Purchase money lending will increase in 2014 but overall originations could swoon, according to a revised forecast from Fannie Mae.

Some of the nation's largest home lenders are beginning to cut mortgage workers as refinancing applications swoon.

Loan applications are strong at Citadel, a newly launched nonprime lender. HUD goes on furlough for a day.

It has been a bad month for nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs) as plaintiffs pummeled Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Corp. and Fitch Ratings with lawsuits in state courts, seeking damages for allegedly fraudulent investment ratings of pre-crisis non-agency MBS. On July 9, liquidators of two Bear Stearns funds sued the three rating agencies and their parent companies in New York state court for more than $1.12 billion in damages, as well as punitive damages, over allegedly inflated ratings of purportedly “high grade” securities. Geoffrey Varga and Mark Longbottom, the joint official liquidators of Bear Stearns, brought...[Includes one data chart]

It’s no secret that the market for nonperforming mortgages has improved nicely this year, but now there are signs of life in the “re-performing” sector as well, especially among investors that hope to package and securitize the notes. According to Jeana Curro, director of agency MBS strategy for Royal Bank of Scotland, the re-performing MBS market is small, “although not insignificant.” But getting a true handle on MBS backed by re-performing loans can be...

Both supporters and detractors of a House Republican bill aimed at comprehensive mortgage finance reform told members of the House Financial Services Committee this week the proposal has room for improvement, but the author of the proposal is pulling out all the stops to get the legislation on the fast track despite a nearly complete lack of bipartisan support. This week’s hearing, called by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, committee chairman and author of the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act, was designed to gather input on the bill with an eye toward marking up the PATH Act before the House adjourns for its August recess. The bill would put...

In what may well be his last appearance before Congress as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke this week indicated the central bank’s much-debated “tapering” of its massive asset purchase program is likely to begin later this year and then cease altogether by the middle of 2014, assuming the U.S. economy progresses as the Fed anticipates. At the same time, the Fed chief emphasized the Federal Open Market Committee will continue to be flexible in responding to market and economic conditions, all based on the flow of data coming into the committee. Bernanke said the FOMC has made...

With legislation to replace the government-sponsored enterprises not likely to be enacted until after the 2014 election, the Mortgage Bankers Association is proposing five steps administrators can take now to ensure a smooth transition without disrupting the nation’s housing finance system. At a press briefing this week, MBA President and Chief Executive Officer David Stevens rolled out the trade group’s five-point plan that could be immediately implemented by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and/or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without the need for legislation. At the top of the MBA’s list and the tallest order of the five recommendations is...

Redwood Trust, not surprisingly, was the top jumbo MBS issuer in the first half of 2013, according to exclusive rankings from Inside MBS & ABS.

HUD thinks random sampling would help make post-endorsement reviews more efficient, but some legal advisors believe the cost is too great.