Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s home-retention activity declined for the most part during the third quarter of 2013, according to a new analysis of Federal Housing Finance Agency data by Inside The GSEs. Total loss mitigation activity – total home-retention efforts and foreclosure activities combined – declined 8.3 percent during the third quarter to 152,101 and was down 21.3 percent from a year-ago.
Flagstar, which ranks eighth among all originators according to Inside Mortgage Finance, funded $6.4 billion of home mortgages in 4Q, a 17 percent decline from the prior period.
Some of the largest bank owners of mortgage servicing rights are lining up to sell small- and medium-sized chunks of their portfolios in what likely will turn out to be a record year for sales. Bank of America – which unloaded several huge packages last year – is now in the market with an $8 billion Ginnie Mae MSR portfolio. Wells Fargo late this week confirmed that it will sell a $39 billion package of servicing rights backed by non-agency loans to Ocwen Financial Corp., and hinted that more deals are ahead. An industry advisor who works the servicing market told...
Comments made Wednesday by the Treasury Department’s point man on GSE reform, Michael Stegman, did not go unnoticed by employees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
In terms of market effect, a DocuTech executive said that because of the new CFPB rules, "credit is going to slow down for a little while, maybe a month or so."
One servicing advisor told IMFnews that the regulator “now has the last word on all MSR transfer approvals. It began in December and has slowed the process a bit.”
The hunger for GSE speculation is also causing some investors to buy Fannie/Freddie common which has been rising of late, but not by much. However, one GSE watcher believes that buying the common, "is a fool’s game."
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