Sterling Partners of Chicago is one of many private equity firms eying servicing rights as an investment. But so far, it has yet to win any bids.

Urban legend: mortgage lenders are beginning to loosen loan standards. Well, maybe only for "rich" clients.

Moody’s said the JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2013-1 has a weak representations and warranties framework, a restrictive rep and warrant enforcement mechanism and a lack of risk retention by Chase.

As part of the budget, an amendment passed the Senate that would prevent any hike in g-fees for non-housing issues.

Who is Phyllis Caldwell, and why is she being mentioned for the FHFA job?

The FHLB's MPF Xtra program – an alternative to the legacy Mortgage Partnership Finance program – saw volumes spike to $6.9 billion in 2012.

With several new jumbo MBS deals in the works – from Redwood Trust, JPMorgan Chase and EverBank Financial – it would seem likely that a robust market might develop for the subordinate tranches of these transactions. But so far it’s been a case of plenty of interest in the instrument, but little in the way of available product.

Ginnie Mae servicing volume was up modest 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 and 9.1 percent higher from the previous year, with some eye-popping increases reported by several servicers. The top servicers of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities reported $1.31 trillion in government-backed mortgage debt outstanding in the fourth quarter, up from $1.29 trillion from the previous quarter. Wells Fargo led the pack with $407.2 billion after posting gains on a quarterly and year-over-year basis while second-place Bank of America recorded a total of ... [1 chart]

Streamline refinancing helped boost FHA origination volume as lenders reported substantial increases on monthly and year-over-year bases, according to Inside FHA Lending’s latest analysis of FHA data. Despite increases in mortgage insurance premium and other policy changes aimed at reducing FHA market share and strengthening the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, FHA endorsements were up 18.7 percent in January 2013 from December 2012, and a hefty 38.7 percent from January last year. However, FHA refis accounted for 54.3 percent of total production while purchase mortgages made up ... [1 chart]

A federal employee union and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have agreed to implement a seven-day employee furlough because of a severe mandatory reduction in HUD’s budget in FY 2013. The seven furlough days, which also will affect FHA operations, will apply to HUD’s entire 9,100-person work force and will be spread out to one for each pay period beginning May 24. HUD initially proposed a 13-day furlough plan, which was to start May 10, but agreed to reduce it to seven days and to move the start date to May 24. Under an agreement between HUD and the American Federation of Government Employees Council 222, furlough days will occur on ...