As of the midway point in 2013, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were only slightly ahead of the pace they will need to maintain this year to reach portfolio-shrinkage targets set by their regulators, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. Under the revised terms of their bailout agreements, the two government-sponsored enterprises are required to reduce their retained portfolios by 15.0 percent by the end of this year. Through the first six months of 2013, the GSEs had shrunk their mortgage portfolios by 8.7 percent. But the Federal Housing Finance Agency has also directed...[Includes one data chart]
The Obama administration last week pushed the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to consider reducing the high-cost conforming loan limits beginning in 2013. However, significant opposition from Realtors, home builders and members on both sides of the aisle in Congress has prevented previously planned declines. “In order to reduce the government’s footprint over several years, we recommend allowing FHA loan limits to fall at the end of 2013 as currently scheduled,” the Obama administration said. “Beyond that, HUD and FHFA should closely examine using their existing authorities to reduce loan limits further consistent with the pace of the recovery, market developments, and the administration’s principles and transition plan for housing finance reform.” In 2008, Congress increased...
Plans by officials of the city of Richmond, CA, to make a controversial use of eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages, rework their terms and stiff MBS investors for the resulting losses suffered two major blows in recent days as two federal regulatory agencies that play a critical role in the nation’s mortgage finance system intensified their opposition. This week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in response to a joint inquiry by three California Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee, said it cannot guarantee that any mortgage seized through eminent domain would be approved for an FHA-insured refinance – a central pillar in the eminent domain proposal developed by Mortgage Resolution Partners. “Pending legal developments and possible further execution of the plans in question, HUD does not know...
Fitch has determined that loans originated through a direct retail channel have a lower default risk than those originated through brokers or correspondents.
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