With the presumptive HUD Secretary expressing his support for the 30 year fixed rate mortgage and Republican hardliners pushing for full privatization of the mortgage market, we turn here to a pivotal policy and political question: can there still be penalty-free pre-payable thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages without a federal backstop? No, but how high a hurdle would be pre-payment penalties? Depends on whom you ask.
The full report is available to subscription clients. To find out how you can sign up for the service, click here.