The retained mortgage portfolios of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to decline through natural attrition during the first quarter of 2013, falling by 4.9 percent from the previous quarter, according to an Inside MBS & ABS analysis of earnings reports released by the two government-sponsored enterprises this week. Fannie and Freddie held $1.13 trillion in mortgage assets as of the end of March. With heavy refinance activity, the rate of decline in early 2013 was faster than it had been; GSE holdings were down 13.6 percent from year-ago levels. There was...[Included one data chart]
Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s multifamily businesses hold “little inherent value” and would be less viable absent the government guarantees the two government-sponsored enterprises currently enjoy, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In a new report, the agency also noted that the sale of the GSEs’ multifamily businesses would yield “little or no value” to the U.S. Treasury or to taxpayers, while at the same time it could be a huge disruption to the commercial real estate markets. “The new ‘stand-alone’ businesses would primarily depend...
Bank of America and MBIA announced a settlement this week of a long-running dispute regarding representations and warranties on mortgages securitized by Countrywide Financial. The settlement benefits non-agency MBS wrapped by MBIA, according to industry analysts. The settlement applies to all outstanding rep and warrant claims and all other claims between the bank and bond guarantor. BofA agreed to pay MBIA approximately $1.6 billion in cash and remit to MBIA all of the outstanding notes in the firm that BofA acquired in December. BofA also will terminate...
Although it's unlikely that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will engage in principal reductions anytime soon, a new report from CBO says it could do some good.
Will investors in GSE stock sue the federal government for "sweeping" earnings out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Meanwhile, PennyMac worries about its "Countrywide" problem.
Whether or not President Obama’s pick to become the new permanent director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency overcomes the long odds and expected Republican opposition to win Senate confirmation, it’s a win-win for the White House, say industry observers. Last week, Rep. Mel Watt, D-NC, a 20-year House veteran, all of it spent serving on the Financial Services Committee, was selected by Obama to become the new FHFA director, replacing FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco, who has served as the agency’s acting head since September 2009. Although Watt had been on the short list of FHFA nominees, it was widely believed that Moody’s Analytics’ Chief Economist Mark Zandi would be the president’s pick, largely because Zandi was seen as “confirmable” by both Democrats and Republicans.
Fannie Mae is working on what it calls an “out-of-region” data center with IBM, which will make the GSE’s business “more resilient,” a spokesman for the secondary market giant told Inside The GSEs. The official noted that eventually IBM will “assume some data center activities” but provided little in the way of details on the matter. The comments about the data center came after weeks of rumors that IBM had landed a huge outsourcing contract with Fannie. The GSE acknowledged the data center work.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will no longer purchase loans that are interest-only, loans with 40-year terms or loans with points and fees exceeding the thresholds of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s “ability to repay” rule, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week. The FHFA said it is directing the GSEs to limit their future mortgage acquisitions to loans that meet the requirements for a qualified mortgage, including those that meet the special or temporary qualified mortgage definition, and loans that are exempt from the CFPB’s “ability to repay” requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
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