The economic value of the FHA’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage legacy portfolio fell to negative $0.9 billion in fiscal 2014 due mainly to volatility in long-term house prices and interest rates, according to the latest independent actuarial report on the health of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. The latest result was a significant improvement from FY 2012, when the fund stood at negative $2.8 billion. In fiscal 2013, the HECM portfolio’s economic value of positive $6.5 billion appeared to be a whopping change from the previous year but that amount reflected a $4.6 billion cash infusion from the forward program and from the $1.7 billion mandatory appropriation, the report clarified. The report also showed a corresponding decline in the HECM capital ratio to negative 1.20 percent. Actuarial projections for fiscal 2015 place the HECM portfolio’s economic value at negative $1.1 billion. The fund’s capital resources for ...

A GSE bill? Since Congress and President Obama have such a strong track record of working together on legislation we know how that’s going to turn out…

Mortgage originations increased in all the major product categories during the third quarter of 2014, although new adjustable-rate mortgage lending was down slightly. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis shows that conventional-conforming originations increased by 11.7 percent from the second quarter to the third. That was slightly faster than the 10.2 percent increase in jumbo production and the 10.1 percent rise in government-insured lending. The home-equity market showed...[Includes two data charts]

Mortgage delinquencies followed a seasonal trend and rose in the third quarter of 2014, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance Large Servicer Delinquency Index. The Mortgage Bankers Association, however, reported a 19 basis point drop on a seasonally-adjusted basis that put the overall rate at 5.85 percent, the lowest since the financial crisis. The 24 lenders that reported delinquency data to Inside Mortgage Finance had an average delinquency rate of 6.63 percent, up from 6.54 percent in the second quarter. Unadjusted delinquency rates usually spike higher in the third quarter, even in the midst of a downward trend. The delinquency index also showed...[Includes one data chart]

The CMBS market is well known for rating shopping, where issuers will invite up to six CRAs to conduct a preliminary review of an initial asset pool.

Fitch warned that about 25 percent of the collateral received C or D grades for material violations or lack of documentation.

The top contributor to the new jumbo MBS from FirstKey is CMG Financial with a 13.8 percent share. Cornerstone, Bank of Internet and Impac also provided product.

Republicans have never been big fans of the GSEs and there’s plenty of Democrats who aren’t so sure about the government “guaranty” as well...

According to Citadel’s website, it offers five different loan matrices, which have credit grades ranging from A down to C.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to trim their retained holdings of MBS and unsecuritized mortgages in keeping with their conservatorship mandate as the two government-sponsored enterprises each posted a profit during the third quarter of 2014. The two GSEs ended September with a combined $851.71 billion in mortgage-related holdings, down 2.4 percent from the previous quarter. Compared to a year ago, their combined mortgage portfolio was down 16.0 percent and down 46.5 percent from the $1.592 trillion the two firms held in the fourth quarter of 2008 shortly after being placed in government conservatorship. One of the conditions of the conservatorship the GSEs entered six years ago was...[Includes one data chart]