According to industry sources, the FHA recently sent out administrative letters to a handful of residential lenders. Meanwhile, yet another new subprime originator has emerged.
A Senate bill filed last week by a Georgia Republican would wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and create a transitional mortgage program that would be sold to the private sector within a decade of the proposed legislation’s enactment. The Mortgage Finance Act of 2013, S. 1048, by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-GA, reprises his proposed legislation of the same name from 2011. The bill would replace the two government-sponsored enterprises with a single Mortgage Finance Agency. The MFA created under S. 1048 would be...
Home prices are improving at a rapid pace throughout the nation, sparking bidding wars in certain markets, according to several different indices. But this rise in “home equity” is also spurring talk that the two largest players in residential finance – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – could be sitting on large unrealized gains in both their MBS and whole loan portfolios. One veteran MBS investor told Inside MBS & ABS that home values have improved so much over the past 120 days that the government-sponsored enterprises may be looking at “monster” increases in the value of their holdings. “Keep in mind that these two are sitting on loans where a year ago the loan-to-value ratio was 115 percent,” said this investor. “But most of this stuff isn’t underwater anymore. If [the GSEs] re-calculate their reserves, they will see some huge gains.” In its 10-Q filing for the first quarter, Fannie reported...
The auction market for nonperforming mortgages is picking up a full head of steam this year and could be bolstered by securitizations, according to investors and advisors who play in that space. Gordon Albrecht, executive vice president of FCI Lender Services, said he has a hedge fund client that is presently working on a $40 million securitization of nonperforming residential loans. Albrecht said he could not identify the client, though he noted that Wells Fargo is involved in the transaction along with a foreign bank. He added...
Since 2008, big banks have largely held their non-agency jumbo originations in portfolio, seeing better execution than non-agency MBS issuance, but all that could be changing.
Warehouse lenders that finance nonbank mortgage firms continue to report strong commitment volumes and usage rates, but there is an underlying fear that the good times won’t last forever. Nevertheless, that’s not stopping their telephones from ringing. “We’re seeing more requests for increases in lines than decreases,” said a senior manager who spoke under the condition his name not be used. “Most of our lines are holding steady.” Bob Garrett, executive vice president of mortgage warehouse lending at First Tennessee Bank, said...[Includes one data chart]
Non-agency MBS execution is competitive with agency MBS execution for purchase mortgages with loan-to-value ratios below 70 percent and credit scores above 740.
Mark Savitt, president of the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals, told Inside Mortgage Finance that including “lender paid” compensation to brokers in the 3 percent cap is “double counting.
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