Wells Fargo last year wound up keeping almost $20 billion of new residential production its books instead of selling the loans to Fannie Mare and Freddie Mac.
Conventional conforming mortgage originations mostly financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accounted for a record 66.8 percent of total single-family lending last year, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Mortgage lenders originated a whopping $1.273 trillion in conventional conforming mortgages in 2012, the highest level since the all-time record of $2.460 trillion was set back in 2003. Volume in the sector started strong and kept building throughout the year, including a 19.1 percent jump from the third to the fourth quarter. For the year, conventional conforming originations were...[Includes two data charts]
The Federal Reserve is open to the idea of making the "qualified residential mortgage" definition in the pending risk-retention rule the same as that of the "qualified mortgage" standard.