The purchase-mortgage market in the first half of 2013 has shown solid gains over the same per-iod last year, especially in a handful of booming state markets, but different lenders are having widely varying success getting on top of the wave. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan-level data shows that 20.2 percent of single-family mortgages securitized by the two government-sponsored enterprises in the first half of the year were purchase-mortgage loans, and total volume was up 31.1 percent from the same time last year. First-time homebuyers accounted...[Includes two data charts]

The recent sharp increase in mortgage interest rates has priced some borrowers out of the market and motivated others to complete home purchases, according to industry participants. If interest rates stay near current levels, home affordability is expected to remain strong, encouraging home purchases. The market for non-distressed properties is still healthy, according to results from the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Average time on market for non-distressed properties is declining, the average number of offers is increasing and sales-to-list price ratios are at elevated levels. The trends have been driven...

Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA, say their mortgage reform measure strikes the right chord between Democrat and Republican concerns.

Nationstar Mortgage is issuing $250 million of debt, hinting that it may buy more MSRs from Bank of America.

The MBA believes that the Treasury Department – despite being the GSEs’ single biggest shareholder – has been absent on Fannie/Freddie reform since early 2011.

In 2012 single-family g-fees allowed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to collect $12.5 billion from its seller/servicers.

Accenture is making major inroads in the residential finance space with its purchase of Mortgage Cadence. Meanwhile, Fannie says market could move toward ARMs.

Legislation unveiled by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, would allow for a higher high-cost loan limit than legislation he proposed in 2011.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling this week provided a detailed blueprint for his vision of the MBS market that would replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a voluntary securitization platform that would be prohibited from providing any guaranties, government-backed or otherwise. The Texas Republican’s proposed National Mortgage Market Utility would be built from the work already underway at the government-sponsored enterprises to design a common securitization platform. Like the existing CSP project, which was assigned to the GSEs by their regulator, the NMMU would develop standards for servicing, pooling and securitizing home mortgages, as well as a “publicly accessible securitization outlet.” Hensarling’s proposed utility, part of his Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act, goes...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae produced a combined total of $910.04 billion of single-family MBS during the first half of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking. That was up 19.8 percent over the volume generated in the first six months of last year. Agency MBS issuance declined during the second quarter, however, drifting down 2.2 percent from the prior quarter. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both saw production slow during the second quarter, by 6.7 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, but Ginnie Mae posted a solid 8.0 percent increase from the first three months of the year. Wells Fargo remained...[Includes one data chart]