Mortgage servicers should already be in the process of preparing to implement Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's soon-to-be unveiled servicing requirements as the two GSEs work to roll out new rules in the coming weeks.

Lawmakers on a House subcommittee last week approved by a wide bipartisan margin a bill that would create a legislative framework for a covered bond market in the U.S. and, some critics contend, an unnecessary competitor to the Federal Home Loan Bank system.

Government housing policy and agencies played a much larger role in the housing crisis than initially believed, but a fresh look at the conclusions of two GSE critics has prompted a top JPMorgan Chase analyst to take the unusual step of issuing a public retraction.

Faced with a declining originations outlook, mortgage lenders should take advantage of today's more plentiful warehouse lending environment to review strategies that were developed during the liquidity crisis, industry experts say. The warehouse capacity issue has swung 180 degrees from where it was a few years ago, said Elaine Batlis, a senior vice president at Silvergate Bank, during last week's national secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Back in 2006-07, there was an oasis of liquidity; pricing was good and terms were flexible, Batlis said. But in the wake of the financial crisis in 2008, there was a sudden...

Look for refinance activity to continue to decline throughout the year, experts warn, but only a small percentage of those homeowners who do take a seat at the closing table will be "cash-out" borrowers. Freddie Mac reported last week that during the first quarter of 2011, only 25 percent of those who refinanced their existing mortgage loans pulled cash out of their home. Among refi loans, the average cash-out share - which Freddie defines as when the loan balance is increased by at least 5 percent - over the past 25 years was 62 percent. Even more surprising, Freddie noted that a record 21 percent of refi borrowers actually reduced their principal balance by...

A bipartisan bill unveiled this week by two House members would overhaul the federal mortgage finance system to ensure private sector capital for homebuyers and capital requirements to protect taxpayers - without Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

U.S. banks are generally more liquid than Basel III liquidity standards would suggest thanks in large part to the treatment of banks' large portfolios of GSE-related securities, according to Fitch Ratings.

Peter Federico, Freddie Mac's executive vice president - Investments and Capital Markets, has tendered his resignation after more than two decades with the GSE.

New primary mortgage insurance activity declined in step with slowing mortgage origination activity in the first quarter of 2011, and private MIs took more than their share of the hit, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. A total of $93.54 billion of mortgages originated in the first three months of the year carried primary MI coverage, down 20.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010. That was, however, less severe than the 35.0 percent drop in new loan originations over the same period. As refinance transactions represented a smaller share of... [Includes two data charts]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported sharply different earnings results for the first quarter, but at least one thing was mostly the same: both government-sponsored enterprises continued to push a significant volume of loans back to lenders through repurchase demands while carrying a large inventory of unresolved buybacks. “Some of our seller/servicers have failed to fully perform their repurchase obligations due to a lack of financial obligations in a timely manner,” Freddie said in its first quarter 2011 earnings report. As of March 31, 2011, the unpaid balance of loans subject to...