The Mortgage Bankers Association wants to make sure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aren’t infringing on the primary market as they take on new technology-based mortgage initiatives. The MBA noted that the “bright line” between the primary and secondary markets is crucial.For example, the trade group expressed some concern that Fannie’s Day 1 Certainty initiative is the type of program that may have unintended consequences on the primary market. Officials with the MBA told Inside The GSEs that Day 1 Certainty’s roll-out relied on a single vendor for each component, even though the technology was not new. “Several other vendors offered similar products,” the group noted.

The GSEs’ low downpayment programs are gaining some traction among first-time homebuyers. According to an analysis by Inside The GSEs, 97 percent loan-to-value mortgages now represent close to 15 percent of first-time homebuyer mortgages sold to the GSEs. The high LTV programs have grown gradually, but steadily, since they were introduced. But they were slow to catch on. By the end of 2015, the high LTV programs represented 5 percent of the FTHB market, which grew to nearly 10 percent at the end of last year. They represented approximately 14 percent of first-timer mortgages in the third quarter of 2017. The top three banks originating these low downpayment loans are...

Private mortgage insurers aren’t backing down on their push for the GSEs to take on more front-end credit-risk transfers. During a recent House Financial Services subcommittee hearing, it was the private sector’s turn to discuss housing-finance reform. While lawmakers and panelists mostly agreed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or their replacements, should tap multiple forms of credit-risk transfer, they disagreed on the type that future guarantors of mortgage-backed securities should utilize. Front-end transactions involve deeper coverage by private MIs. Advocates argued that with the more common back-end transactions, such as Fannie’s Connecticut Avenue Securities and Freddie’s Structured Agency Credit Risk deals, the GSEs still hold a significant first-loss exposure.

As the Federal Housing Finance Agency works to prepare the industry for the single security and common securitization platform, officials are keeping a close eye on consistency in prepayment speeds between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The single security and CSP are on target for implementation in 2019, according to a new FHFA progress update released in December. In that report, the FHFA described in more detail the processes it has in place to minimize variance in prepayment speeds between Fannie and Freddie mortgage-backed securities that have the same coupon, maturity and issuance cohort.

Resolving the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorship dilemma got a significant boost last week when House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, said he’s open to negotiations on housing-finance reform. During a speech at a National Association of Realtors conference, Hensarling expressed support for a bipartisan approach while outlining his beliefs for a sustained housing-finance reform plan. This represents the first time that the lawmaker publicly said he’s ready to make a deal when it comes to reform. And that includes changing his tune on opposing any type of government guarantee for mortgage-backed securities backed by conventional home loans.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be barred from making contributions to the Housing Trust Fund if Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt decides to forgo sending dividend payments to the Treasury under a bill approved this week by the House Financial Services Committee. The GSE Jumpstart Reauthorization Act of 2017 (H.R. 4560) would also extend an existing prohibition on the Treasury Department from selling its shares in the GSEs without congressional approval. That ban, currently due to sunset at the end of this month, would be extended to Dec. 31, 2018.The bill, introduced on Dec. 6 by Rep. French Hill, R-AR, would suspend Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...

Freddie Mac continued to expand its share of the GSE single-family business in November, following a strong showing the previous month, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis of mortgage-backed securities data. The two GSEs guaranteed $79.09 billion in new single-family MBS last month, an unexpected 4.5 percent increase from October’s production. Freddie posted the biggest increase, 7.4 percent for the month, while Fannie issuance in November was up a more modest 2.0 percent. That pushed Freddie’s share of the GSE single-family MBS business to 47.0 percent, up from 45.7 percent in October, matching the company’s biggest market share since July 2015. Through the first nine months of 2017, Freddie managed to garner...

A coalition of industry groups has urged the Senate Committee on Finance to retain the current capital gain exclusion on the sale of a principal residence, warning that such a provision in the Republican tax reform plan would adversely affect young families and those relocating to new jobs. Specifically, the proposal in the House and Senate versions of the tax bill would retain the $500,000 capital gain exclusion ($250,000 for unmarried taxpayers) but lengthen ownership and use requirements ...

Mortgage origination volumes are expected to stay flat year-over-year in 2018 at $1.65 trillion, as modestly rising purchase-mortgage volume is partially offset by declining refinances. The one bright spot is the mortgage insurance sector, according to analysts’ outlook in 2018. Sluggish mortgage activity suggests modest revenue growth in the sector with one exception – mortgage insurance, according to a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysis. KBW expects its “outperform” ratings for ...

When it comes to hiring, mortgage banking firms aren’t quite sure what to make of the coming year, though some shops aren’t shy about planning for growth. One firm that’s squarely in the optimism column is United Wholesale Mortgage, the nation’s largest table-funder. The privately held nonbank currently employs 2,300 and hopes to add 450 next year as it tries to move up in the ranks. Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of UWM, told Inside Mortgage Trends the company is hiring in ...