During the second quarter, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Veterans Affairs home loan guaranty program all saw significant increases in production of “agency jumbo” loans – mortgages with loan amounts exceeding the baseline $417,000 agency loan limit. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals that the agencies’ combined jumbo production, including FHA activity, rose 53.3 percent to $36.2 billion during the second quarter. That represented the highest quarterly total since “emergency” high-cost loan limits were established in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The FHA had...[Includes three data tables]
The Department of Veterans Affairs is drafting a new policy to address ongoing confusion about its Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan program and ease investor anxiety. The uncertainty among VA lenders stems from the treatment of IRRRLs under the VA’s interim final rule defining what constitutes a “qualified mortgage.” That rule took...
In general, it hasn’t been a pretty picture this year when it comes to the sale of “bulk” mortgage servicing rights, especially Ginnie Mae receivables. According to figures compiled by affiliate publication Inside Mortgage Trends, bulk MSR transfers (one barometer of sales) increased 20.6 percent in the second quarter compared to the first with roughly $42.9 billion of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie product changing hands. The third quarter is expected...
Freddie Mac’s newly launched front-end credit-risk transfer pilot doesn’t appear to be the expansion of credit-risk transfers that mortgage bankers have been clamoring for. For starters, the deep MI pilot won’t result in lower guarantee fees, which is what the Mortgage Bankers Association has been seeking. And it’s not the deep-cover primary insurance that private MIs would like to write. Under the Freddie Mac Deep MI pilot, the government-sponsored enterprise is purchasing...
The FHA has issued long-anticipated rules for approving condominium developments, including the reinstatement of spot approvals and mandatory recertification of condo approvals every three years rather than the current two-year requirement. The rules are designed to make it easier for condo projects to qualify for FHA financing and for borrowers to purchase affordable single-family units with a low 3.5 percent downpayment. The comment period ends on Nov. 28, 2016. The Department of Housing and Urban Development eliminated...
Mortgage lenders would be able to extend more credit to traditionally underserved borrowers with greater confidence and sell those loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to proponents of legislation pending on Capitol Hill. H.R. 4211, the “Credit Score Competition Act of 2015,” introduced by Rep. Ed Royce, R-CA, would allow Fannie and Freddie to consider alternative scoring models when determining whether to purchase a residential mortgage. Further, the Federal Housing Finance Agency would be given...
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