Rep. Sherman of California noted: “Studies have shown that in some geographic areas, it is possible to determine the identity of nearly 100 percent of the borrowers using the data that lenders are required to collect and report by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.”

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw substantial declines in new single-family business during the first quarter of 2017, but the purchase-mortgage side showed some life in March, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. The two government-sponsored enterprises guaranteed $218.22 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the first three months of the year. That was down 27.1 percent from the fourth quarter total of $299.25 billion – the biggest quarterly flow in GSE business since the second quarter of 2013. The refinance market was...[Includes three data tables]

Freddie Mac is set to implement a waiver aimed at reducing lender anxiety about potential buybacks related to appraisal issues, matching a similar policy already implemented by Fannie Mae. The initiatives by the two government-sponsored enterprises are aimed at one of the last major bugaboos in the representations and warranties lenders take on when they sell loans. Lender repurchases have declined dramatically over the past few years as Fannie and Freddie cleaned up buyback disputes related to loans originated before the housing market collapse. In 2016, lender repurchases and other indemnifications fell...

The top five FHA servicers are: Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Cenlar Federal Savings Bank, U.S. Bank and PennyMac Loan Services.

PHH Mortgage, which is restructuring its operations, was the top ranked interest-only lender in 2016…

A former Utah appraiser said she lost her job to AVMs and now drives a bus for $40,000 a year...

Invitation Homes also has unsecured warehouse loan agreements with its sponsor…

Angel Oak competitor Citadel Servicing Corp., Irvine, CA, is planning to come to market with its first deal, a rated security that could top $160 million…

China still ranked second in agency MBS investment, but Japan’s larger portfolio of non-agency MBS and ABS boosted it to second place overall.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executed various forms of credit-risk transfers last year that covered $548.0 billion of mortgages, a 30.4 percent increase over the amount covered by CRT activity in the previous year, according to a new report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The performance met the “scorecard” targets issued by their regulator. In total, the two government-sponsored enterprises transferred $17.9 billion of risk in 2016, most of it through their debt note programs. Fannie’s Connecticut Avenue Securities and Freddie’s Structured Agency Credit Risk programs accounted for 72.1 percent of risk transferred last year, the FHFA said. Reinsurance, the next biggest category, accounted...[Includes one data table]