Mortgage lenders that sell loans to the government-sponsored enterprises are seeing a significant increase in the volume of buyback reviews on recently originated mortgages, according to a new analysis of repurchase activity disclosures by Inside Mortgage Trends, an affiliated newsletter. Through the first three months of 2013, GSE sellers had already repurchased some $80.6 million of loans securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during 2012. That was more than double the volume of repurchases of mortgages originated in 2011. Loan quality didn’t deteriorate...

Fannie Mae’s “bifurcated” mortgage program that allows lenders to get a better price for selling their mortgage servicing rights while retaining representations and warranties tied to origination and sale to the government-sponsored enterprise has been gathering momentum over the past six months. According to servicing advisors, the effort has played an important role in returning liquidity to the MSR market, especially for medium-sized lenders that lived in fear of buybacks and headaches tied to representations and warranties. “The program is...

Mortgage lending industry representatives were unanimous in their view that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule and “qualified mortgage” standard, as currently constituted, may severely restrict access to mortgage credit on multiple levels. Testifying earlier this week before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, James Gardill, chairman of the board of WesBanco, Inc., said on behalf of the American Bankers Association that the QM rule will limit mortgage lending because the QM guidelines narrow lending parameters. “Even within the QM framework, many concerns remain that could limit credit availability to a diverse group of consumers,” Gardill said. Debra Still, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said...

Yet another plan to reshape the mortgage market has been published, this one from noted housing economist Mark Zandi, and Ellen Seidman, once the nation's top S&L regulator.

MBA pushes for GSE AU engines to be synchronized. Meanwhile, a factoid of mortgage history: Treasury chief Paulson wanted Fannie and Freddie put in receivership.

Former GSE regulator James Lockhart noted that only one “catastrophic” guarantor is needed, though he stressed that “you need more than one issuer.”

Only a crazy person would speculate in GSE junior preferred stock. Meanwhile, Dr. Frankenstein reveals himself.

The American Bankers Association asked the CFPB for more detailed guidance on the “temporary qualified mortgage” for government-sponsored enterprise and agency mortgage loans. Earlier this year, the bureau proposed some amendments to its mortgage rules under the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act. Among them are some proposed revised commentaries regarding the standards that a creditor must meet when relying upon a written guide or the automated underwriting system of one of the GSEs, the...

New single-family MBS issuance accounted for a record 90.1 percent of home loan originations during the first quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. An estimated $500.0 billion of new home mortgages were originated during the first three months of the year, down 4.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012, as refinance activity began to weaken. But mortgage securitization activity declined at a slower pace, falling just 0.6 percent in the first quarter. That pushed...[Includes one data chart]

Overt acts of housing discrimination may have declined significantly but subtle forms of racial bias continue against minority home purchasers or renters nationwide, according to a new study released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Urban Institute.