February produced a relatively weak stream of new single-family agency MBS, setting 2018 further behind the pace set early last year.

After more than a year under President Trump, the MBS and ABS markets have seen minimal loosening of standards from federal regulators. Issuers are optimistic that reforms are coming as federal agencies have been more receptive to feedback, while investors are fighting for risk-retention requirements to be maintained.

Citigroup is investing in a multi-state plan to expand a nonprofit community development financial institution’s ability to provide better access to mortgage credit to low- to moderate-income, minority, rural and other underserved first-time homebuyers.

Jumbo mortgage lending – including agency-eligible mortgages that exceed normal loan limits – lost some market share in 2017, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis.

Whatever happened to the “niceness” pledge that Carson wanted everyone there to take? Certainly, if there’s a need for niceness at HUD, it might be now…

Chase Home Lending this week announced plans to increase its affordable lending efforts by 25 percent over the course of the next five years. This translates to a $50 billion affordable lending commitment between now and 2023 using homebuyer grants and other incentives.

The nation’s subservicing specialists increased the dollar volume of their contracts by a scant 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter, a sign that the market may be easing somewhat. But anecdotal evidence suggests there’s more gas left in the out-sourcing tank.

Whether the proposed housing-finance reform draft bill from the Senate will help affordable housing efforts depends on whom you ask. Community lenders and fair housing groups said the plan will put low- and moderate-income (LMI) borrowers at a disadvantage, while others believe it will be a boon to making housing more affordable for that demographic.

Gordon Albrecht, a senior director at specialty servicer FCI Lender Services, told IMFnews the new CFPB rules, in general, mean “more work and more servicing costs.”

The Senate on Tuesday voted 67-32 to proceed to debate on legislation that would roll back some mortgage-related provisions from the Dodd-Frank Act while leaving intact most of the rules that swept through the industry following the housing meltdown.