Activity in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac refinance program for underwater borrowers continued to decline in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA said the two government-sponsored enterprises securitized 21,079 loans originated under the Home Affordable Refinance Program during the fourth quarter. That was down 18.4 percent from the previous quarter and brought year-to-date production to just 110,113 loans, a 48.2 percent decline from 2014. HARP accounted...[Includes one data table]

What might replace the GSEs' HARP program? Maybe nothing...

Thanks to the MIP cut, it was FHA's best year since 2010.

Eight of the top 10 jumbo producers in 2015 were banks...

The tone for banks likely was set by JPMorgan Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, who in 2014 warned that without a safe harbor, his bank would be very cautious about FA lending going forward…

The jumbo MBS business may be struggling but not "GSE jumbos," according new figures from IM&A...

Agency MBS backed entirely by “conforming jumbo” mortgages was one of the fastest-growing sectors of the market last year, but traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgages remained the overwhelming favorite, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $21.17 billion of jumbo-only MBS in 2015, a 90.2 percent increase from the previous year. Ginnie Mae issuance of such pools was up even more, by 163.0 percent, last year. Conforming-jumbo loans are...[Includes two data tables]

Officials at American Capital Agency announced last week that the real estate investment trust formed a wholly-owned broker-dealer subsidiary. The broker-dealer will help provide the REIT with repo funding and to-be-announced MBS trade-clearing capabilities. Peter Federico, a senior vice president and chief risk officer at American Capital, said the REIT started forming the broker-dealer about six months ago. He said the entity is fully staffed and is in the regulatory application process, with operations expected to begin midyear. “Once our broker-dealer is up and running, we will pursue...

Panelists speaking at a seminar on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac credit-risk transfers this week agreed that the program, while successful, could use some fine-tuning such as creating a deeper mortgage-insurance version and broader participation by real estate investment trusts. While REITS are active in credit risk transfers, their participation is small when compared to their role in non-agency MBS, said experts at the seminar sponsored by the Urban Institute and CoreLogic. Bill Roth, chief investment officer of Two Harbors, noted that REITs have purchased or retained the subordinate tranches in at least 60 percent of the non-agency MBS issued over the past three years, but just 2 percent of CRT deals issued by the government-sponsored enterprises as of July 2015. “REITs would love...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last year securitized just $14.40 billion of refinance mortgages with high loan-to-value ratios and no private mortgage insurance coverage, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. That was down 51.7 percent from the total for 2014 and amounted to a drop in the bucket compared to the high-water mark for the Home Affordable Refinance Program back in 2012. The sharpest downturn was...[Includes two data tables]