATEST O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G DATA G O V E R N M E N T S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T No Longer Lost in Translation A new initiative targets strengthening communications to low-English-proficiency borrowers. T he share of low English proficiency (LEP) bor- rowers is growing in the mortgage market and to assist lenders, servicers, housing counselors, and other real estate professionals reach out to this group, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac announced the launch of Mortgage Translations. Mortgage Translations is a cen- tralized clearinghouse of online re- sources that will assist the industry to serve LEP borrowers. The on- line collection consists of mortgage documents, educational materials, and a new online Spanish-English glossary produced by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection in collaboration with the FHFA and the GSEs. According to the FHFA, the glossary is expected to be particularly helpful in stan- dardizing translations across the mortgage industry. "FHFA is proud to collaborate with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and so many others on this important initiative to help address language barriers that impede ac- cess to mortgage credit," said Janell Byrd-Chichester, Chief of Staff at FHFA. "The Mortgage Translations clearinghouse is one part of a Language Access Multi-Year Plan and includes a number of mean- ingful resources to help mortgage industry professionals reach a broader range of borrowers." The FHFA said that they col- laborated with industry experts, consumer advocates, and other government agencies to develop this online repository. Speaking on the new initia- tive by the three agencies Danny Gardner, SVP of Single-Family Affordable Lending and Access to Credit at Freddie Mac said that the materials included on the website would provide lenders, servicers, real estate profession- als, and housing counselors with tools to "better assist, educate, and engage LEP borrowers throughout the mortgage process." Jonathon Lawless, VP for Product Development and Affordable Housing at Fannie Mae agreed, saying that the online resource would "educate, engage, and better assist LEP borrowers when shopping for a mortgage." While the first phase consists of a collection of mortgage indus- try documents in Spanish, the FHFA said that it would be add- ing these documents in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Tagalog in the coming years. According to the U.S. Census, persons who speak Spanish as their primary language comprise more than 60 percent of the LEP population. On Fannie's Watch Despite housing shortage, growth prospects hold firm, the GSE reports. F annie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group held steady on an earlier forecast, predicting 3 total percent growth for 2018 and 2.3 percent growth for 2019 in their October 2018 Economic and Housing Outlook report. This comes in spite of expectations that third- quarter growth would be higher than previously predicted. The ESR Group indicated that growth stagnated from the second quarter's 4.2 percent annualized rate to 3.3 percent. This slowdown in growth comes hand in hand with a quarter-over- quarter deceleration in consumer spending, business investment growth, and trade. The ESR Group also cast residential fixed investment as having fallen for a third consecutive quarter—the product of rising interest rates causing a decline in home sales and mortgage demand. And while the housing supply has shown modest improvement, the shortage of inventory is still causing a squeeze across much of the nation's lower-priced tiers. "This month, we slightly adjusted upward our forecast for third-quarter real GDP growth, largely because of an upgraded projection of consumer-spending growth; however, our calls for growth on an annual basis remain unchanged—both this year and next," said Doug Duncan, Chief Economist with Fannie Mae. "Despite the expected return of trade as a drag on growth and moderating consumer spending and business-investment growth, a swing from a drawdown in business inventories to a buildup likely offset some of those negatives. Economic conditions remain supportive of additional rate hikes in 2018 and 2019, as the labor market has tightened and inflation continues to hover just above the Fed's 2-percent target." For those worried trade tensions under the Trump administration could dim prospects for the housing market, Duncan agreed, but ultimately, finds rising interests and uncertainty among prospective homebuyers more troublesome. "Trade and the potential contagion of Italy's financial turmoil to elsewhere in the Euro area present downside risks to our forecast," Duncan said. "Our expectations for housing have become more pessimistic: rising interest rates and declining housing sentiment from both consumers and lenders led us to lower our home sales forecast over the duration of 2018 and through 2019." Still, Duncan closes on a positive note. "Meanwhile, affordability, especially for first-time homebuyers, remains atop the list of challenges facing the housing market," he said.

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