Zandi and deRitis believe that the FHA is on track to be able to lower its mortgage insurance premiums by 50 basis points to an average of 120 basis points for total upfront and annual premiums.

According to one analyst, "Ackman is reloading the boat with the extra cash he has on hand. Hopefully, others will join him.”

Mortgage lenders continued to work through a huge pile of repurchase demands related to loans securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the housing market crash. The two government-sponsored enterprises reported a total of $1.269 billion of repurchases by sellers during the second quarter of 2014, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends, an affiliated newsletter, of Securities and Exchange Commission filings by the two GSEs. That compared to just $522.5 million in repurchases during the first quarter of this year. As has been the case since the buyback issue mushroomed several years ago, most of the second-quarter repurchases focused...[Includes one data chart]

Thanks to rapidly improving delinquency rates and real estate values, the bloom appears to be off the rose for specialty servicers that built their business on processing delinquent and high-touch mortgages that are guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA. Over the past month, layoffs have plagued both Wingspan Portfolio Services, Dallas, and Residential Credit Solutions of Fort Worth, TX. Moreover, industry officials who work in the servicing sector believe...

Officially launched a year ago, the Bethesda, MD-based Common Securitization Solutions has no chief executive officer or chairman but continues to hire staff.

Specialty servicer Wingspan is expected to issue a press release this week, providing some clarity about a change of control at the company and the future of its founder...

The Community Home Lenders Association has asked new HUD secretary Julian Castro for a “meaningful reduction” in the FHA’s annual premiums…

Ending the conservatorships of the government-sponsored enterprises and recapitalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the “most pragmatic and feasible” solution to facilitate housing finance reform and protect taxpayers, according to a recently issued white paper. In his blueprint for ending GSE conservatorship, Clifford Rossi – adjunct professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park – calls for an administrative solution by recapitalizing Fannie and Freddie and bringing the GSEs out of conservatorship under strict conditions as the next best way of implementing housing finance reform short of legislation. “Conservatorship was...

After a year of searching for a chief executive to head Common Securitization Solutions LLC, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is still looking. But that doesn’t mean the agency has given up. “The search continues,” said a government official close to the matter. “We even have a search firm.” Although the FHFA is keeping a tight lid on information regarding CSS, it’s...

Here's a fact that most readers may not know: the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 grants the FHFA the authority to bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship.