The supply of home mortgage debt outstanding started growing again during the second quarter of 2015, thanks to relatively strong growth in retained portfolios, according to an Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of new data from the Federal Reserve and other sources. The Fed reported late last week that $9.901 trillion of single-family mortgage debt was outstanding as of the end of June. That was up 0.4 percent from March and represented the biggest supply of mortgage servicing since the third quarter of 2013. The servicing market had been shrinking...[Includes two data tables]
American Advisors Group ranked first among all reverse mortgage originators in the first half, funding $1.2 billion. None of the top 15 are depositories.
Loan officers, it seems, are more willing to work on agency-eligible mortgages because they know the transactions have a good chance of closing, but non-QMs are a different matter.
Despite the 90 percent estimate offered by Applegate, the government-sponsored enterprises’ use of the CSP – let alone the GSE single security – looks to be a ways off.
David Applegate, CEO of Common Securitization Solutions, revealed this week that the joint venture owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has finished much of the work for a major milestone in the common securitization platform. Although officials promised more information about the timeline next year, the government-sponsored enterprises’ use of the CSP – let alone the GSE single security – looks to be a ways off. At the ABS East conference produced by Information Management Network this week in Miami, Applegate said CSS has completed about 90 percent of the work required for single-class security issuance by Freddie on the CSP. Officials at CSS, the GSEs and the Federal Housing Finance Agency revealed this week that Freddie would be the first to test the system, and that Fannie would go on board at a later date, when issuance of the interchangeable single security will begin. The officials also noted...
Documents pertaining to the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the controversial change that strips the government-sponsored enterprises of net worth, will remain sealed, under a September court order in a lawsuit filed by private GSE shareholders. Judge Margaret Sweeney’s ruling in Fairholme Funds v. The United States went in favor of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to keep the documents under “protected information,” denying a motion by Fairholme to release the documents. Charles Cooper, attorney with Cooper & Kirk, the law firm representing the investors, told...
PHH Mortgage – which handles originations for a number of financial firms on a private-label basis – was the largest IO lender in the nation with $7.19 billion funded during the first half.
With a lack of consensus from industry participants, let alone members of Congress, regarding how to reform the government-sponsored enterprises, the risk-sharing transactions implemented by the GSEs in recent years are seen as one possible model for increasing private capital investment in the mortgage market. Stanford Kurland, chairman and CEO of PennyMac Financial Services, suggested that the predominant risk-sharing transactions used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have significant limitations. In an opinion piece published last week in the American Banker, Kurland said front-end risk-sharing “should be a bridge to long-term reform.” The main risk-sharing efforts completed by the GSEs are...
The Common Securitization Platform currently under development for use by the government-sponsored enterprises has seen some twists and turns regarding potential use for non-agency mortgage-backed securities. Various officials working on the CSP stressed this week at the ABS East conference in Miami that the focus for the platform is activity by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “The platform is adaptable, but our focus is on the enterprises,” said David Applegate, CEO of Common Securitization Solutions, the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac joint venture that is developing the CSP. At the conference produced by Information Management Network, he noted...