Mortgage banking income rose substantially in the second quarter of 2015 mostly because lenders sold more loans in the secondary market, but the outlook for the second half of the year is murkier. Commercial banks and thrifts sold $198.64 billion of home loans during the second quarter, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. That was up 19.9 percent from the first three months of the year, and it represented the busiest ... [Includes one data chart]
About 30 industry trade groups recently called for Congress to refrain from using GSE guaranty fees as a source of funding for highway programs or any other purposes beyond supporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The letter, addressed to House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, as well as leaders Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, Mitch McConnell, R-KY, and Harry Reid, D-NV, aims to prevent the government from tapping g-fees to pay for pet projects. G-fees, used by Fannie and Freddie to protect against losses from loans that default, are a “critical risk management tool,” according to the trade groups who say that increasing g-fees for other purposes imposes an unjustified burden on the housing finance system.
Fannie Mae completed its latest credit risk-sharing transaction with reinsurers this week. In CIRT-2015-3, Fannie retains risk for the first 50 basis points of loss on a $7 billion pool of loans. If this $35.2 million retention layer were exhausted, reinsurers would cover the next 250 basis points of loss on the pool, up to a maximum coverage of approximately $176.2 million. Coverage is provided based upon actual losses for a term of 10 years. Depending upon the paydown of the insured pool and the amount of insured loans that become seriously delinquent, the aggregate coverage amount may be reduced at the three-year anniversary and each anniversary of the effective date thereafter.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEOs may not see a sizable pay hike after the Senate approved by unanimous consent a bill to reverse the raises for the GSE executives. The “Equity in Government Compensation Act” approved last week would suspend the $4 million compensation packages for Fannie’s Tim Mayopoulos and Freddie’s Don Layton that were approved early this year after the Federal Housing Finance Agency said the CEOs could be paid as much as $7.26 million. Their salary would now each be capped at the $600,000 they earned prior to the pay hike. That’s a lot less than many individuals in upper management at the GSEs. “Giving massive taxpayer-funded pay raises to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac isn’t just out of touch, it’s...
The delinquency rate for loans backing commercial MBS was fairly stable in August, according to reports from Fitch Ratings and Trepp. Although Fitch reports that loan delinquencies fell one notch to 4.52 percent from the previous month, Trepp data show that the overall CMBS delinquency rate inched upward to 5.45 percent in August, from 5.42 in July. Late payment balances fell...
Marketplace lending – otherwise known as peer-to-peer lending – is becoming more of a “thing” for institutional investors, hedge funds, venture capital firms, and even banks these days, but there are plenty of risks lurking in the bushes as well as other operational challenges, according to ratings service analysts. “While marketplace lending has enjoyed increasing growth and acceptance, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services believes a measured and cautious approach is warranted to properly evaluate this segment, which exhibits unique and heightened risks,” S&P credit analysts Ildiko Szilank and Timothy Bartl wrote in a new report. Among the risks they identified is...
Nearly 100 approved issuers will be dismissed from the Ginnie Mae MBS program for failing to be active participants, according to a top agency official. Michael Drayne, senior vice president and head of the Office of Issuer and Portfolio Management at Ginnie Mae, said the agency is currently working through all of the Ginnie I (multifamily) and Ginnie II (single family) issuers that have not issued a single security since their approval. Drayne estimated...
A $1.5 trillion year is doable: according to survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, residential funders originated $805 billion in the first half.
The supply of residential MBS in the market grew tepidly in the second quarter of 2015, but not enough to increase the overall securitization rate for home mortgages. A total of $6.335 trillion of single-family MBS were outstanding at the end of June, a slim 0.1 percent increase from the previous quarter. The supply of MBS has been bouncing slightly higher and lower over the past six quarters, without gaining much traction. With total home mortgage debt outstanding climbing by 0.4 percent during the second quarter, the share of securitized loans fell...[Includes two data tables]
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