In particular, Watt expressed his concerns about January 1, 2018 when Fannie and Freddie – as promulgated by the U.S. Treasury – are forced to have a capital “buffer” of zero dollars.
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]
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…
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...
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