About 2 percent of mortgages actually go through a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac quality control check.

“Due to the new Dodd-Frank guidelines, fewer buyers will be qualified to purchase homes, which will ultimately affect my livelihood as well,” one Realtor said.

Although the long-term prospects for the agency MBS market are highly uncertain, the near-term future is wherever Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae take it – and the highly anticipated shift in investor demand as the Federal Reserve eases out of the market. The development of a common securitization platform for Fannie and Freddie will take several years, even after the Federal Housing Finance Agency narrowed the project, said Bob Ryan, a special advisor to the FHFA, during a panel session at this week’s Secondary Market Conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The 2014 plan for the government-sponsored enterprises includes clarifying the scope of the CSP project, which has been in the works for over a year. “We’re not talking...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is soon expected to launch an intense debate on the pricing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS guaranties that could broaden the credit box and shape how much business the government-sponsored enterprises do. Bob Ryan, a special advisor to the FHFA, said that the agency hopes to come out with its “request for information” on guaranty fees in the near future. During a panel session at the Mortgage Bankers Association Secondary Market Conference in New York City, he said the FHFA has been working closely with the two GSEs on the factors that go into their g-fee calculations. “Folks need...

Fannie Mae this week priced its second credit risk-sharing deal of 2014. The $1.6 billion note is the government-sponsored enterprise’s third and largest transaction under its Connecticut Avenue Securities series since the Federal Housing Finance Agency ordered both Fannie and Freddie Mac to shrink the GSEs’ role in the U.S. housing market last year. In its latest offering – Series 2014-C02 – Fannie said it included reference loans with original loan-to-value ratios of up to 97 percent. Previous C-deal offerings included reference loans with up to 80 percent original LTV ratios. “As the market moves from a refinance market to a purchase-money market, it is...

Among the largest servicers, Ocwen Financial Corp. and RoundPoint Mortgage had the highest overall delinquency rates during the first quarter. However, both firms specialize in “high touch” product.

Marc Savitt, who runs The Mortgage Center in West Virginia, said he recently worked on a mortgage that had 4.5 points of LLPAs. “It was a cash-out refi,” he noted.

Originations that don’t meet standards for qualified mortgages have largely been held in bank portfolios in the months since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule took effect. However, nonbanks are also eyeing the products, and industry participants suggest that non-QMs will eventually be included in non-agency mortgage-backed securities. Laurence Platt, a partner at the law firm of K&L Gates, said a number of hedge funds and investment banks are ...

Some 69.9 percent of homes purchased in April were completed with non-cash financing, up from a 69.7 percent share the previous month.

Retail lending, which includes traditional loan-origination offices and consumer-direct operations, was down 60.0 percent from the first quarter of last year, slightly worse than the 58.0 percent downturn in the overall market.