The volume of new business flowing through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – a lagging indicator of primary market originations – declined modestly during the second quarter of 2013, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. The two government-sponsored enterprises securitized $337.74 billion of single-family mortgages during the second quarter, down 5.1 percent from the first three months of the year. The decline reversed an upward trend in quarterly GSE production that started in the third quarter of 2012. Even with the downturn, business at Fannie and Freddie was up 20.0 percent over the first six months of last year. The second-quarter decline clearly reflected...[Includes three data charts]

Credit Suisse issued a non-agency jumbo MBS backed predominantly by seasoned mortgages from First Republic Bank.

Well, at least the White House is happy. Fannie and Freddie turned over $66.4 billion to the government at the end of June, money that will help reduce the deficit.

The Federal Reserve will go ahead with proposed rule changes related to mortgage servicing rights, but with what it calls a “lengthy transition period.”

Stonegate Mortgage, a fast growing lender, wants to go public. Meanwhile, thanks to the Fed, MSR sales could be massive.

The review found that 37 percent of the mortgages were “deficient” and just 19 percent met FHA requirements.

The silver lining in the 2Q numbers is a strengthening home-purchase market. Fannie and Freddie securitized $81.7 billion of home-purchase mortgages during the second quarter, their highest quarterly volume since the second quarter of 2009.

In response to a significant amount of public input – and private bellyaching – from the mortgage finance industry, the CFPB last week issued a number of proposed clarifications and revisions to several mortgage rulemakings finalized in January 2013, including changes to those having to do with loan originator compensation. The proposed changes would, among other things, clarify the definition of a loan originator. Under the CFPB’s January 2013 loan originator compensation final rule, persons classified as loan originators...

On Tuesday the Fed will hold an open meeting to discuss final rule-making tied to the Basel III accords, which affects the value of mortgage servicing rights.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to take on the presidential recess appointment issue in Noel Canning v. National Labor Relations Board, the odds are high that Richard Cordray’s appointment will also be reviewed and perhaps declared unconstitutional, according to the consensus expectations of a number of industry representatives. And if that happens, it could be a real mess for the mortgage lending community, according to one top industry lobbyist. In Canning, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals...