Efforts in the Senate to reform the government-sponsored enterprises appear likely to include a government guarantee for whatever replaces the current system involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “It seems to me that the consolidation is coming around the fact that we do need to have an explicit [catastrophic] guarantee,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN. “We need to acknowledge that it’s going to be there.” He made the statement last week at a hearing on housing-finance reform by the ...
According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance, several large nonbanks continue to hire, including Amerihome, Quicken Loans, and United Wholesale Mortgage, among others.
At the end of July, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will report second quarter results that might be marred – at least a little bit – by non-cash hedging charges caused by lower interest rates. When June ended, the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond carried a yield of 2.30 percent, 10 basis points lower than at March 31. Lower rates usually translate into hedging markdowns, but since the decline was so small it’s unlikely that either government-sponsored enterprise will record a net accounting loss for the period. In general, the two don’t discuss...
Federal Reserve Governor Jay Powell urged lawmakers to figure out a solution to the extended conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, noting that a healthy economy and the risk to taxpayers make now an ideal time to act. In a speech this week at the American Enterprise Institute, Powell noted that the two government-sponsored enterprises are now in their ninth year of conservatorship. He worries that if reform doesn’t happen soon it may not happen at all. Powell said any change would be more challenging to enact during difficult economic times. “The risk that we settle into this current situation for the long run is...
More Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders are arguing that the structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency is unconstitutional and are calling for courts to vacate the third amendment that sweeps the profits of the mortgage giants into the Treasury Department. Within the past month, two new cases have been introduced in Michigan and Minnesota, likely piggybacking on last year’s decision in which the single-director structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was found to be unconstitutional. Several shareholders of the government-sponsored enterprises filed...
If you’re opening a new mortgage company it stands to reason that the two least likely places you’d pick for your headquarters are New York City and San Francisco.
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