The White House believes that the current housing finance system, where the government guarantees more than 80 percent of all mortgages through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA, is unsustainable.
Despite the best efforts of supporters, including a renewed public showing of support from the White House, a new push to enhance the Home Affordable Refinance Program through legislation will go nowhere fast, say industry observers. Introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-OR, the Rebuilding Equity Act, S. 1373, would modify HARP to cover $1,000 in closing costs for underwater borrowers who choose loan terms of 20 years or less to rebuild equity in their homes. Both [the Congressional Budget Office] and Fannie Mae have estimated that this bill would have no net cost, because it would reduce the severity of financial loss when defaults do occur, said Merkley. The bill would require...
Securitization of income-property mortgages declined by 7.9 percent during the second quarter of 2013, with the biggest drop coming in non-agency commercial MBS issuance, according to a new market analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. A total of $43.92 billion of commercial mortgage securities were issued during the second quarter, which still ranked as the second strongest quarter since the third quarter of 2007. For the first six months of 2013, total commercial mortgage securitization was up 78.5 percent from the same period, and the market appears likely to set another post-crash record by the time the year is over. The non-agency CMBS market has seen...[Includes one data chart]