A key Treasury Department official said regulatory reform could help rejuvenate the non-agency MBS market but offered little guidance on the future prospects for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Housing-finance reform won’t happen in the near future and the government-sponsored enterprises are busy expanding their footprint instead of reducing it, according to lawmakers voicing concerns during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing this week.
The collateralized loan obligation market is heading for some volatility, according to industry analysts. Issuance in the sector has been strong recently, but investors are preparing for short-term losses and fighting against certain provisions in deals.
Increased demand for non-agency MBS and pricing policies set by the government-sponsored enterprises are prompting some lenders to deliver high-quality GSE-eligible mortgages into non-agency MBS pools. If the trend persists, GSE MBS investors could face risks from adverse selection, according to industry analysts.
Tax reform legislation enacted near the end of 2017 will likely lead to lower home prices and provide homeowners with more money to spend on housing, according to a study by Hal Martin, a policy economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
The Senate this week confirmed Brian Montgomery as the next FHA commissioner and assistant secretary of housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
It doesn’t look likely that the Federal Housing Finance Agency is going to take up a call by community mortgage lenders to look into allegedly unfair volume discounts made by private mortgage insurers to large mortgage lenders.
The House this week approved the Senate’s regulatory relief legislation, sending the package of targeted changes to the Dodd-Frank Act to the White House. With help from 33 Democrats, the measure cleared the House, 258-159, on Tuesday.
Real estate agents, who influence a substantial amount of purchase-mortgage business, generally favored working with nonbank lenders over the megabanks, according to exclusive survey findings compiled by Campbell Surveys and Inside Mortgage Finance.
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