The mortgage industry is beginning to get a whiff of what reform of the nation’s housing-finance system might look like next year: a federal gurantee on a new breed of conventional MBS but no backing – at all – of the entities that issue guaranteed securities.
FHFA's Mel Watt: "While it is apparent that a draw will be necessary for each enterprise if tax legislation results in a reduction to the corporate tax rate, FHFA considers the $3 billion capital reserve sufficient to cover other fluctuations in income in the normal course of each Enterprise’s business.”
While combined GSE servicing still accounted for a hefty 44.9 percent of single-family mortgages, it has continued to drift lower over the course of 2017…
Beginning in tax year 2018, a deduction won’t be allowed for interest paid on home-equity loans unless proceeds from the loan are used to improve the residence…
Mel Watt continued: “We, therefore, contemplate that going forward enterprise dividends will be declared and paid beyond the $3 billion capital reserve in the absence of exigent circumstances.”
The FHFA noted that if another credit scoring model is introduced, the entire mortgage finance industry will incur increased operation and transition costs…
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac likely will post healthy combined earnings for the fourth quarter in the range of $4.0 billion to $5.0 billion, according to an analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. And un-der a surprise revision to their conservatorship terms, they’ll likely be able to keep a good deal of it.
Guaranteed Rate, long the subject of sale rumors, has agreed to sell a chunk of the company to private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, fueling speculation that in time the rest of the nonbank might be placed on the auction block.