Although only 13 banks reported net losses on mortgage banking during 1Q – compared to 756 institutions with net profits – several of the top players earned less than they did in the fourth quarter.
A possible cyber attack on the GSEs was one of the focuses of a semi-annual report to Congress by the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General. The computer systems of Fannie and Freddie could be vulnerable to security breaches and unauthorized access, according to the report, which noted that the IG specifically worries about hackers possibly stealing confidential information and/or planting computer viruses within the systems of the GSEs. “Among other things, a breach of an enterprise’s security system could disrupt its business operations or result in the unauthorized disclosure or misuse, computer viruses or other malicious codes, or other attempts to harm them or misuse or steal confidential information,” said the report.
The common securitization platform and single security are years away, but officials from the GSEs, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Common Securitization Solutions, LLC, offered additional information about future plans and the inner workings of the platform at the Mortgage Bankers Association Secondary Conference in New York this week. Robert Fishman, FHFA’s senior associate director in the office of strategic initiatives, said the two initiatives are intimately related because the CSP will be the platform to issue the single security. The CSP was already been underway when the single security was announced a year ago. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “are critical to the current function of the housing market. So while it’s very helpful to think about the...
Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s new business volume in the first quarter represented a huge increase from the feeble start back in early 2014, with all major markets showing strong gains.A new Inside The GSEs analysis of GSE business lenders in the first quarter shows that California posted one of the biggest gains compared to a year ago. The Golden State produced $44.95 billion of new Fannie/Freddie mortgages, up 69.6 percent from the first quarter of 2014. Over that same period, GSE business grew by 43.3 percent nationally.As usual, California accounted for a substantial Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s new business volume in the first quarter represented a huge increase from the feeble start back in early 2014, with all major markets showing strong gains.A new Inside The GSEs analysis of GSE business lenders in the first quarter shows that California posted one of the biggest gains compared to a year ago. The Golden State produced $44.95 billion of new Fannie/Freddie mortgages, up 69.6 percent from the first quarter of 2014. Over that same period, GSE business grew by 43.3 percent nationally.
Seven months ago, a fledgling nonprime lender called Deephaven Mortgage unveiled a $300 million investment in the firm by a global “alternative” hedge fund called Varde Partners, Minneapolis. But since then, not much has been heard about Deephaven. Then again, it might be said that the “new” nonprime industry is still trying to figure out how to operate in a world of tight regulation, non-QM lending and a securitization market that doesn’t want to touch its product. Matt Nichols, the former Goldman Sachs managing director who formed Deephaven two years ago, did not respond...
Mortgage originations are already off to a better start in 2015, and industry economists are predicting, on average, a 15 percent increase from last year’s sluggish output. But uncertain prospects in the housing market point toward a decline in mortgage originations next year, according to forecasters at the secondary market conference sponsored this week by the Mortgage Bankers Association. 2015 should bring the strongest housing sales volume since 2007, said Leonard Kiefer, deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac. Sales activity was decent over the winter, despite severe weather in many areas, but the market has yet to get back to normal. Freddie looks...[Includes one data table]
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