Subservicing shops increased their portfolios to $1.50 trillion during the third quarter, a 6.4 percent sequential gain, as mortgage originators continued to rely on such specialty vendors, according to exclusive survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. Compared to a year ago, subservicing volume was up an impressive 28.2 percent. At Sept. 30, roughly 15.8 percent of all outstanding residential mortgages were being processed...[Includes one data table]

Lenders generated $25.0 billion in home-equity loans during the third quarter of 2015, according to Inside Mortgage Finance estimates, a modest 4.2 percent increase at a time when first-lien originations were fading. Home-equity lending – including open-ended lines of credit and closed-end second liens – hit its highest volume since the second quarter of 2008. Crashing home prices and extremely cautious underwriting have drastically reduced new home-equity lending. There is...[Includes three data tables]

Congress looks poised to enact its second piece of legislation involving the two government-sponsored enterprises that have been in conservatorship for over seven years. Lawmakers included the “Jumpstart GSE Reform Act” in a fiscal 2016 omnibus spending bill that is expected to be approved late this week. The first piece of GSE legislation enacted by Congress affected just two people, rolling back pay raises awarded to the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac early in 2015. The “Jumpstart” language is more daring by barring the Treasury Department from doing something it has no intention of doing: selling its preferred stock in the GSEs without Congressional approval. The original Jumpstart legislation, sponsored by Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, Mark Warner, D-VA, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, also would have blocked...

Seven years to the day after the Federal Reserve began its so-called ZIRP – or zero interest rate policy – the Fed’s Open Market Committee, as widely expected, finally voted this week to begin raising interest rates, opting for a modest 25 basis point rise in the federal funds rate. “This action marks the end of an extraordinary seven-year period during which the federal funds rate was held near zero to support the recovery of the economy from the worst financial crisis and recession since the Great Depression,” said Fed chief Janet Yellen. “It also recognizes the considerable progress that has been made toward restoring jobs, raising incomes and easing the economic hardship of millions of Americans. And it reflects the committee’s confidence that the economy will continue to strengthen.” However, the Fed also implied...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency will push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to assess front-end risk-sharing strategies in 2016, according to the agency’s game plan for the two government-sponsored enterprises released late this week. At this point, most of the work appears to be exploratory. The FHFA itself will issue a formal “request for input” from the industry, and the GSEs are expected “to conduct an analysis and assessment of front-end credit risk transfer.” The 2016 “scorecard” pushes...

The CHLA is renewing its call for Treasury and the FHFA to amend the preferred stock purchase agreements once again, allowing the GSEs to build capital...

Fannie and Freddie have securitized roughly 80.8 percent of conventional-conforming mortgages over the first nine months of the year.

In the past, the duty to serve rule has received a great deal of attention from manufactured housing executives who argue the GSEs are not purchasing enough of their loans.

Compass Point predicts the measure now has a 40 percent to 60 percent chance of passage under the omnibus spending bill.

In case you were unaware, Joe Garrett has never been a big fan of the CFPB, but unlike some advisors, he is willing to state his feelings on-the-record…