Industry trade groups are calling on the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to be more transparent about how they plan to use the information the agencies want to collect to build the National Mortgage Database. Earlier this year, the FHFA announced it will begin to collect additional, more specific and personal information on borrowers and loans as part of the National Mortgage Database project the agency launched with the CFPB in 2012. An FHFA announcement in the Federal Register noted that under a “revised system of records,” the database will begin collecting demographic and personal contact info for borrowers and their households, as well as loan-level data on mortgage performance.
White House Nominates New FHFA Inspector General. The Federal Housing Finance Agency soon should have a new Inspector General. Last week, the White House nominated Laura Wertheimer as the FHFA’s new watchdog chief. A Washington-based securities lawyer in private practice, Wertheimer would replace Steve Linick, who resigned last summer to serve as the State Department’s IG. Michael Stevens has been filling in as the FHFA’s acting IG. Wertheimer’s nomination has been forwarded to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee for consideration.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in April reversed more than a year-long streak of declines with monthly increases in the volume of single-family mortgages securitized by the two GSEs, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Fannie and Freddie issued $45.4 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities in April, a 20.6 percent increase from March. However, April’s MBS issuance was down 63.0 percent from the same period a year ago. In April, GSE refi securitizations rose to $21.2 billion, a 9.5 percent increase since March, making for a refi share of 46.7 percent. On a year-to-date basis, GSE refi securitizations fell 76.7 percent at the end of April.
An East Coast-based warehouse executive, requesting anonymity, said he has approached his credit board about such a change, and his waiting to hear back from them.
Only about 27.7 percent of Ginnie Mae first-quarter volume were refinance loans, and the refi share of the overall market fell to an estimated 44.3 percent, Inside Mortgage Finance found.
State regulators note that their concerns about nonbanks relate to significant growth in recent months prompted in part by increased capital requirements for banks.
The Center for American Progress, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and other groups want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to survive and are persuading several Democratic politicians to side with them. As for the GOP...
Construction-to-permanent loans are picking up a head of steam in certain markets. “Down here [in Florida] it’s extremely hot,” said Joe Adamaitis, vice president and residential lending manager for Insignia Bank.
All the major mortgage product categories saw declines in new originations during the first quarter, but the jumbo and home-equity sectors held up slightly better, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. The conventional-conforming sector took the biggest hit, as new production dropped 25.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 to an estimated $123 billion in the first three months of this year. The vast majority of these loans still end up being financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the two government-sponsored enterprises continue to draw a lot of their business from the ebbing refinance market. Fannie and Freddie securitized...[Includes two data charts]
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