The megabanks no longer have a total "lock" on the MBS issuance market. But is this trend short-lived?

Will Congress eventually final a legislative solution to all the GSE shareholder lawsuits that have been filed?

MSR sales, in general, are expected to be brisk in the first quarter as lenders sell receivables to make up for declining originations.

However, the greatest earnings impact could fall on such mid-sized mortgage firms as PHH Corp., Redwood Trust, and PennyMac Financial Services.

We continue to hear reports that Walter Investment Management is talking to a fairly large nonbank about a possible acquisition.

New business activity at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fell sharply in the fourth quarter of 2014, but the top tier of mortgage sellers took more than their share of the decline, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of mortgage-backed securities data. Total single-family MBS production by the two government-sponsored enterprises declined by 36.1 percent from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2013. But the top five GSE sellers posted a combined 45.9 percent ... [Includes two data charts]

Expect the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General and its investigators to continue to seek out an “increasingly active role” alongside federal and state prosecutors in the pursuit of financial fraud cases – whether or not there is a GSE connection, according to an industry attorney. Industry lawyer and one-time federal prosecutor Andrew Schilling of BuckleySandler noted in a recent opinion piece what the FHFA’s official watchdog itself recently boasted – that the OIG seeks to expand its investigative presence in 2014.

Over the past year, home values – including distressed sales – have risen by almost 12 percent, which can only mean good things for sellers of nonperforming mortgages. Investors and auction companies that play in the non-performing loan space are expecting a banner year for sales, but also are quick to caution that every real estate (and loan) market is different. “We auctioned off roughly $11 billion in NPLs in 2013,” said J. Kingsley Greenland, president and CEO of The Debt Exchange, which operates ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it recovered $7.88 billion in civil settlements in 2013 from less than half of the 18 defendants it is suing over billions of dollars in losses from toxic non-agency mortgage-backed securities sold to the GSEs before the housing crisis. Seven of the big banks made deals with Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s conservator to get out from under the massive MBS litigation effort launched by the FHFA in 2011.

Analysts are predicting a slowdown in the housing market in 2014 with mortgage interest rates trending higher, putting a damper on new applications, and regulatory and political changes pushing down on economic recovery. Noting the strong 12 percent rise in home prices in 2013, analysts at Standard & Poor’s are expecting a 6 percent increase in the S&P Case-Schiller 20-City Home Price Index in 2014. A housing market analysis by Capital Economics, a macroeconomic research firm, says the rapid rise of ...