The average daily trading volume in agency MBS climbed to $201.4 billion in February, the best reading in nine months and a sign that investors will still flock to government-backed products in times of uncertainty, especially extreme uncertainty. Late this week, market watchers expressed their concerns about the terrorist bombings in Belgium as well as continued worries about China’s slowing economy and sagging oil prices. In short order, they piled into MBS issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Barry Habib, who runs MBS Highway, a rate-lock service, told...

Five mortgage industry veterans – including two who worked in the Obama White House – this week floated a new plan aimed at preserving the government guaranty on conventional MBS and ending, once and for all, the uncertainly plaguing the secondary market. In a new white paper entitled “A More Promising Road to GSE Reform,” the authors aim to preserve the government-backed MBS market while merging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a new institution called the National Mortgage Reinsurance Corp. But the proposal might be...

The impact of the TRID integrated-disclosure rule that took effect on Oct. 3 seems to have had little impact on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For now, the government-sponsored enterprises are focused on whether sellers are using the correct forms, not whether there are mistakes. The GSEs have amended their contractual obligations with their customers to let them know that the customer is responsible for any potential or actual loss as a result of TRID violations. “So they’re basically turning what was a repurchase obligation into an indemnification obligation,” said...

An estimated $1.21 trillion of newly-originated home loans were pooled in mortgage securities last year.

“Mortgage g-fees should only be used as a buffer against mortgage defaults, not as a piggy-bank for increased government spending,” said NAR chief Salomone.

If stocks tank, look for yet another bond market rally.

SWBC is looking to hire 40-plus technology workers.

The GSEs’ retained portfolios are shrinking, but whole-loan investments held by banks and credit unions are not.

Prestwick is out with a flow package that could yield $360 million to $480 million annually in Fannie Mae product.

The supply of home loan debt outstanding grew for a third straight quarter in late 2015, including an ongoing ride higher in un-securitized portfolio mortgages. The Federal Reserve reported that $9.986 trillion of home mortgages were outstanding at the end of last year, a 0.3 percent increase from the third quarter. The growth rate slowed a bit – the market grew by roughly twice that rate from March to September – but the fourth quarter put unpaid home mortgage debt up 1.0 percent from the end of 2014, the first annual increase since 2007. The single fastest-growing segment of the market continued...[Includes two data tables]