The Massachusetts Mortgage Association’s 2003 New England Mortgage Showcase was held last week at Boston’s Seaport Hotel (above).

Joined by members of the mortgage industry – including brokers, lenders, technology and data security investors – the Massachusetts Mortgage Association kicked off its 2003 New England Mortgage Showcase last Wednesday at Boston’s Seaport Hotel with workshops and a grim discussion on the state of the New England economy.

Among the 500 to 600 guests scheduled to attend the MMA’s two-day conference was Dr. Katharine Bradbury, an economist with the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, who was the keynote speaker at the association’s luncheon.

While Bradbury’s discussion on the New England economy and current recession did not give much hope for businesses and consumers in the area, not everyone in the room was affected by the bleak forecast.

“This mortgage industry is a great business and a great opportunity, and what a great time [it is] to be in the MMA,” said John Brodrick, MMA chairman. “I am standing here to tell you that I love my job.”

Brodrick addressed the luncheon attendees with an optimistic view of the mortgage industry and provided insight on executive discussions with the MMA’s board of directors.

“The 2003 strategy of the MMA is to grow the association and address our major initiatives and concerns for the MMA and our members,” said Brodrick. “The MMA board of directors is going into seclusion to develop a strategic vision for both short-term and long-term goals to guide the MMA and ways to grow the association and improve the services we offer with our membership.”

Brodrick talked about “offensive and defensive strategies” created at the association, including educational programs for members and a continued grassroots approach to legislative initiatives that affect MMA members.

As an offensive strategy, Brodrick said the MMA will be increasing its educational programs to members for the purpose of helping “each of us become more professional in what we do, increase our knowledge base and to more effectively guide the Massachusetts consumer to make good product and loan decisions.”

As part of a defensive strategy to protect mortgage brokers and lenders, Brodrick thanked those MMA members involved in a letter-writing campaign to Congress with respect to proposed Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act changes and discussed local initiatives to curb Community Reinvestment Act legislation to Massachusetts mortgage brokers.

“While we don’t know what the final ruling on RESPA will be … we know that there is increasing speculation that rather than a final rule coming out, there may be an additional proposed rule,” said Brodrick. “I don’t think anyone in this room would argue that RESPA needs reform – the disclosure is confusing, the consumer has too many things to read and it needs to be simplified. But we are asking for a level playing field.”

Brodrick also said a great deal of energy from the MMA, in partnership with the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association, has been focused on communicating the mortgage industry’s position on CRA being applied to mortgage brokers. “It simply should not be applied … we are now actively and aggressively engaged in communicating our position,” he noted.

Key Factors

But Brodrick’s positive outlook for members of the mortgage industry was shadowed by a depressing discussion from Bradbury on the state of the New England economy.

Bradbury touched upon not only the economy’s current status but also the key factors that influence the regional economic outlook.

“Employment is the key indicator that we use to measure economic activity at the state and regional level, and New England is losing jobs more steeply in this recession than the overall nation,” said Bradbury.

Bradbury discussed the influences on the economy and also discussed the current recession effecting New England.

“My role is to look at how things look now in New England and what are the key factors influencing the regional economic outlook – the most important influence on our current [recession] is the national economy,” said Bradbury. “Nonetheless, New England has its own specific strengths and industry concentrations, and considerable vulnerability in each of the six New England states has its own idiosyncrasies. Right now, the New England economy is stalled. The economic signals are not providing a clear indication that a recovery is on the way … most [economic] indicators in New England are still weakening, few are improving and nothing is booming.”

Bradbury cited statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor that solidified New England’s place in the nation’s overall economic outlook.

“While the region as a whole is still registering employment losses, the pace of these losses is abating,” said Bradbury.

According to statistics, for the most recent 12-month period, New England has seen job losses of about 1 percent compared to the nation’s job loss at 0.03 percent. Industries that have been hit the hardest include construction and manufacturing, as well as professional and business services, which include financial services, accounting and banking.

Bradbury’s one optimistic outlook resided in the housing market.

“The housing market in New England has been remarkably robust … and reflects the important role that consumers have played in keeping this business-led recession from [drastic] movement,” said Bradbury. “New-home construction has more or less leveled out in this recession.”

Bradbury said housing prices have risen about 6 percent nationally and in New England are rising above the national average, but the pace of increase in home prices has steadied.

J. Michael Norton, branch manager for EW Mortgage Co. in Bellingham, said the housing market is cyclical in nature and predicts that housing prices will plummet in the upcoming months.

“Housing is an indicator that is always cyclical … but a recession does not apply to housing,” said Norton. “Housing prices are an indicator and we haven’t seen the worst of it yet. I think housing [prices] will either stay flat or decline as long as unemployment rates rise.”

In closing her discussion, Bradbury said an economic recovery is not expected anytime soon and while the immediate New England outlook seems uncertain, “Our prospect is more contingent on business spending.”

The MMA showcase continued with discussions on Fannie Mae origination, educational programs on credit scoring and risk factors and an informal forum giving owners of mortgage brokerage firms an opportunity to participate in an open discussion of day-to-day business issues.

“The [underlying] concern was that everyone who attends this showcase leave with something of value,” said Brodrick. “That means something of value you can take home with you to run your business more effectively.”

Melanie Nayer may be reached at mnayer@thewarrengroup.com.