The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed that federal mortgage programs and their administrators, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are exempt statutorily exempt from state and local taxation of real property transfers. The panel – consisting of Circuit Court Judges Richard Paez, Jay Bybee and Consuelo Callahan – held that because Congress had power to regulate the secondary mortgage market, it was authorized under the “Necessary and Proper Clause” to create Fannie and Freddie and to ensure their preservation by exempting them from state and local taxes. Brought by the City of Spokane, WA, the lawsuit is part of a wave of similar filings throughout the country to challenge the GSE exemption from ...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wrote a combined $56.9 billion of multifamily business in 2014, up 4.6 percent from the previous year. Fannie issued $11.4 billion in multifamily mortgage-backed securities in the fourth quarter of 2014, bringing the year’s total to $28.6 billion, mostly through its Delegated Underwriting and Servicing program. That represented a slight uptick from the previous year’s $28.5 billion. Fannie also re-securitized $2.5 billion of DUS MBS through its Guaranteed Multifamily Structures (GeMS) program in the fourth quarter. That brought total 2014 issuance in the program to $12.0 billion, making last year the biggest year for GeMS issuance since the program started. “2014 was a strong year for Fannie Mae multifamily activity on all fronts. The DUS ...
Bulletin 2015-1. Jan. 29. Freddie Mac announced its participation in an expanded Home Affordable Modification Program “Pay for Performance” incentive program. The program was developed in conjunction with Fannie Mae at the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The expanded program will include HAMP’s “Year Six Pay for Performance” incentive, which provides a $5,000 lump-sum payment to help eligible borrowers with first-lien Freddie Mac loans modified under HAMP reduce their principal balance. The HAMP incentive is effective April 1, 2015. Servicing Update. Feb. 9. Freddie introduced a bulk appeal template for late foreclosure sale reporting compensatory fees. Servicers can use this template to submit multiple compensatory fee appeals at a time through Freddie’s Default Fee Appeal System. The system ...
The two best things about the mortgage origination market in the fourth quarter were that it meant 2014 wasn’t as bad as once feared, and that refinance demand had picked up. But a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking reveals two other positive trends: the jumbo and home-equity markets continued to gain strength in the final three months of 2014. Lenders originated an estimated $67 billion of jumbo mortgages during the fourth quarter, up 3.1 percent from the previous period. Home-equity production bounced 5.0 percent higher, to an estimated $21 billion. Neither gain was...[Includes two data charts]
Internal differences among Democrats and Republicans – let alone the strong differences between the two parties – have prevented Congress from resolving the conservatorship of the two government-sponsored enterprises, according to industry analysts. At the ABS Vegas conference this week sponsored by the Structured Finance Industry Group and Information Management Network, two people with intimate knowledge of matters in the House and Senate pointed to inter-party issues regarding GSE reform. Andrew Olmem, a partner at the law firm of Venable and a former Republican chief counsel and deputy staff director at the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs until 2013, noted...
RoundPoint Mortgage, a servicer with more than $41 billion of receivables on its books, is entertaining offers for the entire company, according to industry officials briefed on the matter. Moreover, servicing advisors contend that several large bulk servicing portfolios are ready to hit the market in what should turn out to be a busy late winter/early spring for both buyers and sellers of mortgage servicing rights. In a recent public disclosure, Ocwen Financial said...
Treasury counselor Michael Stegman noted that policymakers on both sides of the aisle are dissatisfied with the current status quo regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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