The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s annual report on housing showed that Fannie Mae fell short of meeting two of its affordable housing goals for 2016. The GSE came close at 5.2 percent but did not meet the 5.4 percent benchmark goal for very-low income buyers purchasing single-family homes. Fannie also did not meet the goal for low-income buyers refinancing their mortgages. The goal was 19.8 percent and Fannie topped out at 19.5 percent. However, Fannie did meet the 22.9 percent low-income home-purchase goal and surpassed its low-income area home-purchase goal of 19.7 percent by 0.5 percent.

The industry’s shift toward originations of purchase mortgages could help mortgage brokers gain market share, according to industry analysts. “This is a much more promising sector of the business than it was three or four years ago,” James Modrycki, a vice president of correspondent sales at Impac Mortgage Holdings, said at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention in Denver. Brokers originated $87.0 billion of mortgages in the first half of 2017, accounting for ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, despite opposition, will go ahead with its plan to add a language-preference question to the redesigned loan application for GSE loans. Although use of the form won’t be required by lenders until February 2020, one law firm is weighing in on its possible impact.The FHFA announced late last month that the question will be added to the loan application to enable borrowers who prefer to communicate in a language other than English to identify that language. The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regulator also said the revision is part of a broader, multi-year effort to improve language access for limited English proficiency (LEP) borrowers.

A lender doesn’t have to be one of the big dogs in the industry to be competitive, thanks to continuing technological innovation. A case in point: Former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Gene Ludwig and former Freddie Mac Chief Operating Officer Bruce Witherell have formed a new company in the mortgage technology and fulfillment solutions spaces, Promontory MortgagePath, which just rolled out what it’s touting as the next generation of point-of-sale solutions for lenders ...

Stratmor Senior Partner Garth Graham recently offered a handful of things mortgage lenders should consider to make the best decisions possible about their investments in digital technology. First, lender executives should be sure they clearly know the business case for the investments they are making. “Without a very specific business case, it is very difficult to generate the additional revenue or lower the expense necessary to handle the investments that are being made in new technology ...

It’s been less than two weeks since Mortgage Bankers Association CEO Dave Stevens surprised the industry by announcing his retirement next fall – and already speculation is mounting about his successor. One participant involved in the effort said the trade group is looking to hire at least two private firms to aid in the search, which is being managed internally. MBA members, speaking under the condition of anonymity, laid out a few parameters for the job: first and foremost, the likely ...

There have been a number of moving parts in GSE shareholder cases recently, including oral arguments heard this week in one case and three separate lawsuits asking the Supreme Court of the United States to review the constitutionality of the structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Attorney and managing partner David Thompson with Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C., who represents the shareholders in Christopher Roberts vs. FHFA, participated in this week’s oral arguments in the Seventh Circuit Court. He called the net-worth sweep unlawful because it imposed a “mandatory zero-capital regime and violated its own statutory commands to preserve and conserve assets and restore them to soundness.”

Purchase-mortgage originations are expected to increase slightly in 2018, but not enough to offset declines in refinance activity, according to industry analysts. On average, economists at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers Association project that $1.21 trillion in purchase mortgages will be originated next year, up 5.9 percent from the amount expected in 2017. “All the pieces are in place for stronger growth in 2018 and beyond,” Michael Fratantoni, the MBA’s chief economist ...

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt said the agency is reviewing the possibility of having Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac update their credit score model requirements. But first he has questions. Although it wouldn’t be implemented until late 2019, Watt, while speaking at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual conference last week, reminded that it’s not an easy decision. The FHFA plans to issue a request for input sometime this month to get stakeholder feedback on the issue and make an informed decision about the GSEs’ future credit score model requirements in 2018 as soon as it completes reviewing responses to the RFI.

Nearly half of the loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae during the third quarter came from lenders’ retail platforms, a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis shows. Correspondents generated 38.8 percent of the market and posted the highest purchase-mortgage concentration, 77.8 percent. Mortgage brokers were involved in 11.6 percent of agency business, with a relatively high 35.9 percent refinance distribution ... [Includes one data chart]