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…

The Federal Housing Finance Agency “should require the GSEs to be much more transparent in their risk-sharing transactions,” said the Urban Institute in a new report.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sold $12.58 billion of credit risk through their popular back-end risk-transfer deals during 2015, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS tally of new issuance in the Connecticut Avenue Securities and Structured Agency Credit Risk platforms. While that was up 16.8 percent from the total for 2014, observers continue to call for more diversification in the government-sponsored enterprises’ risk-transfer activities, and greater transparency. The Federal Housing Finance Agency “should require...[Includes one data table]

Mortgage securitization rates have been moving higher in 2015 as ongoing new issuance catches up with this year’s surge in primary market originations. A new Inside MBS & ABS analysis reveals that 69.2 percent of the loans originated through the first nine months of 2015 have been pooled in residential MBS, up from the 67.8 percent securitization rate for all of last year. The mortgage securitization rate had dropped...[Includes one data table]