Industry groups lauded the GSEs’ efforts to increase funding for underserved markets but recommend they add more specific activities focused on increasing loan purchases and speeding up the process. In May, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released draft proposals on ways to grow financing for specific underserved markets under the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s duty-to-serve requirements. Those markets include manufactured housing, rural housing and preserving affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households. The National Low Income Housing Coalition said while the plans demonstrate the GSEs’ commitment to increase their impact in underserved markets, they focus largely on scoring and technical compliance.

With GSE reform moving up the priority list in the minds of lawmakers and industry executives, Federal Reserve Governor Jay Powell joined the conversation last week and said it’s time to act now before it’s too late. Following the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on GSE reform, Powell spoke at the American Enterprise Institute and urged lawmakers to come up with a solution while the economy is healthy. He worries that if reform doesn’t happen soon, the status quo will become comfortable. Moreover, Powell said any change would be more challenging to enact during difficult economic times.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $189.70 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2017, a 13.1 percent drop from the first three months of the year. A new ranking and analysis by Inside The GSEs reveals that much of the decline resulted from a slowdown among large banks and thrifts. The four banks with over $1 trillion in assets delivered just $43.23 billion of home loans into Fannie/Freddie MBS during the second quarter. That was down 29.1 percent from the previous period, knocking the group’s combined market share down from 27.9 percent in the first quarter to 22.8 percent.

California remains the biggest purchase-mortgage market for private mortgage insurers, and it looks to be shifting away from FHA, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of agency mortgage-backed securities data. In the second quarter of 2017, private MIs wrote coverage for $5.20 billion of California purchase mortgages – or 36.0 percent of insured loans in the state. A year ago, the private MI share was 33.1 percent. Over that period ... [Includes one data chart]

New research from Black Knight Financial Services finds that the underwater homeowner population has fallen to 1.8 million borrowers, dipping below 2.0 million for the first time since 2006. Researchers also expect “tappable equity” to hit a record high this summer, according to their new report on data from the first four months of 2017. “The steady upward trajectory of home prices continues to improve the equity positions of many homeowners,” said Ben Graboske, executive vice president ...

The national average credit score tracked by Fair Isaac (FICO) recently reached a record high in April: 700. And the share of consumers seeking new credit is actually declining, according to an analysis by FICO. Ethan Dornhelm, a senior principal scientist in the analytic development group at FICO, noted that the average FICO score as of April was 10 points higher than the reading in October 2006, before the financial crisis. Average scores fell to 686 in October 2009 and have ...

Direct-mail advertising campaigns touting refinances help prompt borrowers to refi, according to a study by economists at the Federal Reserve. They added that policymakers should consider making it easier for lenders to target borrowers for refis. Seran Grundl and You Suk Kim, economists at the Fed, authored a recent working paper that examined how borrowers react to receiving ads in the mail for refinances. They said the effect of advertising on consumer mistakes and ...

Mortgage firms of all types continued to add to their payrolls late this spring, with many firms reporting they’re searching for technology workers. Overall, nonbank lender/servicers added 1,400 full-time positions in May, bringing total sector employment to 242,900 positions, the best reading since December 2007, according to figures compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Separately, loan brokerage companies also added 1,400 jobs during the month, bringing their employment ...

With refinance activity tapering off, the retail production channel lost some of its edge during the second quarter of 2017, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of agency mortgage-backed securities. Retail production accounted for 50.6 percent of the $290.63 billion of single-family mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae in the second quarter. Including modified loans and those with no channel identification ... [Includes one data chart]

According to Fairholme’s math, the GSEs earn over $15 billion a year, and taxpayers own 80 percent of the companies (via the senior preferred). Berkowitz values the senior stock at $100 billion…