July is usually a good month for agency MBS issuance when the housing market is strong. In 2018, the fundamentals just weren’t there. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae guaranteed $101.39 billion of new single-family MBS last month, a disappointing 0.6 percent lower than in June. Purchase mortgages accounted for a substantial 74.4 percent of July issuance, although volume was up just 3.2 percent from June. The housing market ... [Includes two data charts]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported $6.96 billion in net income during the second quarter, down 3.2 percent from the previous quarter, and the duo have actively been working to trim their retained portfolios. Freddie has reduced its portfolio to $236.4 billion in the second quarter, well below the 2018 yearend purchase agreement cap of $250.0 billion. Its portfolio declined 1.9 percent in the second quarter but was down 16.7 percent from June 2017. Some 41.8 percent of ...
Sales of agency mortgage servicing rights were up in the second quarter, mostly as a result of heavier coissuance volume, according to an exclusive new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis and ranking. Servicing rights on $129.57 billion of agency mortgages changed hands during the second quarter, up 6.4 percent from the first three months of the year. The data are culled on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities ... [Includes three data charts]
The GSEs posted a combined net profit of $6.96 billion for the second quarter, with Fannie accounting for the lion’s share having earned $4.46 billion. The combined number is down slightly from the $7.19 billion recorded for the first quarter. Fannie Mae’s chief financial officer, Dave Benson, attributed the 4.6 percent quarterly increase partly to higher credit-related income. [Includes one data chart.]
The White House, according to industry insiders, has formed a small search team to help pick a successor to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt, whose tenure at the agency is imperiled because of recent sexual harassment allegations levied against him by an employee.Watt’s five-year term is scheduled to end in early January 2019, but it’s possible he might be forced from the position much sooner or decide to step down on his own. The 72-year-old regulator – a former Democratic Congressman from North Carolina – has declined to discuss the matter, but issued a statement through the FHFA’s public relations department saying he’s “confident that the investigation currently in progress will ...
Fannie Mae’s CEO Timothy Mayopoulos is leaving his post by the end of this year after being with the GSE since 2009. Fannie announced his departure last week along with a new leadership structure. Mayopoulos became CEO in 2012 after being promoted from chief administrative officer and general counsel. He will remain on board until the end of 2018 and work with the board of directors to make sure the transition is seamless. During his tenure, Fannie has been profitable each year. “For Fannie Mae, it has been a decade of reform and fundamental change.
In a new semi-annual letter issued to shareholders this week, Fairholme Capital Management blamed the weak first-half performance of the Fairholme Fund on its investment in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred shares, while telling investors the GSEs’ businesses are “stronger than ever.”The Fairholme Fund decreased in value by 8.49 percent in the first half of 2018, while the S&P gained 2.65 percent, according to the shareholder letter. The investment in Fannie/Freddie accounts for 16.6 percent of the Fairholme Fund’s net assets. Headed by investment banking veteran Bruce Berkowitz, Fairholme is betting heavily on a recent promise made by the Trump administration to end the almost 10-year-old conservatorships with the hope the two will reemerge as shareholder-owned companies.
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