The outlook for mortgage and housing activity in 2016 is expected to stay positive, but prime jumbo issuance won’t necessarily benefit from those fundamentals, according to S&P Global Ratings. Overall, the positive housing market is not translating into an increase in issuance or securitization. In fact, S&P analysts on a webinar this week said that non-agency securitization has been relatively flat over the past few years. Prime jumbo issuance continues to experience a dry spell that will most likely continue into the second half of 2016, they said. “If you look at the loans being originated, they are being held...
We don’t know who will lead the new administration, though for Ginnie’s sake, it’s likely that both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton won’t mess with the agency or its charter. Right?
The GOP convention starts in a few days and the party of Lincoln and Roosevelt (Teddy) has its daggers pointed toward Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bully!
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitized $58.61 billion of single-family home loans that carried private mortgage insurance during the second quarter of 2016, a solid 33.0 percent increase over the first three months of the year, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. The boost in private MI business was slightly stronger than the 26.2 percent increase in overall single-family mortgage-backed securities issuance for the two government-sponsored enterprises during the same period. Overall, the biggest increase in GSE business during the second quarter was...[Includes two data tables]
A bipartisan group of senators is urging Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt not to take any steps that could possibly lead to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being released from conservatorship. Their letter sent last week is one of several in the past two months that Watt has received from various groups reiterating their positions on housing finance reform. Senate Republicans Bob Corker (TN), Mike Crapo (ID) and Dean Heller (NV), along with Democrats Mark Warner (VA), Heidi Heitkamp (ND) and Jon Tester (MT), emphasized the need for comprehensive reform legislation over “any unilateral action” by the administration. “That is why Congress included a provision in the 2016 omnibus legislation which restricted the release of Treasury’s shares in the government-sponsored enterprises,” they wrote. “The passage of this provision reasserted the desire of Congress to have a say in determining the fate of Fannie and Freddie.” But the lawmakers acknowledged...
Florida and New Jersey lead the way in having the most borrowers who are likely eligible to take advantage of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s principal modification program, according to a new map the agency released this week. The FHFA introduced the one-time loan modification program in April focusing on a highly targeted group of underwater borrowers. It is limited to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans that were seriously delinquent as of March 31, had remaining loan amounts of less than $250,000, and unpaid debt, including arrearages, exceeding 115 percent of the current market value of the home. The interactive map focuses...
One mortgage insurance lobbyist added: “Fannie and Freddie really don’t want to cut fees. It would hurt their earnings. It’s hard to imagine them doing anything right now that would reduce revenues.”