Panelists at an Urban Institute event this week concluded that there can’t be a housing finance reform discussion without including the FHA. Carol Galante, former FHA commissioner during the Obama administration, said it’s important to make sure changes to the government-sponsored enterprises don’t unintentionally impact the FHA.

The top five sellers to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted a combined 14.1 percent increase in volume from the third to the fourth quarter, boosting their share of the market to 38.4 percent.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is reviewing four possible options to update the credit scoring systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The agency said while the current credit score model is a reasonable predictor of default, it is seeking input on whether an alternative is necessary and what impact it would have on the current credit score requirements. The request for input was issued in late December. Options include requiring a single type of score on every loan, requiring two different scores, allowing lenders to decide which score to use or permitting multiple scores through a waterfall approach.

It appears that many lenders may have what is known in the industry as “redundant reserves”…

Fannie Mae last month reclaimed some of the market share Freddie Mac snagged in October and November as GSE single-family business volume skidded toward yearend. Fannie issued $43.99 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities in December, a tidy 4.9 percent increase from the previous month. Freddie’s $30.03 billion in production tumbled 19.2 percent from November. That gave Fannie a 59.4 percent share of the GSE market in December, in line with historical trends. Freddie posted big increases in volume during October and November, pushing its GSE market share to 46.4 percent for the two-month period. Even with the return to more normal...

Both GSEs are expected to need a draw from the U.S. Treasury, thanks to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that will reduce the corporate tax rate and result in $15.3 billion in one-time charges for the pair. With the tax rate being reduced from 35 percent to 21 percent, the GSEs now have to measure their net deferred tax assets using the new rate. According to recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Fannie Mae expects to take a one-time charge of $10.0 billion and Freddie Mac is bracing for a $5.3 billion charge.

Some observers think that resolving the long-running conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this year is closer than it has ever been, but they also say political differences present a number of challenges. There has been an uptick in momentum the past few months and the recent deal between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury that allows the GSEs to retain $3 billion in capital is an optimistic sign of progress to many. Moreover, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is working on a draft of a GSE reform bill, and the House Financial Services Committee has held a handful of hearings on GSE reform issues in the fourth quarter in preparation for drafting legislation.

Sen. Bob Corker’s last-minute decision to vote for the massive GOP tax bill caused a ruckus in the press and social media, but the Senator’s communications director attributed the noise to opponents of his efforts to pass housing-finance reform. The controversy arose when Corker, R-TN, was accused of voting for the tax overhaul only after he saw a provision that would reap him financial gains. Weeks before the final vote, Corker was the only Republican senator set to vote against an earlier version of the bill. Corker is said to have significant holdings in companies that would benefit from a tax break for real estate-related pass-through corporations and partnerships.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plan to tackle issues related to mortgage servicing and the borrower experience as part of their 2018 goals. The Federal Housing Finance Agency released the “scorecard” for the GSEs late last month, which outlines specific priorities the duo are expected to focus on throughout the year. The GSEs are charged with assessing the current mortgage servicing business model and developing specific plans to support servicing liquidity. The FHFA charged the GSEs to “assess the challenges and potential solutions for improving the borrower experience, expanding liquidity, and increasing efficiency of the servicing market.”

Fair housing advocates and civil rights groups wrote the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to express concerns about not having a seat at the table as lawmakers draft GSE reform legislation. The groups, which include the Center for Responsible Lending, National Fair Housing Alliance and the NAACP, said current House and Senate proposals would do significant harm by locking out the very borrowers who depend on a future system, resulting in devastation to a recovering market. “Our constituents have a strong stake in the outcome of any legislative proposals in this area, and we are alarmed that we have not been invited to offer...