Purchase-money mortgages are the bread and butter in primary mortgage-insurance activity, but refinance loans also played a role in the continuing climb in private MI market share during the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis.
Proposed changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as it relates to community-based banking institutions could put borrowers in rural communities at a disadvantage, according to a new report by the Center for Responsible Lending.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General said the recent uptick in the purchase of adjustable rate mortgages by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, especially since November 2016, bears watching as a potential emerging risk.
Commercial banks and savings institutions reported another decline in the volume of home mortgages they repurchased from investors during the third quarter, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data.
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.
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.
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