In case you’re not keeping tally, there are roughly 387 calendar days remaining before the “capital buffer” at Fannie and Freddie falls to zero on Jan. 1, 2018.

Comments made by Treasury Secretary Designate Steven Mnuchin about privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac caused much speculation around Washington last week. But analysts predict that privatization in the near term is unlikely. Mnuchin criticized the fact that the GSEs have been in conservatorship this long. During a cable television interview he said, “We’ve got to get Fannie and Freddie out of government ownership,” adding that it often displaces private lending in the mortgage markets. “So let me just be clear. We’ll make sure that when they’re restructured they’ll be safer and they won’t get taken over again, but we’ve got to get them out of government control.”

Freddie Mac announced late this week that it is now using the common securitization platform after successfully implementing the first release on Nov. 21. As planned, the GSE will use the CSP for data acceptance, issuance support, and bond administration activities related to current single-class, fixed-rate, mortgage-backed securities. The first release was a test of sorts to make sure that the system, operations, and controls of the platform are functional. It also sets the stage for the second release when Fannie will begin using the CSP in 2018. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt said the successful implementation of the first release is a “significant milestone” toward the ultimate goal of a common securitization platform and a single security.

Although the common stock of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been deemed near worthless by stock analysts (and others), the share price of the two has been on a tear of late thanks to comments made two weeks ago by investment banker Steven Mnuchin, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Treasury Department. As Inside The GSEs went to press this week, Fannie common was trading at just $4.00 a share, Freddie at $3.90. And while that might not seem like much, it represents a stunning 166 percent gain since right before the November election. Mnuchin set the stocks in orbit when he said during a cable TV interview that resolving...

House Financial Services Committee members Rep Ed Royce, R-CA, and Rep. Gwen Moore, D-WI, introduced a bill this week to make it mandatory for the GSEs to increase credit risk transfers with the private sector. It includes provisions regarding deep coverage mortgage insurance. The Taxpayer Protections and Market Access for Mortgage Finance Act (H.R. 6487) is a way for Congress to encourage Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase the amount and the types of credit risk transfer transactions to the maximum level that is economically and commercially viable, said Royce.

The National Fair Housing Alliance filed a housing discrimination lawsuit against Fannie Mae for allegedly not properly maintaining real estate-owned properties in 38 metropolitan areas with high proportions of African-Americans and Latinos.The lawsuit was filed this week in the federal district court in San Francisco. Fannie denies the allegations. According to the NFHA and 20 local fair housing groups across the country, Fannie purposely does not maintain its foreclosed properties in middle- and working-class minority neighborhoods to the same level of quality it does for foreclosures it owns in comparable white neighborhoods. Foreclosed properties in minority communities were littered with debris and trash, marked by graffiti...

The share of borrowers who want to use a mobile device as part of the mortgage shopping and origination process has increased significantly in the past year, according to survey results from Fannie Mae. The demand for mortgage-related activities completed via cell phones should prompt action from lenders, according to Steve Deggendorf, a director of market insights research at Fannie. “Lenders such as Quicken and Sofi have already begun to reflect the mobile demands of ...

Fannie Mae closed on the sale of three of its buildings in Washington, DC, last week, including the iconic headquarters. The 1958 Williamsburg-style building sold for $89 million. Roadside Development, a private commercial real estate firm, along with the North American unit of Sekisui House, a large Japanese homebuilder, bought the 228,000-square-foot property situated on 10-acres of land. Roadside is known for its adaptive reuse of commercial properties. While speculation points to the possibility of the developer building condominiums and retail space on the site at 3900 Wisconsin Ave., said a spokeswoman for the developer. “Roadside Development plans to collaborate with the community on the parcel’s vision...

To streamline the mortgage process Freddie Mac recently approved a handful of mortgage vendors that sellers/servicers can use to have promissory note documents digitally signed. The mortgage industry has been behind when it comes to utilizing technology but Freddie is hoping to expedite the process by publishing a list of pre-approved eMortgage vendors. The list highlights vendors that have met its minimum functional, legal and security review requirements for creating, signing and storing electronic promissory notes. These eNotes detail the repayment obligation of the borrower to the lender. While sellers typically don’t need special approval to use electronic documents as long as their procedures meet the GSEs’ requirements, Samuel Oliver III, vice president of transformation management for the single-family business at...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently requested to withdraw from the Ireland and Luxembourg markets, citing increased regulation that’s almost impossible for certain companies to comply with. Freddie asked that its debt and mortgage securities and Structured Agency Credit Risk debt notes be delisted from those two markets in the European Union on Nov. 30.  …