Declining refinance volume contributed to a marked decline in the GSEs’ overall business at the end of 2013 as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted big declines in business on a quarterly and total 12-month basis, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Fannie and Freddie issued $182.2 billion in new single-family mortgage-backed securities during the three-month period ending Dec. 31, 2013, a two-year low.
Commercial banks and savings institutions coughed up $1.998 billion in mortgage repurchases and indemnifications during the third quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. It was the lowest quarterly repurchase total for the industry since the third quarter of 2008, when the buyback storm was just beginning to gather force. The third quarter 2013 total also reflected a 25.2 percent drop from the second quarter. For the first nine months of 2013 ... [Includes one data chart]
The tendency of borrowers with low credit scores to choose adjustable-rate mortgages over fixed-rate loans is more about economic considerations rather than a lack of financial sophistication, according to a study by Federal Reserve researchers. In the study, Fred Furlong, David Lang and Yelena Takhtamanova looked at factors that influenced lower-credit borrowers to select ARMs over fixed-rate mortgages during the housing boom in early 2000. In general, the research team observed ...
A white paper circulated last week at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association asserted, somewhat counter-intuitively, that repealing the home-mortgage interest deduction and property-tax reductions would result in lower home prices but higher rates of homeownership. The paper, prepared by Kamila Sommer, an economist with the Federal Reserve Board, and Paul Sullivan, an economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, studied the impact of reducing housing tax expenditures on equilibrium ...
Mobile technology may seem to be all the rage, with many lenders tapping vendors to help borrowers to shop for rates, mortgages and lenders from the palms of their hands. But a new Fannie Mae survey suggests that borrowers prefer to go “old school” and use their personal computers to find the best mortgage. The use of technology in mortgage shopping is likely to continue – especially among younger borrowers with higher income and educational levels. “Consumers say they use traditional ...
Has The Mortgage Deconstruction Trend Run Its Course? The trend of deconsolidation among residential originators is likely to reverse due to the advantages of large lenders, according to projections from Fannie Mae. “The recent decline in large-lender share of the primary market is temporary, and principally a result of cyclical factors that caused larger lenders to pull back from the market,” said Gerry Flood, director of strategic planning in Fannie’s economic and strategic research division.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it recovered $7.88 billion in civil settlements in 2013 from less than half of the 18 defendants it is suing over billions of dollars in losses from toxic non-agency mortgage-backed securities sold to the GSEs before the housing crisis. Seven of the big banks made deals with Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s conservator to get out from under the massive MBS litigation effort launched by the FHFA in 2011.
Analysts are predicting a slowdown in the housing market in 2014 with mortgage interest rates trending higher, putting a damper on new applications, and regulatory and political changes pushing down on economic recovery. Noting the strong 12 percent rise in home prices in 2013, analysts at Standard & Poor’s are expecting a 6 percent increase in the S&P Case-Schiller 20-City Home Price Index in 2014. A housing market analysis by Capital Economics, a macroeconomic research firm, says the rapid rise of ...
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