Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $44.8 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the month of May, a slight 1.3 percent dip from April, but it reversed the brief rebound following a year-long streak of declines, according to an Inside The GSEs analysis. However, May’s MBS issuance was down a much steeper 62.4 percent from the same period a year ago. Top-ranked Wells Fargo’s Fannie and Freddie securitization, at $5.97 billion, dropped by 4.9 percent on a monthly basis and by 73.6 percent year-to-date.
It was also the lowest three-month volume since the fourth quarter of 2008, not long after dramatically higher “emergency” loan limits were put in place by the agencies.
Production of “agency jumbo” mortgages fell sharply in the first quarter of 2014 and is likely to drop even more as new FHA loan limits show up in endorsement data. According to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA saw $10.5 billion in single-family business with loan amounts exceeding the traditional agency limit of $417,000 during the first quarter of 2014. That was down 30.6 percent from the fourth quarter. It was also the lowest three-month volume since the fourth quarter of 2008, not long after dramatically higher “emergency” loan limits were put in place by the agencies. In comparison, originations of non-agency jumbo loans fell...[Includes three data charts]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency late last week issued a call for public comment on how Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s guaranty fees should be determined, although the agency did not make any specific proposals, as some had expected. The FHFA’s “request for input” specifically seeks guidance regarding the optimum level of g-fees and their implications for mortgage credit availability. …
Maybe more Millennials are buying homes than people think: "A large portion of our applicants are in the Millennial generation. I am seeing them in our office every day," said Jim Picard of Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union.
Six months into the new ability-to-repay rule, industry compliance professionals seem confident in the efforts they’ve made to get ready for the regulation and acknowledge that the sky hasn’t fallen – yet. But it’s far too early to draw definitive conclusions about the success of the rule itself and its overall effect upon the market, according to experts at the American Bankers Association’s 2014 regulatory compliance conference in New Orleans this week. “Clearly, the new rules have increased the bank’s risk profile and have put pressure on the decentralized operating market,” said Cheryl Snyder, head of retail banking for Park National Bank, the lead bank in a $6 billion bank holding company headquartered in Newark, OH, and an originator of qualified mortgages and non-QM loans. Citing the lending industry’s technology preparations in the much-hyped run-up to the year 2000, Snyder told...
Meaningful housing finance reform that would include “fixing” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, rather than euthanizing them outright, is still possible in 2014 and doesn’t require Congressional action, according to an expert speaking on the topic this week on Capitol Hill. Speaking at a government-sponsored enterprise forum sponsored by Investors Unite, Joshua Rosner, managing director at Graham Fisher & Co., said that GSE reform should consist of repurposing rather than eliminating Fannie and Freddie. “We shouldn’t reinvent...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is set to take a comprehensive view of the impact any changes to the government-sponsored enterprises’ guaranty fees would have on the MBS market. Late last week, the regulator issued a “request for input” on the g-fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, prompting speculation that any changes to the fees won’t be implemented until 2015. The FHFA noted that the GSEs’ g-fees have increased from an average of 22 basis points in 2009 to 55 bps in 2013. The increases have been prompted by the FHFA along with Congress and changes made by the GSEs. Because of loan-level pricing adjustments – which in nearly all cases are rolled into the mortgage coupon – g-fees vary...[Includes one data chart]
A North Carolina federal judge announced from the bench this week he is considering dismissing a Justice Department fraud case against Bank of America, citing a less than overwhelming preponderance of evidence. U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn said during a hearing that he is leaning toward shutting down the DOJ’s case as per the March recommendation of U.S. Magistrate Judge David Cayer, who found that the Justice Dept. has failed to prove the bank made “material” false statements to the Federal Housing Finance Board. “DOJ may not have...
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