The credit risk profile of incoming FHA business has shifted significantly since the beginning of last year, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities data. The biggest development has been the growth of loans with high debt-to-income ratios. There has also been a significant increase in the share of refinance loans that are cash-out transactions. FHA officials are well aware of these developments, having publicly mentioned them in testimony on Capitol Hill and at industry conferences. Officials have also raised concerns about FHA loans with downpayment assistance, although the MBS data don’t seem to indicate that there has been much change on that score. Among FHA loans endorsed in April and May, only 41.9 percent were at or below the benchmark DTI test for qualified mortgages, which is 43 percent. Through 2015 and 2016, well over half of new ... [Chart]

Now, eligible condo loan borrowers can take advantage of the appraisal waiver if ACE deems it unnecessary.

A few years back, Nader went to bat for Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac shareholders suing the federal government over the GSE net worth profit sweep...

The government-sponsored enterprises recently intensified efforts to help borrowers in rural areas qualify for a mortgage as part of their “duty-to-serve” markets where credit is scarce. Freddie Mac launched an employment program in high-needs regions and Fannie Mae has a new program targeting owners of manufactured homes.

FHA may soon have a new condo lending rule, but one lobbyist called it "four years too late..."

Virtually all of the repurchase activity is now focused on newer production.

Incenter Mortgage Advisors, Denver, is getting ready to launch a flow MSR marketplace of its own…

The seller of the bulk package is a depository that lends heavily in the South…

GSE mortgage sellers repurchased a slightly larger volume of defective single-family mortgages during the first quarter of 2018, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.During the first three months of the year, lenders repurchased or made other indemnification on $240.91 million of home loans sold to the GSEs, a 4.6 percent increase from the record low set in the fourth quarter of 2017. Buybacks of Fannie loans were up 27.2 percent, but ... [Includes one data chart.]

Just as optimistic talk of GSE reform was fading, in a surprise move late this week the Trump administration revealed a proposal to end the 10-year conservatorship. The gist of it is to reduce the GSEs’ footprint in the housing market through more competition and provide an explicit U.S. guarantee on conventional mortgage-backed securities that is separate from the federal support for low- and moderate-income borrowers.The three-page proposal, billed as a reorganization plan, is part of a larger “Delivering Government Solutions for the 21st Century” publication revealed on June 21. “This proposal would reorganize the way the federal government delivers mortgage assistance and go beyond...