Due to inclement weather, the House and the Senate did not meet in statewide session on Tuesday.  Both bodies returned to Columbia on Wednesday for week two of the 2022 session. The House spent short days on the floor allowing for committees to meet while the Senate began to work through items on their calendar, including certificate of need and congressional redistricting legislation. The Senate continued working through priority issues, setting up debate for medical marijuana legislation (the SC Compassionate Care Act) by placing the legislation in one of the Senate’s Special Order slots.  Of note this week, the House Agriculture and...

Housing Supply Overview With the U.S. economy booming, and with inflation at its highest level in nearly 40 years, the Federal Reserve recently announced the accelerated tapering of their bond purchasing program, now set to end March 2022. A series of hikes in the federal funds rate will likely follow. Economists expect the cumulative effects of these efforts will move mortgage interest rates higher through the end of 2022. Although still low by historical standards, an increase in interest rates may serve to soften buyer demand somewhat as affordability becomes a more influential factor in home purchases. For the 12-month...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) just announced that they will direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) to raise their guarantee fees (g-fees) on high-cost loans and 2nd homes starting April 2nd. The fee increases will not apply to the Enterprises’ products for low-down payment borrowers whose income is 100% or below of the local average median income. The fees translate into roughly 0.05%-0.15% (e.g. 4.05% vs 4% today) higher on high-cost and 0.225% to 0.75% higher on 2nd homes. This change will obviously have an impact on affordability in high-cost areas (California, Chicago, Washington, DC, etc.) and...