A trio of real estate finance trade groups is calling upon Congress to leave the GSEs’ guarantee fees alone as lawmakers devise a way to pay for tax cuts for the remainder of 2012.The Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Realtors and National Association of Home Builders dispatched a joint letter to House and Senate leaders late this week noting their united opposition “to increasing g-fees for reasons other than minimizing the GSE’s risk exposure.” Late last month, the Federal Housing Finance Agency directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase g-fees on new mortgage products by 10 basis points starting April 1.

California remained the biggest source of new single-family mortgages for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during 2011, according to the new special report, GSE Market Profile: 2011, from Inside Mortgage Finance Publications.A total of $189.9 billion of home loans on California properties were securitized by the two GSEs, accounting for 22.6 percent of their total business for the year. That was down 15.1 percent from the total California Fannie/Freddie production back in 2010, while the overall GSE market fell 17.0 percent from a year ago.Although fixed-rate mortgages dominated the GSE market in 2011, California produced $17.9 billion in adjustable-rate mortgages – 30.8 percent of the national total. ARMs accounted for just 6.9 percent of the total GSE volume.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week less than enthusiastically issued a call for public comment on the potential revival of Property Assessed Clean Energy program loans even as the Finance Agency is appealing the court order mandating issuance of its proposed rule.On Jan. 26, the Finance Agency published in the Federal Register an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning PACE mortgage assets and a Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act “to address the potential environmental impacts of FHFA’s proposed action.” Property Assessed Clean Energy programs offer loans for energy-efficiency home improvements. While 27 states and the District of Columbia have legislation in place to permit PACE financing for green homes, in July 2010, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stopped purchasing PACE-related mortgages that had automatic first-lien priority over previously recorded mortgages.

California Democrats, including many in the state’s congressional delegation, would like the current head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency replaced by President Obama for someone who will take “immediate action to prevent more foreclosures.” Earlier this month, a group of 28 California House Democrats dispatched a letter to the president urging him to appoint a new permanent FHFA director via recess appointment. The Finance Agency under Acting Director Edward DeMarco has “consistently and erroneously interpreted its mandate” as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator “far too narrowly” and consequently has failed to help struggling California homeowners.

The fixed-rate mortgage accounts for nine of every 10 loans originated, and it’s easy to see why. Locking into historically low rates makes a lot of financial sense. So who is choosing to buy volatility instead? Who are the 10 percent who still borrow adjustable-rate mortgages? “For some consumers, it’s a better product,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac. “If, for some reason, you know you’ll be leaving your home soon, a 5/1 hybrid ARM is a very fitting instrument. Choosing an ARM could be a matter of timing.” The hybrid ARM is the most common adjustable-rate product...

A cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over the private mortgage insurance industry as companies struggled to get new capital waivers and other relief from their state insurance regulators to stay in business. This week, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. announced a new two-year waiver from regulatory capital requirements from the Office of the Insurance Commissioner for the State of Wisconsin, which would allow it to write new business through Dec. 31, 2013. The waiver approved on Jan. 23 came after the previous waiver expired at the end of last year. As did the prior order, the new waiver allows MGIC to...

Despite lower mortgage rates, MBS prepayment speeds slowed across the board in December, particularly for the recent low coupons, while speeds for higher coupons were up slightly, according to securitization analysts. Researchers varied slightly in their estimates, saying speeds for 30-year Fannie Mae securities slowed 2-6 conditional prepayment rate for the recent low coupons (3.5-4.5 percent from 2011 and 2010). Barclays Capital analysts attributed the slowdown to reduced refinancing activity during the December holiday season. The weighted average CPR for all Fannie Mae MBS declined to...

In a major shake-up of the executive suite, Fannie Mae chief executive Michael Williams announced his resignation this week, effective as soon as the company’s board chooses a successor.Williams’ resignation follows last October’s announcement by Freddie Mac CEO Charles Haldeman that he would step down from the company sometime in 2012.Williams spent 21 years at Fannie in a variety of capacities, most notably as the executive responsible for overseeing the company’s financial restatements, and accounting and control reforms pre-conservatorship and as chief operating officer. In April 2009, he was named CEO.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $261.59 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the fourth quarter of 2011, a booming 47.6 percent improvement from a modest third quarter that followed two straight quarterly declines during the first six months of 2011.The recently completed October-December cycle represented the highest quarterly production level of the year, but it still came up 21.2 percent short of the volume generated during the fourth quarter of 2010.For the year, GSE single-family securitizations were down 12.7 percent from the volume generated during 2010.