As the term of Federal Housing Finance Agency Mel Watt winds down, the mortgage industry is getting more vocal about perceived shortcomings in the oversight of the government-sponsored enterprises, including the blurring of lines between the primary and secondary markets.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s structure was deemed unconstitutional this week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. And in another rejection for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders, the court ruled the Treasury net worth sweep was within the agency’s power.

Slightly over half were deals backed by newly originated mortgages…

Don Brown of Optimal Blue: The industry is “at or near a high-water mark” in terms of the number of mortgage investors.

While the GSEs have been engaging in risk-based pricing for mortgage guarantees since the crisis, very large cross subsidies remain, according to one panelist from the Federal Reserve…

Rick Sharga of Carrington: “Refi volumes will continue to contract, and lenders will have to accelerate their shift towards more purchase business in order to maintain volume.”

The MBA wants the FHFA to allow the industry to have a say in all new enterprise pilots, programs and products.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae saw a somewhat sedated increase in single-family mortgage-backed security issuance during the second quarter. The trends closely tracked forecasts. Agency purchase-mortgage business was up a solid 24.5 percent from the first quarter, boosting the 2018 market slightly ahead of where it was at the midway point last year. And refinance activity continued to tumble, dropping 21.3 percent from the first quarter to just ... [Includes two data charts]

The sale of bulk mortgage servicing portfolios stayed red hot in the second quarter, with buyer interest and prices remaining high, but a modest lull in activity may be on the way, according to interviews conducted this week by Inside Mortgage Trends. Servicing brokers polled by this newsletter said there’s roughly $28 billion worth of receivables currently in the market that are ready to change hands. This includes a roughly $10 billion package of servicing rights that has been ...

With mortgage production costs exceptionally high, a number of lenders are outsourcing certain functions. Christopher George, president and CEO of CMG Financial, said the lender moved some operations offshore via outsourcing. “There are some areas where we can do business substantially cheaper and not compromise quality,” he said this week at the California Mortgage Bankers Association’s secondary market conference. George said two years ago, CMG had 161 ...