New issuance of single-family MBS by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae jumped by 16.9 percent from the second quarter of 2012 to the third quarter, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. The three agencies issued a total of $436.0 billion of single-family MBS during the third quarter, raising year-to-date issuance to $1.194 trillion. That was up 45.6 percent from the first nine months of 2011. Over half (50.3 percent) of the agency production in 2012 has come...[Includes one data chart]

Federal banking regulators, striving to keep their bank oversight current with international regulators through the adoption of the Basel III capitalization standards, are facing growing domestic resistance, including that of some of their state-based counterparts, who are concerned about the impact on mortgage assets. Greg Gonzales, chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, said last week that the organization strongly supports federal banking agencies’ efforts to improve capital standards internationally and for systemic institutions, but is opposed to their proposed approach to implement the Basel III capital accord and to incorporate a standardized approach for risk-weighted assets. “As bank supervisors, we believe...

The FHA is starting to lose business to private mortgage insurers and the conventional mortgage market because it is no longer the cheaper alternative, a recent industry survey indicated. Numbers released by the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey show consumer preference for conventional home loans rising as a growing number of homebuyers, particularly current homeowners, used mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to finance home purchases in August. The survey noted that current homeowners increased their use of mortgages in June this year while investor participation began ...

Mortgage bankers are concerned about possible limits on the volume of loans they can sell to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and particularly the lack of information about the development of the new rules by the government-sponsored enterprises and their regulator. Fannie and Freddie are concerned about the ability of some approved seller-servicers to honor repurchase requests and are weighing new volume limits based on a seller’s capital. The Mortgage Bankers Association wants the Federal Housing Finance Agency to bring the issue out into the daylight. “Given the important nature of this issue, the MBA believes that the FHFA should...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency says its proposed new securitization platform could be used now by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as by private issuers, but it’s also intended to serve a post government-sponsored enterprise marketplace. Last week, the FHFA issued a call for public comment on a white paper outlining its proposed common securitization platform and a model pooling and servicing agreement. Those plans are also included in the agency’s updated strategic plan issued this week. The 31-page strategic plan – which updates a draft issued by the FHFA in February – sets...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued separate guidance to their mortgage servicers last week designed to continue the conservator-mandated effort to complement the servicing policies of the two government-sponsored enterprises and to develop a consistent framework for assessing servicer performance. The updated servicing policies seek to harmonize compensatory fee structures, servicer violations and remedies, and servicer terminations and transfer of servicing between Fannie and Freddie. Fannie’s and Freddie’s announcements also include...

Historically low mortgage interest rates generated a huge supply of refinance business during the third quarter of 2012 that drove Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitization volumes higher, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. A total of $437.7 billion of single-family MBS were issued during the third quarter, up 15.8 percent from the previous three-month period. It was the biggest production volume for the market since the fourth quarter of 2010, and it lifted year-to-date issuance for the first nine months of the year to $1.207 trillion – a 43.2 percent increase over the same period in 2011. MBS issuance gained...[Includes one data chart]

The sale of Ally Financial’s bankrupt mortgage unit, Residential Capital, should not proceed unless or until the company provides more information about the deal, specifically whether preexisting contracts will be honored, according to court filings by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two government-sponsored enterprises objected to the sale via papers filed this week in U.S. District Bankruptcy Court, New York Southern District. The GSEs expressed concern that without changes to the deal as currently proposed, it may threaten the contracts the GSEs have with ResCap to service loans. “The debtors have failed...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency late this week began the formal process of gathering public input on the MBS platform of the future. The agency had previously indicated that it would push...

GSE observers say that the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General appears to be blurring the line between constructive critic and backseat driver following the OIG’s most recent report which takes the agency to task for deficient oversight of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s business decisions. In a report issued last week, the OIG determined that the FHFA has not established criteria or policies to ensure a rigorous review of GSE business decisions.