Loan repurchases by seller/servicers fell last year, a sign that the worst of this problem may be over for the industry. Or is that wishful thinking?

Rep. Maxine Waters, the ranking minority member of the House Financial Services Committee, believes that now is "precisely the time to think about how we can reshape the secondary mortgage market."

UBS Americas failed in its bid to shut down a lawsuit brought by the Federal Housing Finance Agency in connection with non-agency mortgage-backed securities purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while in another case three former Freddie executives lost their own bid to dismiss a Securities and Exchange Commission securities fraud case against them. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld a lower court’s ruling that denied UBS’ motion to dismiss the FHFA’s suit as time barred. In the summer of 2011, the FHFA filed 18 lawsuits in Manhattan federal court against UBS and other big banks on behalf of the GSEs, alleging violations of the federal Securities Act of 1933 for approximately $200 billion in non-agency MBS sold to Fannie and Freddie.

In a move designed to allow qualifying members to sell fixed-rate, conforming mortgage loans into the secondary market, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas announced last week it has joined the Mortgage Partnership Finance Program and is now offering the MPF Xtra product. Under the MPF Xtra program, loans are sold through the FHLBank of Chicago to Fannie Mae as a third-party investor.

GSE single-family securitizations rose just under 1.0 percent during the first three months of 2013, compared to the previous quarter, yet it was the single highest level since the second quarter of 2009 as mortgage lenders delivered $355.8 billion in home loans to Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s securitization programs, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Fannie and Freddie activity peaked in January with GSE volume declining slightly in both February and March. January’s huge increase compared to the previous month may reflect lenders’ intent to hold secondary market sales until the new GSE representation and warranties went into effect on Jan. 1.

Although Fannie Mae posted stellar – and record – earnings last week, the best is yet to come thanks to a $58.9 billion allowance for “deferred tax assets” the GSE is likely to capture when it releases earnings for the first quarter of 2013, a number that will be revealed some time in May. In its 10-K filing for 2012, Fannie did not absolutely say it will move to capture the DTA allowance in the first quarter, but notes that “if and when the valuation allowance is released, it will be included as income.” The GSE said it did not take the DTA in 2012 because it has not been steadily profitable for a long enough period of time. It noted that the decision was “complicated.”

Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase continue to post strong residential finance profits, but there is a growing worry that the "mortgage party" may be drawing to a close.

Credit quality for global structured finance securities fell for the sixth consecutive year in 2012, again led by U.S. residential MBS, according to Standard & Poor’s. Looking at downgrade and default trends from 1978 through 2012, S&P found that downgrades were less pervasive last year than in previous years. Nonetheless, the mild but slow global economic recovery continues to hurt the performance of MBS and other structured finance securities for the sixth straight year. Its lagging effect means that credit quality may continue to see moderate deterioration, the rating agency said. While poor credit quality appears...

RAIT Financial Trust, Philadelphia, is funding roughly $60 million to $70 million a quarter in multifamily and low-balance commercial loans, product that is winding up in MBS issued by Barclays Capital and Citigroup Securities. According to Jason Stewart, an analyst with Compass Point Research & Trading LLC, the company also has a line of credit from Credit Suisse, and is working on a $100 million to $150 million deal that could be ready by the third quarter. A publicly traded real estate investment trust, RAIT is...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s lawsuit against UBS Americas and, by extension, more than a dozen other big banks, in connection with non-agency MBS purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will continue after a federal appeals court flatly denied UBS’ bid to dismiss the case. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that denied UBS’ motion to dismiss the FHFA’s suit as time barred. In the summer of 2011, the FHFA filed 18 lawsuits in Manhattan federal court against UBS and other big banks on behalf of the GSEs, alleging violations of the federal Securities Act of 1933 for approximately $200 billion in MBS sold to Fannie and Freddie in the years prior to the mortgage market meltdown. The UBS appeal argument largely revolves...