The Federal Home Loan Banks reported a record $736.70 billion of advances outstanding at the end of June, rebounding from a sharp decline during the first quarter of the year. Outstanding advances at the midyear point were up 5.4 percent from March even though the volume of new advances originated fell 5.9 percent during that period. Still, advance originations exceeded the repayment of existing loans, which declined ... [Includes two data charts}

The outlook for the Federal Home Loan Banks is stable, but Standard & Poors’ Global Ratings points to a few potential weaknesses that could threaten the health of the system. S&P pointed to the small but growing exposure to nondepository financial institutions as a cause for concern. The rating agency also warned of challenges to broad-based advance growth and longer-term uncertainty due to potential legislative changes associated with housing-finance reform. And although the FHLBanks have increased their reliance on short-term funding in response to demand from its members, S&P said, “Given the generally match-funded approach to issuance, as well as the overcollateralization of advances to members, we believe that the tenor of the system's funding remains manageable.”

Fannie Mae is helping to alleviate some of the additional responsibilities servicers take on during post-foreclosure sales on reverse mortgage loans. In a Sept. 18 announcement, the GSE updated its policy and said it will now take responsibility for ground rents, co-op fees and assessments, and property taxes for certain properties in Fannie’s real estate- owned inventory. The policy change is applicable to all reverse mortgage loans. Last year Fannie also took on additional responsibilities from servicers for post-foreclosure sales. The GSE announced it would pay property taxes for acquired properties with a foreclosure sale date or final acceptance of an executed mortgage release after July 7, 2017.

The bank retreat from agency MBS servicing is mostly taking place at the top…

Expanded-credit mortgages accounted for less than 3 percent of total first-lien originations in the first half of this year.

However, bankers and advisors who ply their trade in the MSR market have told Inside Mortgage Finance there is adequate financing available to nonbanks.

To date, Watt has maintained that he did not do anything legally wrong...

Rumors were floating around this week that a large non-QM securitization deal could be in the works...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency could do a better job at utilizing the information it gets from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fraud reports, according to the agency’s Office of Inspector General.

Three megabanks account for an outsized share of first liens held by banks: Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.