Ginnie Mae issuance of single-family mortgage-backed securities rode a homebuying wave during the third quarter of 2018, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending ranking and analysis. Ginnie issuers produced $105.63 billion of new MBS backed by forward mortgages during the July-September cycle, a 7.1 percent increase from the second quarter. That brought year-to-date production to $296.88 billion – down 11.3 percent from the first nine months of 2017. Purchase mortgages provided the boost for the Ginnie market. Some $75.69 billion of FHA and VA purchase mortgages were pooled in Ginnie MBS in the third quarter, a sturdy 13.1 percent increase from the previous period. Purchase loans accounted for 75.1 percent of FHA and VA loans securitized in the third quarter, compared to 64.7 percent for all of last year. Although production of these loans has gone up since the first quarter, year-to-date volume ... [Charts]

 This week the Federal Housing Finance Agency asked for input on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s proposed Duty to Serve Plan modification for 2018-2020. Fannie’s proposal includes modifying actions to reflect revised rural investment targets based on enhanced market insight and experience since re-entering the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) equity market. Fannie also proposes making low income housing tax credit equity investments in 20 properties in 2018, 30 properties in 2019 and 30 properties in…

Non-agency mortgages underwritten with just one monthly bank statement from the borrower might not meet standards set by the ability-to-repay rule, according to Eric Kaplan, director of the housing finance program at the Milken Institute’s Center for Financial Markets. Speaking at the ABS East conference produced by Information Management Network last week in Miami Beach, Kaplan was among the industry participants that raised concerns about how quickly underwriting has loosened ...

Deephaven Mortgage’s recent adoption of an automated system to pre-qualify expanded-credit borrowers has prompted some speculation about whether fully automated underwriting systems could be used for originations of non-qualified mortgages. A number of expanded-credit lenders at the ABS East conference suggested that some automated underwriting is possible, but some aspects of the non-QM underwriting process will likely need human intervention. The conference was ...

This executive, like many interviewed, called it an example of charter creep. Freddie and the FHFA think otherwise…

The major driver was a 16.8 percent jump in Fannie Mae issuance…

Mortgage insurance companies reported they expect to be in compliance with updates to private MI eligibility requirements for doing business with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that were released late last week. The final version of PMIERs 2.0 will take effect on March 31, 2019, and analysts agree that other than a few tweaks, they aren’t terribly different than the original proposal. Since 2015, the U.S. Mortgage Insurers said, PMIERs have nearly doubled the amount of capital each mortgage insurer ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac turned in a solid gain in single-family production during the third quarter of 2018, according to an exclusive ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. The two government-sponsored enterprises issued $213.81 billion of new single-family mortgage-backed securities during the third quarter, a solid 10.4 percent increase from the previous three-month period. At $592.02 billion in production through the first nine months of ... [Includes three data charts]

As press time, Lindberg’s spokesman, Chuck Norman of S&A Communications, had not returned several emails and telephone calls regarding the subpoenas.

A few months back, the Federal Housing Finance Agency ordered Fannie Me and Freddie to end their involvement in SFR financial arrangements. However, any deals in progress were allowed to close...