In this report, we assess the impact of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act – the Senate finreg bill signed into law last week – on U.S. housing finance. Our review of the enacted text confirms our assessment of the Senate-passed measure: changes to mortgage markets will be relatively minimal because none of the changes materially affects the reasons banks of all sizes have eschewed portfolio lending. That said, marginal changes will make a difference for some types of loans and some types of banks. Some niche M&A is also possible, along with a bit more bank appetite for higher-risk GSE credit-risk transfer tranches.
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