Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both saw substantial increases in single-family volume during the second quarter, aided in part by nonbank sellers scouring for refinance business. But Fannie enjoyed bigger gains, while Freddie’s share of the two-horse GSE market slipped to 39.5 percent. Freddie’s share has hovered above 40 percent for the past two years, and it was 40.2 percent for the first six months of the year, but the GSE has to prop up its share by charging lower guarantee fees and through other means. In 2016, Freddie has been getting a smaller share of some sellers’ business than it got in the first half of last year. [includes two data charts]

Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA, wrote Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt urging him to avoid taking steps that would lead to the GSEs’ release from conservatorship without comprehensive reform. The letter, sent on July 7, argued that doing so would perpetuate the pre-crisis practice of pubic losses and private gains. Senator Mike Crapo, R-ID, Heidi Heitkamp, D-ND, Dean Heller R-NV, and Jon Tester, D-MT, also coauthored the letter. They agree that an overall change to the existing structure needs to take place, but warned that it should only come through housing finance reform legislation and not any unilateral action by the administration.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released an updated timeline, along with more technical details, on its single-security and common securitization platform late this week. It plans to announce the intended launch date for the single security later this year. This will give stakeholders at least 12 months' advance notice to prepare for implementation. While the project seems to be on track, the FHFA noted that some of the interim milestones could change due to the complicated undertaking. “Many of the milestones pertain to three types of system testing that the enterprises and Common Securitization Solutions must complete before implementation of each release,” according to the FHFA.

In a rare decision, the U.S. Supreme Court last week agreed to hear oral arguments pertaining to an ongoing Fannie Mae foreclosure case dating back to 2002. The case, Crystal Monique Lightfoot v. Fannie Mae, Cendant Mortgage Corp., is based on whether individual homeowners have the right to sue the GSE in the state courts after being wrongly foreclosed on by Fannie. Two homeowners from California involved in a mortgage dispute originally sued Fannie in state court back in 2002. But Fannie said the case should automatically fall under federal jurisdiction and be moved to the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have sold 41,649 nonperforming loans through May 2016, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s inaugural report on nonperforming loan sales and borrower outcomes. The report, released last week, is the first of two reports the FHFA plans to publish each year highlighting NPL sales activities. The loans had an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $8.5 billion and were delinquent 3.4 years on average. Freddie led the NPL sales market for the GSEs having sold 26,436 delinquent loans. Fannie was a distant second at 15,213. The average loan-to-value ratio was 98 percent. LSF9 Mortgage Holdings and Pretium Mortgage Credit Partners were the top...

Former Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Ed DeMarco said the GSEs should operate as lender-owned entities that sell insurance against borrower defaults. DeMarco, along with Michael Bright, director of the Milken Institute’s Center for Financial Markets, published the housing reform plan last week. They said a long-term housing finance decision is needed. “Meaningful reform must be achieved, the vast majority of policymakers say, yet the decade anniversary of the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac looms,” they said. “The FHFA was never envisioned as the permanent manager of the enterprises.” DeMarco and Blight suggest turning the GSEs into mutual insurance companies. In this scenario...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released detailed information on how much the GSEs pay to issue their popular credit-risk transfer debt notes and the types of investors that it has been attracting. The FHFA’s cost estimates included Fannie’s Connecticut Avenue Securities program and Freddie’s Structured Agency Credit Risk program, which have accounted for most GSE risk-transfer activity so far. The estimated cost of each credit-risk debt issuance depends on how private investors and the GSE divvy up the risk as well as the expected default rate and prepayment speed for the reference pool. At the low end of the scale, Fannie conceded an estimated 5 to 6 basis points of guarantee fee income in its second....

Freddie Mac expanded its re-performing loan program by introducing its first structured sale of seasoned loans last week. The $199 million pilot structured sale is comprised of seasoned loans that Freddie currently guarantees and holds in its portfolio. This includes option adjustable-rate mortgages as well as loans that were originally option ARMs but have been modified through a Home Affordable Refinance Program or other modification. Most of the loans are” less than six months current” or are moderately delinquent, according to Freddie. The transaction involves two steps. In the first step, Freddie sells the loans through a competitive bidding process, subject to a securitization term sheet.

The GSEs simplified their low downpayment mortgage programs and announced updates in their selling guides late last week. The formula to determine a borrower’s eligibility by income limits is the first change aimed at making the application process for Fannie’s HomeReady program easier. “We are simplifying the way that income limits are applied by establishing a single area median income limit of 100 percent,” said Fannie. This is a change from the previous limit, in which the total annual qualifying income could not exceed 80 percent or 100 percent of the area median income, depending on where the home was located.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued interim final rules last week on fraud and civil penalties that are open for comment through Aug. 1.The interim final rule amends rules of practice and procedure and other agency regulations to adjust each civil money penalty within its jurisdiction to account for inflation. This was done pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements of 2015. FHFA noted that the Adjustment Improvements Act provides that the initial catch-up adjustment must be implemented by an interim final rule.