Seasonal trends hit the GSE single-family mortgage-backed securities business in November, with new issuance of single-family MBS tumbling 15.1 percent from October. A new Inside the GSEs analysis of loan-level MBS disclosures reveals that a sharp 22.0 percent drop in securitization of purchase-money mortgages was the major factor in the November decline. Refinance loans delivered to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS pools were off a milder 6.8 percent from the previous month. In fact, more than half of Fannie’s MBS flow in November came from refinance loans, the first time since March that purchase mortgages accounted for less than half of the GSE’s business. One sign of the increased refinance share of GSE business ... [with two exclusive charts]
The key factor is that some mortgage originators, the megabanks especially, are keeping conventional loans in portfolio that might otherwise be securitized by Fannie and Freddie.
Rep. Ed Royce of California: "Money coming in from the GSEs should go to the taxpayers instead of a slush fund for ideological housing groups to play around with.”
Jumbo mortgage lending and securitization remained one of the bright spots in the home-loan business during the third quarter of 2014, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. A total of $81.8 billion in mortgages exceeding the traditional $417,000 conforming loan limit were produced during the third quarter, up 15.4 percent from the second quarter of 2014. Total mortgage originations were up 11.3 percent over the same period. Total jumbo activity included...[Includes three data charts]
Democrats in Congress and consumer advocates remain concerned about tight underwriting standards for mortgages, particularly due to overlays established by lenders. However, at a hearing this week by a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, there was a lack of consensus on what causes underwriting overlays. “Instead of matching the creditworthy borrower at the lower end of the distribution with affordable loans, these borrowers are being cut out of the market entirely,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, chairman of the Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, suggested...
Sen, Menedez added: “These [programs] were not the drivers of the financial crisis. We’re going to hear the opposite of that in the next session of Congress.”