In a speech this week before the annual secondary market conference of the Mortgage Bankers Association, FHFA Director Mark Calabria sounded a little bit like the Mark Calabria of the Cato Institute.

A speech by President Trump at an NAR convention touched on housing-finance reform, regulatory relief and a variety of other topics.

New FHFA Director Mark Calabria singled out GSE "charter creep" as something he would like to eliminate. But he was short on specifics. Still, an FHFA probe of the matter has been launched.

The National Association of Realtors this week picked apart FHFA's plan to recapitalize the GSEs and release them from conservatorship. NAR, by the way, favors a model where the GSEs are morphed into shareholder-owned utilities.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the first quarter of 2019 earned a combined net income of roughly $3.8 billion — all of which is likely to be sent as dividend to the Treasury Department. 

Speculation continues to mount regarding whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be allowed to retain more capital. But will such a move be a precursor to a "recap and release" plan?

The changed, partisan confirmation process for the new FHFA director has decreased the chances for Congressional action on housing-finance reform.

The sharp downturn in purchase-money loans going into Fannie and Freddie MBS was accompanied by an even bigger drop in deliveries of loans with private mortgage insurance.