There is little to no chance of legislative GSE reform occurring until at least 2016, so market participants should plan accordingly, predicted a report issued last week. Despite two separate bills awaiting a floor vote in both the House and Senate, Kroll Bond Rating Agency said there’s little chance housing reform legislation will garner enough support to pass until after the next presidential election.

Fannie, Freddie Subprime Holdings Continue to Run Off. The GSEs’ holdings of nonprime mortgages continue to decline, largely due to runoff, according to a new analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets, an affiliated publication. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac held a combined $252.2 billion of Alt A and subprime mortgage assets at the end of the second quarter, down 18.3 percent from 2Q13. Purchased/guaranteed mortgages account for 71.9 percent of the holdings, with the rest of the GSEs’ nonprime exposure in non-agency mortgage-backed securities.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in July posted a combined increase in the volume of single-family mortgages they securitized, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.Fannie and Freddie issued $57.9 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities in July, a 12.3 percent increase from June. However, July’s MBS issuance was down 59.0 percent on a year-to-date basis.

The second-quarter rebound in mortgage profits was linked to an increase in new lending and loan sales.

The increased market share for first-time homebuyers is part of a seasonal trend that has occurred in each of the past three years.

The average loan officer makes a $4,000 commission on each reach reverse mortgage they originate. Really?

Unlike the various 20 lawsuits filed against the government, Pershing Square Capital Management's legal actions focus on common shareholders.

Fannie and Freddie held a combined $252 billion in Alt A and subprime mortgage assets at the end of June, down 18.3 percent from the second quarter of 2013.

Many banks are beginning to shy away from the product as the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Justice Department take banks to task for underwriting flaws.

The notion of a common pass-through MBS issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was formally put in play this week, as the Federal Housing Finance Agency solicited comment on a proposed “single security” for the two government-sponsored enterprises. The Mortgage Bankers Association has been pushing the concept for several years, and it made it onto the FHFA’s formal agenda for the GSEs in 2014. Proponents say it would improve liquidity in the market and level out Freddie’s pricing disadvantage. Under the FHFA proposal, the new common MBS would adopt...