California remains the top source of new single-family mortgages for Fannie and Freddie, even as Fannie remains the dominant GSE in terms of production through the first half of the year, according to an Inside The GSEs analysis. A total of $132.2 billion of home loans on Golden State properties were securitized by the two GSEs during the first six months of 2012, accounting for 22.9 percent of their total business for the half year. That was up 46.7 percent from total California production during the first six months of 2011 as the overall GSE market rose 38.8 percent from a year ago.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency may pursue its residential mortgage-backed securities legal action against affiliates of Residential Capital LLC, Ally Financials defunct mortgage unit, a federal judge has ruled. Last week, Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied ResCaps request seeking an automatic bankruptcy stay of its numerous MBS lawsuits, including one filed by the FHFA last year. The FHFA, as GSE conservator, sued UBS Americas in July 2011 alleging that billions of dollars of MBS purchased by Fannie and Freddie were based on offering documents that contained materially false statements and omissions.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency should enhance its supervision of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks by taking better advantage of the FHFAs call report system, a recent audit has concluded. The FHFAs Office of Inspector General report noted last week that despite requiring the GSEs to enter data into the CRS, the Finance Agency has not optimized its use of the system to enhance oversight. Two FHFA supervisory divisions rarely use CRS in their analysis and oversight of the enterprises, explained the OIG audit. Instead, they receive routine submissions of loan-level data and standard management reports containing relevant metrics and data.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency must improve its risk assessments of Fannie Mae and Freddie Macs real estate-owned properties to provide more comprehensive coverage of GSE risk areas, according to an audit by the agencys official watchdog. In risk assessments of Fannie and Freddie conducted between 2008 and 2011, the FHFA noted that the GSEs large REO inventories were a critical concern the agencys most severe rating. However, the OIG noted that the agency didnt perform any targeted examinations of Fannie and Freddies management and marketing of REO until 2011. Earlier this year, the FHFA completed four targeted examinations focused on GSE REO risks. The first two examinations focused on risks arising from Fannie and Freddies use of vendors to manage REO and the other two examinations looked at their efforts to mitigate losses from problematic properties, noted the OIG.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is exploring the possibilities of a streamlined lender-placed or force-placed insurance policy between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHFA is keenly interested in costs associated with force-placed insurance and related impacts to borrowers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the taxpayer, a Finance Agency spokesman told Inside The GSEs. We are looking at policy related to force-placed insurance to see where there might be opportunities to reduce costs. Some existing force-placed policies are controversial because they are sold by insurance companies owned by lenders or by insurers with which the lenders have a financial relationship.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have adopted a common language to improve and help ease lenders delivery of loans and appraisals to the government-sponsored enterprises. The GSEs full adoption of the Uniform Loan Delivery Dataset (ULDD) on July 23 establishes a common usage and standardizes most of the data required at the time of loan delivery, minimizing differences wherever possible. Freddie Mac hailed the new system as a critical milestone of the Uniform Mortgage Data Program, a joint GSE initiative to provide...
New home loan originations in the second quarter of 2012 were up 5.2 percent from the first three months of the year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Production trends varied significantly among the top lenders, however, and early estimates suggest that lenders further down the food chain may be picking up market share. Wells Fargo is still effectively lapping the field with more than double the origination volume of its nearest rival, but the industry leader managed a relatively modest 0.8 percent increase in production while its three closest competitors all reported double-digit gains. Although Wells may be mothballing some firepower by shutting down its wholesale broker business, the company was...[Includes two data charts]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to develop a plan for taking Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks into receivership. The FHFA reports it has entered into a contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers to create a blueprint for liquidating Fannie, Freddie or any of 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, if ever necessary. But it is all part of routine planning activity under the agencys mission, said a spokesperson. The FHFA has engaged in...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has not effectively employed its monitoring and supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac risk related to real estate owned properties, according to the FHFAs Office of Inspector General. The FHFA will benefit from a more comprehensive REO risk assessment and from using the assessment to enhance its planning and supervisory activities, said the OIG. A more comprehensive assessment of the risks associated with [Fannies and Freddies] shadow REO inventory can help the FHFA provide for the enterprises safety and soundness and help protect the taxpayers from undue losses by ensuring the agency focuses on its supervision where it can best mitigate risks. From 2007 through 2011, the GSEs combined REO inventory rose...
In the proposed rule the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released two weeks ago addressing various issues associated with high-cost mortgages, the bureau revealed the most detail yet regarding a National Mortgage Database thats been in development for the past two years. A 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office indicated officials from the Federal Reserve and representatives of Freddie Mac were working on such a database on a pilot basis. The officials are exploring the feasibility...