Projections for gradual increases to the homeownership rate might be overly optimistic, according to some industry analysts. The homeownership rate fell to the lowest level on record in 2016 and then rose in 2017 on an annual basis for the first time since 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Some industry participants predict that the rate will likely continue to climb gradually, citing declines in renter households and other trends. However, an analysis by Laurie Goodman and ...

Most experts agree that passing housing-finance reform legislation in 2018 now looks improbable, leaving the immediate future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the hands of the Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Researchers at the Urban Institute say that if legislation remains stalled, the two GSEs could be placed into receivership and reconstituted. Laurie Goodman, director of UI’s Housing Finance Policy Center, said Fannie and Freddie could be wound down within five years, under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, and be replaced by new entities with no government backstop. She noted that this scenario would leave the fate of government support for the GSEs’ legacy mortgage-backed securities unclear.

Freddie Mac this week rolled out a pilot program that aims to lay off credit risk on mortgages it buys to a group of offshore insurance firms, using Arch Capital Group as a conduit and manager. Initially, 12 lenders will be part of the program, including Freedom Mortgage, the nation’s fifth largest originator overall. Arch is the parent company of the nation’s largest private mortgage insurer. Industry sources told Inside The GSEs that Fannie Mae is working on a similar pilot, but details were sketchy. A Fannie spokesman would only say, “It’s a bit premature to comment.” And a source close to the matter added that Fannie is “always looking for innovative ways” to reduce risk.

House-flip purchase financing totaled $16.1 billion in 2017, up 27 percent from $12.7 billion in 2016 – its highest dollar volume in a decade, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ fourth quarter and yearend home-flipping report. The report showed 207,088 single-family houses and condominiums were flipped last year, a 1 percent increase year-over-year. It was the highest total of homes flipped since 2006. The flipped houses represented 5.9 percent of all single-family homes and ...

Credit reporting company Experian recently introduced a new product to provide lenders with a wider view into client behavior over time with records from all three national credit bureaus. The new product, Trended 3D, would synthesize a 24-month history of five key credit report fields – balance, credit limit or original loan amount, scheduled payment amount, actual payment amount, and last payment date – and provide a spectrum of user trends. Experian said a conventional credit report is ...

A battle is brewing over whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should allow lenders to use alternatives to the ubiquitous FICO credit score. Some industry participants argue that the current credit scoring system works well. Others complain that the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the GSEs should be doing more to encourage alternatives to a system some deem outdated. The FHFA has been evaluating alternative credit scoring models over the past year and charged the GSEs with closely examining potential changes in how they use credit scores. Right now Fannie and Freddie rely exclusively on the Classic FICO score.

Possible changes suggested for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could lead to borrowers paying an extra $400 a month in mortgage payments, according to a new analysis from Zillow. If the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage were to be done away with, Zillow said future mortgage borrowers would get loans with shorter terms and higher interest rates. For example, without the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the typical buyer would pay an additional $390 each month on the median-priced home for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. Moreover, the conforming market would move closer to the jumbo sector. Zillow noted that a 30-year non-conforming loan would cost borrowers about $20 more per month than they now pay.

Caliber Home Loans has announced a new mobile platform designed to simplify the loan process for borrowers and key players in the homebuying and mortgage financing chain. The platform features three mobile phone apps customized for borrowers, Caliber’s sales force, real estate agents and homebuilders. The apps provides efficient and effective communication among all parties from home shopping to as far as servicing the loan. “We are a retail shop that provides ..

Both GSEs have now paid the government the 10 percent compound rate of return required by the original senior preferred stock agreement, according to the R Street Institute. The think tank’s senior fellow, Alex Pollock, said it’s time to put the senior preferred stock purchase agreement to rest. Fannie just recently joined Freddie in this “10 percent moment.” He said because Treasury has received dividend payments from both Fannie and Freddie that equal the economic equivalent of repayment of the entire principal of their senior preferred stock, plus a full 10 percent yield, “it is now entirely reasonable for it to consider declaring the senior preferred stock retired.”

Commercial banks and savings institutions serviced $3.621 trillion in home loans for other investors at the end of 2017, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data. After a brief spurt higher in the third quarter, bank servicing-for-others was down 0.8 percent during the final three months of the year. The industry’s SFO balance had been dropping steadily since the end of 2010 – with declining balances in 20 of 22 quarters – as many ... [Includes one data chart]