Within the next 30 days, the Federal Housing Finance Agency will put to rest its long-running deliberations over whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow principal reductions for certain distressed home mortgages. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the agency has already made the decision to go ahead with the plan on a limited basis. But in remarks at a public forum in Washington, DC, this week, FHFA Director Mel Watt said the agency is still mulling it over. Watt said...

The average loan amount on GSE condo mortgages in 2015 was $214,431.

Merge Fannie and Freddie into one? Crazier things have been suggested...

One commenter said the GSEs should be required to purchase chattel loans that are “prudently underwritten with appropriate consumer protections.”

Once again, the concept of "principal reductions" on Fannie, Freddie loans rears its ugly head.

The improved R&W framework has been a big plus for GSE sellers...

Former Fannie CFO Howard said this leaves the government-controlled mortgage giant to pay about $7 billion over the next 10 years in premiums and hedging costs.

With rates rising of late, MSR pricing should firm up...

The former CFO of Fannie Mae is not a fan of the GSE’s popular Connecticut Avenue Securities risk-sharing transactions, noting that the terms and pricing on recent CAS deals have worsened since the program began in 2013. Tim Howard, who left Fannie in 2004 and was involved in litigation regarding his tenure there, said the costs incurred don’t match the potential benefit, especially in the company’s latest transactions. Over the past three years, Fannie has issued $13.4 billion in CAS notes covering $467 billion in newly originated single-family mortgages. Howard said this leaves the company to pay about $7 billion over the next 10 years in premiums and hedging costs.

There are two sides to the story. A year from now, the agency MBS market could reach the $6.0 trillion mark...