Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter has been updated this month to include an employment and asset verification service under its Day 1 Certainty initiative announced in October. Day 1 was created to alleviate buyback fears on some loan components for lenders using its underwriting and appraisal tools. The GSE said that lenders would be relieved from most representations-and-warranty risk when it comes to verifying a borrower’s income, assets and employment. When a lender opts in to use the DU validation service, Fannie said that DU will use third-party vendor data to perform calculations and validate information entered by the lender.

FHLBank Topeka President to Retire. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka announced on Dec. 20 that Andrew Jetter, president and CEO, will begin serving as senior advisor on Jan. 1, 2017, until his retirement date in the first quarter of 2017. Mark Yardley, executive vice president and chief risk officer, will serve as interim president and CEO until a new one is appointed. CBO Suggests Higher G-Fees, Lower Loan Limits. The Congressional Budget Office is looking for ways to reduce the budget impact of government-backed mortgage programs and recommends that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increase their guarantee fees and/or significantly lower their loan limits.

The privately held Cenlar ended the third quarter with a subservicing market share of 25.6 percent, Inside Mortgage Finance found.

A new report from ATOM Data Solutions says concerns about rising sea levels “remain a rarity among most South Florida homeowners and investors"...

After PHH Mortgage, the other top IO producers in 3Q16 were JPMorgan Chase, First Republic Bank, MUFG Union Bank, and Citibank.

Treasury controls the senior preferred stock of the GSEs. The junior preferred and common continues to trade in the over-the-counter market and through private transactions. The latter two classes of stock are considered speculative in nature.

For the first nine months of 2016, the securitization rate was 67.7 percent, Inside MBS & ABS found…

Over the past year, PHH’s share price has traded as high as $16.80 versus a 52-week low of $8.26.

The Congressional Budget Office is looking for ways to reduce the budget impact of government-backed mortgage programs and recommends that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increase their guarantee fees and/or significantly lower their loan limits. But the CBO admits those changes would result in raising the cost to borrowers and could potentially restrain the housing market. Under CBO scorekeeping, MBS guarantees provided by the two government-sponsored enterprises from 2017 to 2026 will cost the government $12 billion. Reducing subsidies also would help renew private sector participation in the secondary market, the CBO said. It proposes...

Commercial banks reduced their securitized servicing by 1.9 percent during the third quarter, though they still accounted for 52.5 percent of that market.