More defects and fraudulent information were found in mortgage applications in December and January, according to the First American Loan Application Defect Index. Analysts blame the increase on the dwindling share of less risky refinance transactions. January numbers show that the frequency of defects, fraudulence and misrepresentation in the information submitted in mortgage loan applications increased 5.8 percent in January compared with December. “This month, the Loan Application Defect Index continued...

The House Financial Services Committee, as part of the congressional budget process, this week voted on its budget views and estimates for fiscal year 2018, with an eye on changing the Dodd-Frank Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The committee’s report is intended as guidance for the House Budget Committee as it crafts its FY2018 budget legislation but is not binding. In reference to Dodd-Frank, the HFSC Republicans’ budget document stated...

Fannie Mae cut its portfolio of Fannie MBS by 42.9 percent last year...

However, GSE reform will require a bipartisan effort and already other priorities are developing…

Annaly padded its lead as the top REIT MBS investor, thanks, in part, to its acquisition of Hatteras Financial in the third quarter of 2016…

For the full year, GSE seller repurchases totaled just $1.101 billion, a record annual low…

The nonagency/nonprime MBS market is expected to get some attention at the SFIG show, but not much…

California mortgages account for the large chunk of collateral at 41.2 percent. Texas is a distant second at 10.4 percent.

Bradd Gold of Au Consulting LLC noted that in the year prior to their federal takeover, Fannie and Freddie sold $10 billion of GSE junior preferred.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ended 2016 with a bang when fourth quarter combined earnings totaled stellar results, nearly $9.9 billion, representing the best quarter of the year. Fourth-quarter earnings were largely driven by high gains in the fair market value of the GSEs’ hedges, which gained $10.2 billion on a combined basis. “Interest rates went up in the fourth quarter, therefore you saw an unusually large gain in the accounting,” Freddie CEO Donald Layton told Inside The GSEs. Both GSEs had quarterly earnings increases throughout the year. Fannie reported $5.0 billion in the fourth quarter, up from the $3.2 billion in the third quarter, and Freddie more than...