Just because a GSE uses a third-party vendor to assess the risk of seller/servicers as counter-parties that doesn’t mean the GSE – or their management – is off the hook if something goes awry.
All three mortgage-production channels generated solid increases in new origination volume during the third quarter of 2014, but the correspondent market had a measurably bigger gain, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. An estimated $105 billion of home loans were produced by correspondent originators during the third quarter, up 14.1 percent from the previous quarter. That lifted the correspondent share of new originations to 30.4 percent for the quarter, and 30.3 percent on a year-to-date basis. Correspondents are...[Includes four data charts]
The Obama administration noted this week that it is less than keen on the idea of taking up an outgoing Democrat senator’s call to end the six-plus year conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Last week, Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, suggested the GSEs’ conservatorship be ended if legislative reform is not forthcoming.
As the Federal Housing Finance Agency prepares a new guaranty fee framework to unveil in early 2015, a report issued by the FHFA last week noted that big g-fee increases in 2013 were not spread evenly across the market. According to the FHFA’s sixth annual study, average mortgage-backed security g-fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac jumped from 36 basis points in 2012 to 51 bps last year.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week unveiled a policy alteration that would potentially allow a foreclosed homeowner to purchase a home – including one he/she lost due to arrears – from the real estate owned inventory of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The change will permit Fannie and Freddie to sell existing REO properties to any qualified purchaser at the property’s fair-market value, as determined by the GSE, according to the FHFA.
Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, last week rolled out changes to their selling representation-and-warranty frameworks in an effort to reduce lenders’ concerns about when they might be asked to repurchase a loan. The GSEs noted that some lenders were concerned about repurchase risk and other market factors causing an increase in credit overlays, which has limited access to credit for potential creditworthy borrowers.