Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
The Trump administration has quietly turned a niche mortgage backstop into a massive engine of credit, lifting a long standing cap of $40 billion to a headline grabbing $225 billion and beyond. The change, centered on how much mortgage bond risk Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can absorb, is reshaping the flow of money into…
President Donald Trump’s housing finance team is quietly reshaping the mortgage market by letting government-backed lenders take on more debt and more risk. The centerpiece is a move by his housing finance chief to expand mortgage spending at the very moment when affordability pressures and political scrutiny are both intensifying. The result is a high-stakes…
When my mortgage payment jumped by more than $1,000 a month, the shock was physical. I had run the numbers, stress-tested my budget and told myself I was buying safely, yet one envelope from my servicer turned a manageable payment into a source of dread. What I learned, painfully and expensively, is that the real…
The fight over a $22,000 roof in Oklahoma has turned into a test case for how far an insurer can go in trimming storm claims before the state steps in. After a couple said State Farm offered to pay only a small slice of what contractors said it would cost to fix their home, the…
President Donald Trump is trying to reset the housing market in one stroke, pairing a push for cheaper mortgages with a crackdown on Wall Street’s role in single-family homes. The new executive order is framed as a way to drive down borrowing costs for Main Street buyers while sidelining deep-pocketed rivals that have been bidding…
Mortgage rates have finally retreated from their recent peaks, giving homebuyers a sliver of relief and raising hopes that the cost of borrowing could soon feel normal again. The central question now is not whether rates will ease, but how far they can realistically fall in 2026, and whether a return to something starting with…
President Donald Trump is pitching a housing fix that invites Americans to crack open their retirement piggy banks to get a set of house keys. The idea is simple on the surface, letting people tap their 401(k) savings for a down payment without the usual early withdrawal penalty, but the reality of paying that money…
Foreclosure pressure is spreading across the country, but a cluster of states and cities are feeling the strain most acutely, starting with Florida. From Miami-Dade and Broward to Chicago, Newark and Las Vegas, recent court and market data show thousands of households slipping into default as protections fade and rates stay high. I look at…
For many would-be buyers, a $500,000 listing still sounds like a middle‑class target, not a luxury fantasy. Yet a quiet shift in lending math now means that unless your salary clears a surprisingly high bar, you are effectively locked out of that price bracket before you ever book a showing. The real gatekeeper is not…
President Donald Trump is preparing a housing proposal that would let first-time buyers pull money from their 401(k) retirement accounts to cover a down payment, effectively turning long term savings into a bridge to homeownership. The idea, previewed by advisers ahead of a planned rollout at a global economic gathering, would mark a significant shift…