VA Extends Making Home Affordable Program. The Department of Veterans Affairs has extended the Making Home Affordable program to Oct. 1, 2017. The program was set to expire on Jan. 1, 2017. USDA Approves NewFed Mortgage to originate Section 52 Guaranteed Rural Housing Loans. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved NewFed Mortgage Corp., a multi-state residential mortgage lender, to originate USDA loans. Based in Danvers, MA, retailer NewFed offers FHA, VA, USDA, conventional and jumbo mortgage products. Reviews Genworth Financial’s Proposed Sale to Chinese Conglomerate. Fannie Mae has approved Arch Capital’s acquisition of ...

Fannie Mae’s MBS issuance in 2016 was up 23.3 percent from the previous year…

Mortgage lenders delivered a hefty $299.25 billion of single-family home loans into the mortgage-backed securities platforms at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the fourth quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. Production in the final three months of 2016 was up just 5.7 percent from the third quarter at the two government-sponsored enterprises. But it was the biggest output since the second quarter of 2013, when the mortgage market was wrapping up a 12-month binge of activity with $337.74 billion in Fannie/Freddie MBS issuance. The strong finish – GSE business was up in each quarter of 2016 – put...[Includes three data tables]

A year from now, PHH Mortgage likely won’t be around, at least not as a conventional mortgage-banking franchise that originates residential loans and retains servicing rights. That’s what analysts and investment bankers who follow the stock now believe, especially in light of the company’s recent announcement that it will sell its $72 billion portfolio of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac mortgage servicing rights to New Residential Investment Corp. for $612 million or 84 basis points. Once completed, the sale – along with a pending disposal of its Ginnie Mae MSR – will leave...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency late last month issued two final rules that will give the Federal Home Loan Banks somewhat more flexibility in setting collateral requirements for advances and managing their acquired member assets (AMA). A new AMA rule was necessary because the Dodd-Frank Act requires financial regulators to remove references to ratings, which had been used in setting limits on their AMA programs, most of which involve purchases of mortgages from member institutions. Under the new rule, the FHLBanks will be able to choose their own models to determine credit enhancement requirements. The FHFA also deferred...

But if you think that Wells Fargo will pull a “BofA” and quietly downshift its presence in mortgages, think again.

PHH said it will subservice the loans for New Residential "for an initial period of three years, subject to certain termination provisions."

The sale proceeds exclude estimated transaction fees and expenses of roughly 5.0 percent...

Tim Howard, a former Fannie Mae CFO, called Mnuchin’s comments “a welcome reset…”

New Residential is entitled to a $10 million termination fee if the sale falls apart...