Preventing GSE guarantee fees from being used as income for unrelated government spending has been an ongoing battle. In the latest attempt to block this from happening, more than a dozen mortgage and housing groups sent a joint letter in support of the Risk Management and Homeowner Stability Act. H.R. 916, introduced by Reps. Mark Sanford, R-SC, and Brad Sherman, D-CA, was created to stop g-fees from being tapped for non-housing programs. The Mortgage Bankers Association, Community Mortgage Lenders of America, the American Bankers Association and U.S. Mortgage Insurers are among the 14 groups that signed the letter. They argue that increasing g-fees for other purposes imposes an...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily lending is booming and hit a record high in 2016, but how long will that streak last? Some say the supply and demand dynamics are changing as developers rushed to build to meet a growing demand that may be leveling off some this year.Fannie ended last year having provided $55.3 billion in financing and support of the multifamily market. In 2016, Freddie financed $56.8 billion in loan purchases and bond guarantees. “Credit performance of the book of business was strong in 2016. The number of multifamily foreclosed properties held for sale remained low at 13 properties as of December 31, 2016,” reported Fannie.
The number of Freddie Mac mortgages that have fallen seriously delinquent or are in foreclosure dropped below 1 percent in January, the first time in close to a decade. Last week Freddie reported that the rate is significantly below the 3.13 percent rate for the entire mortgage market. The last time it was under 1 percent was in 2008, when it was .93 percent. It peaked at 4.20 percent two years later in 2010. It has gradually come down in subsequent years with the rate falling to 3.25 percent in 2012 and 1.88 percent in 2014. The seriously delinquent rate is for mortgage loans that are three or more monthly payments past due or are in foreclosure.
Fannie Mae’s second front-end credit risk sharing transaction is much larger than its first deal as it shifts a portion of the risk on about $15 billion worth of single-family loans. The inaugural front-end CRT announced in October, involved about $3.7 billion of single-family loans. These two transactions use credit insurance risk transfer on the front end of the transaction. Most of the GSEs’ CIRT transactions have involved insurance contracts on pools of loans that have already been securitized. This deal, like the first, will be completed on a flow basis with the risk transfer taking place before Fannie acquires the covered loans. And the insurance coverage will begin immediately after acquisition.
Freddie Hosts Employee Panel on Affordable Housing. In commemoration of Black History Month, Freddie Mac’s ARISE employee resource group invited all employees to a panel discussion on the company's commitment to affordable housing, particularly in the African-American community. The GSE said that the panelists began by discussing the importance of homeownership in all communities, while recognizing that there is a gap between white and non-white homeownership rates. Panelists discussed ways that Freddie is helping close this divide via programs including Home Possible mortgages that offer low downpayment options for low- to moderate– income homebuyers, reducing one of the financial barriers that impede African-American families from homeownership. And they talked about the GSE’s commitment to financing affordable rental properties. Investors Unite Podcast Launch.
A common theme among housing finance reform proposals is to infuse more private capital into the system while not disrupting the market. Beyond that, the plans take significantly different approaches about what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Jim Parrott, senior fellow at the Urban Institute and the co-author of one of those proposals, released a paper this week comparing his plan with the revised proposal from the Mortgage Bankers Association and a blueprint described by the Milken Institute. The MBA proposed...
According to an Inside Mortgage Finance analysis, Fannie and Freddie have passed along some $9.6 billion of MBS fees under the provisions of the 2011 Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act.
More than a dozen mortgage and housing groups are backing a House bill that would prevent guaranty fees on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities from being hijacked to pay for unrelated government spending. A joint trade group letter, signed by the Mortgage Bankers Association, Community Mortgage Lenders of America, the American Bankers Association, U.S. Mortgage Insurers and others, argues that tapping g-fees for other unrelated purposes imposes an “unjustified burden” on homeowners who would be forced to pay for the increase through higher monthly payments for the life of their loan. Our organizations were...
Commercial banks and thrifts reported a combined $123.8 billion of ABS on their balance sheets at the end of last year, a 3.7 percent drop from the third quarter…