The proposed “Public Guarantor” to replace the government-sponsored enterprises would not only provide an explicit backstop for qualifying MBS in a post-GSE world, it would also serve as a regulator of sorts under terms spelled out in a housing policy paper issued this week. The report by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission called for a “far greater role” for the private sector in the mortgage market, a continued but limited role for the federal government, the graduated elimination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and reform of the FHA. The BPC’s plan calls for...

Residential fundings are starting to slow as refinancings wane, according to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance.

Heavy refinance activity, especially through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, boosted the conventional conforming market by a whopping 35 percent in 2012.

Wells Fargo says it is committed to its remaining joint venture lending partners but isn't giving out any names on the JVs.

According to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS, REIT MBS investors as a group increased their MBS holdings by 47.4 percent in 2012.

Milestone Advisors has picked a winning bidder for the MSR portfolio once owned by Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.

Mortgage bankers are promising to wage war over any new guaranty fee hikes that are used for non-residential projects.

The GSEs continued to wrangle with seller/servicers over repurchase requests during the fourth quarter of 2012, but mostly over loans originated five years earlier.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has not given up on its effort to install risk-based pricing for guaranty fees.

A new bipartisan panel wants to close Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and limit U.S. support for mortgages.