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...

After starting 2015 with a net decline in supply of outstanding single-family mortgage securities, the market began to rally and ended the year with a modest gain. A new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS reveals that total residential MBS in the market reached $6.412 trillion at the end of last year, an 0.5 percent increase from the third quarter and up 1.0 percent from yearend 2014. The growing supply of residential MBS slightly outpaced the 0.3 percent increase in home mortgage debt outstanding, resulting in a 64.2 percent securitization rate in the fourth quarter. There are...[Includes two data tables]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week filed a request to transfer lawsuits brought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders in four district courts to the U.S. District Court in Washington. The government-sponsored enterprise regulator hopes to ward off future “copycat” cases and those where plaintiffs may be encouraged to “shop” for the best forum, based on the ruling. FHFA said it is certain that the number of pending complaints challenging the quarterly U.S. Treasury sweep of Fannie and Freddie net income will continue to grow. As a result, the agency said the transfer would be more efficient and benefit the parties and courts. “The claims and relief sought in each of the four related cases are...

Republicans on Capitol Hill this past week expressed dismay with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently transferring $180 million into federal affordable housing programs. In fact, 10-K filings by the two government-sponsored enterprises indicate Fannie has paid $217 million, and Freddie has turned over $165 million for a total of $382 million. By law, both GSEs are required...

When the two GSEs were losing money earlier in the decade, then-Acting FHFA Director Edward DeMarco suspended the contributions before any had ever been made.

DeMarco, by the way, called on Congress to take a “thoughtful” review of the FHA program and Ginnie Mae’s role in housing finance.

The rash of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buyback demands that ravaged the mortgage industry a few years ago continued to ease in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of repurchase disclosures by the two government-sponsored enterprises. And although the focus of new GSE buyback demands continues to shift to newer books of business, Freddie still reports a relatively high volume of ... [Includes two data charts]