Now that rates are rising, one might expect Freddie to have a blow-out quarter in 4Q. Will Rep. Garrett issue a statement in February congratulating the GSE on a great job?

The Federal Housing Finance Agency determined that Freddie Mac did not meet all of its low-income and very low-income home-purchase goals for 2014, according to the FHFA’s preliminary annual housing report released on October 30. Under the GSEs’ affordable housing goals, low-income is for home-purchase mortgages to families with incomes no greater than 80 percent of the area median income, and the very low-income home- purchase goal is for families with incomes no greater than 50 percent of AMI. Freddie fell short of meeting both goals. The low-income home-purchase goal was 23 percent and Freddie ended 2014 at 21 percent. The very low-income home-purchase goal was 7 percent and Freddie topped out at 4.9 percent.

A bill to cap the salaries of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEOs at $600,000 is expected to become law, but has been rescheduled for vote in the House sometime during the week of Nov. 16. The budget vote last week, coupled with the debate over the Export-Import Bank and election of a new House Speaker, resulted in the salary cap legislation being postponed for a floor vote at a later date this month, said Rep. Ed Royce, R-CA. Royce introduced the “Equity in Government Compensation Act” back in May. It would suspend the $4 million compensation packages for Fannie’s Timothy Mayapoulos and Freddie’s Donald Layton that were approved early this year after...

Investors will be able to exchange existing Freddie Mac participation certificates for new single securities when the GSE creates new “mirror” securities to help facilitate the transition.The exchange program will be available when the new single security goes live and Freddie plans to keep it open for the foreseeable future. Held in a Federal Reserve account, the mirror securities will not increase the outstanding principal balance of Freddie MBS, the GSE explained in an update on the exchange program. The mirror securities will track existing Freddie MBS but substitute a 55-day payment cycle for Freddie’s current 45-day cycle. Freddie will pay compensation equal to the fair market value of the 10 days of lost float when...

Fannie Mae’s most recognizable headquarters in Washington, DC, along with two others, recently hit the market as the GSE plans to sell the properties in preparation for its move downtown in 2017. Commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield began marketing the GSE’s three properties in late October. They include the storied main building at 3900 Wisconsin Ave., which replicates Williamsburg, VA, architecture, a smaller building at 3939 Wisconsin Ave. and Fannie’s 1990’s-era building at 4240 Connecticut Ave. The primary building and land are currently valued at approximately $92.1 million, according to 2015 records from the DC Office of Tax and Revenue. The Connecticut Avenue building is valued at $84 million and the 3939 Wisconsin Ave. building is...

Nobody likes getting a mortgage, but interactive technology – if implemented correctly – can make the process significantly more transparent and less stressful, industry experts say. There is an opportunity in technology to make the system more transparent and help educate the next generation of homeowners, as well as minority groups, said Robert Greenbaum, director of communications and marketing at Fannie Mae, during a panel session at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “They aspire...

The only way the baseline conforming loan limit would be raised for 2016 is if the HPI jumps nearly 10 points...

Since the federal takeover, the Treasury Department has provided $116.1 billion in assistance to Fannie with the GSE returning (once the 3Q dividend is paid) $144.8 billion...

During the financial crisis Impac’s stock was delisted and its future looked cloudy. But not anymore…

Freddie Mac’s $475 million net loss in the third quarter of 2015 – its first in four years – underscores the need to rebuild capital reserves at the two government-sponsored enterprises and to plan for their emergence from conservatorship, according to some mortgage groups and housing advocates. In a joint letter, the Community Home Lenders Association and the Community Mortgage Lenders of America, both of which represent small independent mortgage lenders, urged President Obama to support recommended revisions to a sweep agreement that prohibits the GSEs from rebuilding capital and to free them from conservatorship. Freddie’s third-quarter loss was...