Mortgage repurchases and indemnifications by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seller-servicers increased during the second quarter of 2012, but the inventory of pending and disputed buyback demands continued to grow. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of repurchase disclosures made by the two government-sponsored enterprises reveals that lenders repurchased some $3.03 billion of home loans, or otherwise indemnified the GSEs for losses on these loans, during the second quarter. That was ... [Includes one data chart]

Excess servicing spreads qualify as real-estate related investments for real estate investment trusts, according to a new ruling by the IRS. The private-letter ruling issued in August allows an un-named REIT to invest in the assets, with others exploring the possibility, according to industry analysts. “In anticipation of new financial industry regulations and in order to improve their liquidity and capital positions, many servicers have begun selling their excess servicing spreads to passive ...

New issuance of single-family agency MBS pass-through securities increased by 12.2 percent from July to August, pushing the market over the $1 trillion mark for the year with plenty of gas still in the tank. A new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis reveals that all three agencies saw solid gains in MBS issuance last month, largely based on increased refinance activity. Agency MBS production climbed to $149.2 billion in August, the highest monthly production level since March. Ginnie Mae posted the biggest gain, a 15.1 percent increase from July levels, but Freddie Mac (13.5 percent) and Fannie Mae (10.3 percent) also saw healthy increases in production volume. Total agency issuance for the first eight months of 2012 was...[Includes one data chart]

Last month’s surprise move by the Treasury Department to revise the preferred stock purchase agreements with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac definitively settles the question of “when” not “if” the two government-sponsored enterprises are to be wound down but it also removes any remaining sense of urgency to push a legislative solution to GSE reform, according to industry analysts. On Aug. 17, Treasury announced it will require Fannie and Freddie to turn over any profits they earn to the government. Rather than continue to borrow from the Treasury to make a 10 percent dividend payment to the Treasury, the revised PSPA implements a “full income sweep” of GSE profits. Additionally, Treasury’s announcement calls...

The Homeownership Protection Program Joint Powers Authority Board, a partnership between California’s San Bernardino County and two of its local communities, unanimously directed staff to develop a request for proposals that would invite interested parties with any kind of formal plan to assist underwater families in the JPA area to submit those plans for board consideration. The JPA is examining local government solutions to the negative-equity issues many homeowners in the two participating communities of Fontana and Ontario are having, with the goal of keeping families in their homes, reducing defaults and foreclosures, and enhancing the economic health of the communities. “Presently, the board has not received...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is pushing its own version of mortgage reform: an ambitious agenda of standardizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitization operations to the point that their MBS are interchangeable. The plan, hatched in the absence of any substantial move by Congress or the Obama administration to address the nearly four-year-old conservatorships of the government-sponsored enterprises, has won broad endorsement from the lending and securitization industries. But some analysts say the FHFA strategy will make things worse, not better. Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics, a proprietary think-tank in Washington, DC, characterized the idea as “seductive” and “dangerous as all get-out.” First, there’s the issue of whether the two GSEs could be...

As Congress returns from its August recess next week for an abbreviated legislative session, mortgage market watchers inside the Capitol Hill beltway forecast a significant shift in the focus of those seeking to oust the current head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. When Congress adjourned for the summer six weeks ago, lawmakers were alternately fuming or lauding the long-awaited decision by FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco to not allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to implement the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Principal Reduction Alternative.

Guaranty fees that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge lenders will rise later this year following a directive from the GSEs’ conservator but industry officials note concern about the potential unintended consequences of spurring additional, future g-fee hikes too soon. Late last week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced g-fees on single-family will rise another 10 basis points. The increase is effective Dec. 1, 2012, for loans exchanged for mortgage-backed securities, and on Nov. 1, 2012, for loans sold for cash.

Despite increased activity in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinance programs for underwater borrowers during the second quarter of 2012, total refi originations declined by 4.8 percent from the first three months of the year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. Refinance activity still accounted for 68.1 percent of originations during the most recent quarter, but that was down from 75.3 percent in the first three months of the year. Partly offsetting the drop in refi business was a 35.8 percent increase in purchase-mortgage originations, which rose to an estimated $129.0 billion in the second quarter. But compared to the first half of 2011, purchase-mortgage lending was down 1.3 percent as of the midway point this year. Refinance originations appear to be climbing in the third quarter. Data on Fannie and Freddie securitization activity in July and August suggest that total refi business at the government-sponsored enterprises is...[Includes four data charts]

One of the most worrisome elements to emerge so far in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rule on mortgage loan originator compensation is the agency’s consideration of factors that may serve as proxies for prohibited transaction terms and how they may be used to restrict originator compensation. The CFPB proposal would implement statutory changes made by the Dodd-Frank Act to the Truth in Lending Act/Regulation Z loan originator compensation rule, including a new, additional restriction on the imposition of any upfront discount points, origination points or fees on consumers under certain circumstances. The proposal provides...