Housing rules unveiled by the administration’s new consumer watchdog agency on Thursday would insert the government into the housing market in a manner unseen for decades.
The set of regulations unveiled by the 18-month-old Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) will impose sweeping new restrictions on lenders and borrowers, potentially making it more difficult for would-be homeowners, especially in pricier markets like New York, California and Washington, D.C.
But with the country still smarting from a subprime mortgage debacle that pushed the economy into recession, consumer groups, lawmakers and the housing industry mostly accepted the changes as workable.
“It was the most important thing the government could do to actually let the market function,” said Kathleen Day, spokeswoman for the Center for Responsible Lending. “There’s a cop on the beat looking out in real time for consumers.”
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