FHA streamline refinancing fell significantly in 2017 from the previous year, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of agency data. Lenders closed 2017 with $37.4 billion of FHA streamline refi loans, buoyed by a 12.2 percent increase in origination in the fourth quarter. However, business was down a whopping 34.5 percent year-over-year. The segment ended the first quarter strongly with, $13.05 billion, but faltered over the next nine months. Streamline refinancing accounted for 15.8 percent of total FHA originations in 2017. Twelve states, led by California, each reported FHA streamline refi originations in excess of $1 billion last year. The Golden State closed the year with $8.05 billion of FHA-to-FHA refis, which accounted for 21 percent of all FHA loans in the state last year. The highest FHA streamline refi-producers after California were, in sequential order, ... [Charts]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will begin issuing the long-awaited uniform MBS on June 3, 2019, but the Federal Housing Finance Agency strongly urges the industry to not delay getting ready.

Fannie has roughly 50 lenders using the servicing marketplace…

JPMorgan Chase is preparing to issue a non-agency mortgage-backed security stocked entirely with loans eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises. While Chase has long included GSE-eligible loans in its non-agency MBS, the deals generally also include non-agency jumbo mortgages. The mortgages in the $313.56 million deal largely look to be conforming jumbos. The loans have an average balance of $527,877. Fitch Ratings noted that the collateral attributes of the pool are ...

But Freddie Mac’s 37.2 percent drop was the biggest, by far…

Pershing Square owns roughly 9.9 percent of Fannie/Freddie common…

The $81.35 billion in first-quarter Fannie/Freddie refi business was the lowest such total since the third quarter of 2014…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recorded sharp declines in new business volume during the first quarter of 2018 despite a promising launch into the spring homebuying season.

This is what can happen when a federal agency is taken over by someone who once called it a “sick, sad joke.” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Director Mick Mulvaney this week issued a semiannual report asking Congress to remake the agency and require that major CFPB rules be approved by Congress.

Federal regulators should establish a “regulatory sandbox” to encourage innovation by lenders, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.