What if the FHFA cuts the payments and hands Treasury an IOU? The possibilities are endless...

Although bulk transfers of mortgage-servicing rights were down somewhat in the first quarter, sales advisors are reporting strong activity for the period including more buyer interest and a firming up of prices, even on Ginnie Mae product. According to affiliated newsletter Inside Mortgage Trends, bulk agency MSR transfers that closed in the first quarter were down 35.9 percent from the fourth to $77.3 billion. The biggest downturn was in Fannie Mae product, due to a temporary freeze on bulk transfers as servicers adjusted to new investor reporting requirements. Freddie Mac transfers were actually up from the fourth quarter. More banks and consortiums are extending...

For the most part, several different factions of the mortgage industry have applauded the move by the Federal Housing Finance Agency to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to build some type of capital buffer. Now comes the hard part: the details. Early this week, FHFA Acting Deputy Director of the Division of Conservatorship Bob Ryan said in a speech that the capital buffer plan would entail a delay of dividend payments to the U.S. Treasury Department – not an elimination of them. No other specifics were provided...

This fall will mark – unless there’s divine intervention or a Kumbaya moment in Washington – the ninth anniversary of the federal takeover of Fannie and Freddie.

In other words, Ocwen should have told shareholders that there was an MOU with the MMC.

Ryan went on to say it would be a limited buffer, but it should be large enough to help cover and avoid a draw...

Several trade groups, investors and analysts quickly issued their take on Watt’s comments, but there were some notables missing in action: Pershing Square and Fairholme.

“Our assessment indicates that this change would not impact the MBS markets,” Fannie Mae said.

The MSR package is top-heavy in Massachusetts receivables at 94 percent…

The securitization of income-property mortgages nosedived in the first quarter of 2017, with most of the downturn in the volatile non-agency sector, according to an Inside MBS & ABS analysis. A total of $48.29 billion of MBS backed by commercial properties was issued in the first quarter, down 27.7 percent from the previous period. Although production was down 6.1 percent from the same period in 2016, it was close to the average quarterly volume of $49.35 billion that the market has produced since the beginning of 2014. The average for the 2011-2013 period was just $32.00 billion. Average volume is...[Includes one data table]