Market participants welcomed the new FHA guidance that allows the use of third-party vendors as an alternative method to verify a borrower’s employment, income and assets directly with the employer and financial institutions.
With Mark Calabria’s confirmation as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency seemingly imminent and the prospect looming of some kind of administrative reform of the government-sponspored enterprises, industry groups are getting anxious.
Among the four main mortgage products, only originations of expanded-credit loans increased in 2018. Originations of expanded-credit mortgages rose 20.2% to $45.2 billion last year, according to estimates by Inside Mortgage Finance. Total first-lien production declined by 9.9% during the year.
Higher conforming loan limits for agency mortgage-backed securities programs didn’t do much to offset a sharp decline in total jumbo lending last year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. [Includes three data charts.]
The inconsistency between the scope of Ginnie Mae’s loan seasoning guidance and VA’s cash-out interim final rule may require a legislative change, according to Ginnie Mae.
Disclosures to investors in post-crisis non-agency MBS regarding potential breaches of representations and warranties have been inadequate, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
The New York State Court of Appeals on Feb. 15 issued mixed rulings on two claims brought by a trustee against a seller and sponsor of three residential MBS trusts.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency last week issued its final rule on the uniform MBS, the single security that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will package and sell. Its success, though, may depend on the much-contested definition of the rule: What are “covered programs, policies or practices”?