The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced late this week it has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to establish consistent mortgage loan servicing and management requirements for loan servicers acting on behalf of the two GSEs. FHFA’s Servicing Alignment Initiative requires...

Even though the collapse in the mortgage market took down some bigger lenders structured as real estate investment trusts, the surviving REITs have emerged stronger and some are edging back into originations. Market capitalization for the sector has surged, from about $1.6 billion in 2000 to $36.1 billion (residential) as of May 31, 2011, according to a new report by analysts at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. But there have been some pretty big sinkholes along the way, with Thornburg Mortgage and New Century forced to shutter their operations. Their demise represented a combined loss of...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities remained a preferred investment for the Federal Home Loan Banks during the fourth quarter of 2010, though down slightly from the previous quarter, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside The GSEs based on data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Meanwhile, Ginnie Mae securities continued...[Includes one data chart]

The two leading accounting standards-setting bodies have different approaches when it comes to how best to analyze the effectiveness of a mortgage lending or other financial hedging strategy. And as they seek to improve, simplify and harmonize their approaches, the mortgage industry has come out in support of...

Shellpoint Partners, a specialty finance company, has completed the acquisition of New Penn Financial to provide residential mortgage products to creditworthy borrowers who are locked out of the market. Acquisition cost and other details of the transaction, which was announced June 2, were not disclosed. The New York-based Shellpoint Partners said acquiring New Penn will provide additional liquidity and options to creditworthy borrowers who do not fit the existing underwriting criteria for government-backed mortgages, including jumbo loan borrowers and...

Servicers must achieve “quality right-party contact” (QRPC) with borrowers as a means of determining a delinquent homeowner’s willingness and ability to pay his mortgage under new standards Fannie Mae has laid out regarding the management of loans in danger of default.Fannie’s issuance of servicing standards this week is in compliance with the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Servicing Alignment Initiative announced in late April to establish consistent mortgage loan servicing and management requirements for servicers acting on behalf of Fannie and Freddie Mac.

The quality of mortgages has been exceptional in the handful of non-agency mortgage securities issued over the past few years, but industry analysts question the sustainability of such high standards on a long-term basis as the mortgage market responds to change. “Recently originated prime jumbo loans reviewed by Fitch appear to be...

A series of housing finance reform proposals by a faction of House Democrats that calls for winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, preserving access to affordable mortgage loans and accurately pricing risk. among other things has received...

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston said it’s going to court to rescind the purchase of more than 100 mortgage securities for which the bank originally paid nearly $6 billion. FHLB Boston filed a complaint last week in the Department of Business Litigation Session of Suffolk County Superior Court based on the bank’s investments in certain private-label mortgage-backed securities issued by 115 securitization trusts for which the bank paid approximately $5.8 billion. “The Bank is…

The watchdog agency charged with overseeing the regulator of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks said it has numerous audits and evaluations of the Federal Housing Finance Agency in the pipeline.According to two separate but related reports by the Office of the Inspector General of the FHFA issued late last month, the FHFA-OIG is in the midst of a total of 17 ongoing or planned reviews of the Finance Agency.