The mortgage M&A market is beginning to heat up. Flagstar has auctioned off two large MSR packages, and LoanDepot is merging with another firm.

With Fannie lowering its LTV maximum it will reduce the pool of eligible GSE borrowers and likely shift those loans over to FHA, which means private mortgage insurance firms will lose business.

Cerberus Capital is contemplating purchasing additional mortgage banking firms. Meanwhile, the CFPB doesn't like what it sees in the servicing space when it comes to customer service.

“Three years appears to be an inordinately long period to fully implement the advisory bulletin,” writes the IG of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Roughly, 60 percent of real estate loans made by credit unions are sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, compared to only 44 percent for all financial institutions.

Equifax has enhanced its “retro income verification service,” known as “Point In Time.”

Mini-correspondent lending is hot, but wholesale may be on the decline. Surprise: RE/MAX files to go public.

At June 30, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a combined $5.78 billion in outstanding repurchase demands, a 17 percent decline from the first quarter.

The Obama administration last week pushed the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to consider reducing the high-cost conforming loan limits beginning in 2013. However, significant opposition from Realtors, home builders and members on both sides of the aisle in Congress has prevented previously planned declines. “In order to reduce the government’s footprint over several years, we recommend allowing FHA loan limits to fall at the end of 2013 as currently scheduled,” the Obama administration said. “Beyond that, HUD and FHFA should closely examine using their existing authorities to reduce loan limits further consistent with the pace of the recovery, market developments, and the administration’s principles and transition plan for housing finance reform.” In 2008, Congress increased...

As of the midway point in 2013, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were only slightly ahead of the pace they will need to maintain this year to reach portfolio-shrinkage targets set by their regulators, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. Under the revised terms of their bailout agreements, the two government-sponsored enterprises are required to reduce their retained portfolios by 15.0 percent by the end of this year. Through the first six months of 2013, the GSEs had shrunk their mortgage portfolios by 8.7 percent. But the Federal Housing Finance Agency has also directed...[Includes one data chart]