GSE shareholders have introduced a new theory to help strengthen their cases after being forced to back down from their illegal takings claim arguing that the Treasury sweep was illegal. They now look to modify their complaint to focus on a ruling in another case that deemed the Federal Housing Finance Agency structure unconstitutional....

Fannie’s Eighth RPL Sale. Fannie Mae began marketing its eighth sale of reperforming loans this week. It consists of approximately 18,400 loans, having an unpaid principal balance of $3.59 billion, and is available for purchase by qualified bidders. Reperforming loans are mortgages that were previously delinquent, but are performing again because payments ....

Banks still favor Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pass-through securities, but…

Some key regulatory concerns remain unresolved or unclarified, according to SIFMA…

Meanwhile, the Mortgage Bankers Association this week reported a substantial decline in its seasonally adjusted mortgage delinquency data series.

It might be in Ditech’s best interest if Houlihan Lokey finds a buyer now while MSR values are still peaking…

Most mortgage lenders earned money on their loan production and servicing operations in the second quarter of 2018, but income was generally down from previous periods. [Includes one data chart.]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued a combined $65.85 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities last month, a 1.0 percent decline from their June total, according to an Inside The GSEs analysis of MBS data. Compared to the first seven months of 2017, the GSE single-family business was down 7.4 percent as of the end of July. Most of the month-to-month slump was at Freddie, where MBS production fell 8.9 percent from June. Fannie managed a 5.0 percent increase in July. Both GSEs are off about the same on a year-to-date basis. [Includes two data charts.]

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt has been under a lot of scrutiny as his tenure winds down by yearend. Some observers claim the FHFA is allowing the GSEs to introduce pilot programs that conflict with the primary market. There is a sexual harassment allegation against Watt. And he is reportedly being investigated for intimidating the agency’s inspector general....

Freddie Mac launched a new pilot program geared toward keeping rents affordable for low-income and working families.The Mezzanine Loan program is different from other affordable housing efforts because it’s strictly voluntary and will offer lower cost financing to multifamily borrowers who agree to cap their rent increases for the life of the loan....