The FHA is decreasing the owner-occupancy rate for approved condominium developments that meet certain requirements, the agency announced recently. Currently, the FHA requires a minimum of 50 percent of the units be occupied by owners. The agency, however, said it would allow a 35 percent owner-occupancy rate if the project meets certain conditions that would make it more financially stable and less of a liability to the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. While having too few owner-occupants could financially weaken a condo project, requiring too many could make...
An affiliate of Shelter Growth Capital Partners issued its first nonprime MBS late last week, according to offering documents obtained by Inside MBS & ABS. The $113.71 million deal included non-qualified mortgages from a number of lenders. The mortgages in SG Residential Mortgage Trust 2016-1 were acquired by SG Capital Partners, an affiliate of Shelter Growth, an investment manager and hedge fund. SG Capital Partners started acquiring non-agency mortgages in January 2015. As of June 1, Shelter Growth had...
Fannie Mae this week, in partnership with “fintech” lender SoFi, rolled out a new cash-out refinance mortgage aimed at borrowers who want to tap home equity to pay down their college loans. According to interviews with Fannie officials, the rollout is driven by cutting guaranty fees that usually accompany Fannie Mae cash-out mortgages. Fannie’s average g-fee on new business was...
The government-sponsored enterprises are well on their way to trimming their retained mortgage portfolios to less than $250.0 billion each by the start of 2018. As of the end of the third quarter, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a combined mortgage portfolio of $615.65 billion, down 3.3 percent from June. While Freddie historically had the larger retained holdings, the two portfolios are now roughly equal. Under the current terms of their conservatorship, Fannie and Freddie are required...[Includes one data table]
Investors said that market is in the “sweet spot” when it comes to mortgage credit, while speaking at a symposium in Washington sponsored by the Urban Institute and CoreLogic this week. John Vibert, managing director and co-head of structured products for Prudential, said his company is much more interested in financing nonperforming loans than in owning such assets. “We think...
In the next few weeks, FHA will be releasing an actuarial report to Congress regarding the health of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund that could boost or weaken the argument for another mortgage insurance premium cut. In anticipation of the report, stakeholders this year have reignited the debate, preceded by the Community Home Lenders Association’s call renewing for a reduction in FHA annual premiums down to their pre-crisis level of 0.55 percent. The CHLA said...