Only about 27.7 percent of Ginnie Mae first-quarter volume were refinance loans, and the refi share of the overall market fell to an estimated 44.3 percent, Inside Mortgage Finance found.

Mortgage bankers increasingly are complaining about a lack of homes to buy as one reason why originations are down this year.

All the major mortgage product categories saw declines in new originations during the first quarter, but the jumbo and home-equity sectors held up slightly better, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. The conventional-conforming sector took the biggest hit, as new production dropped 25.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 to an estimated $123 billion in the first three months of this year. The vast majority of these loans still end up being financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the two government-sponsored enterprises continue to draw a lot of their business from the ebbing refinance market. Fannie and Freddie securitized...[Includes two data charts]

Look for the various lawsuits filed by private owners of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock against the federal government to take a “very long time to be decided,” as the courts may take up to a year to resolve just the introductory motions, according to a legal expert. Beyond that, the litigation over shares in the two government-sponsored enterprises could stretch out to the U.S. Supreme Court. Brooklyn Law School Professor David Reiss, speaking during a Bloomberg Industries webinar last week, noted that lawsuits stemming from the savings and loan debacle of 20 years ago give a sense of the possible timeframe, but litigation brought by disenfranchised Fannie and Freddie investors against the government offers an entirely different and deeper set of legal complexities. “These are...

A lack of overwhelming support in the Senate for legislation to reform the government-sponsored enterprises has shifted the housing finance policy debate from reform to preservation. If Congress fails to act, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is set to drive mortgage policy for years to come. Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, initially delayed the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs’ recent markup of S. 1217, the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act, in an effort to increase support for the GSE reform bill. But they failed to gain favor with a number of liberal members of the committee, and the bill ultimately passed on a 13-9 vote seen as dooming prospects for comprehensive action on GSE reform in Congress. Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, were...

The high cost of FHA loans, due mainly to higher MI premiums and a requirement to maintain mortgage insurance for the life of the loan, has made it difficult for borrowers to obtain credit.

Legislation to reform the government-sponsored enterprises moved forward in the Senate last week, but industry analysts suggest that complete action by Congress to reform the housing finance system is unlikely until 2017 at the earliest. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs approved S. 1217, the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act, on a 13-9 vote. The bill pushed by the committee’s leaders, Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and ...

After years of losses from holdings of nonprime mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported significant income relating to subprime mortgages and Alt A loans in the first quarter of 2014. The income was largely tied to settlements of lawsuits filed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency against non-agency mortgage-backed security issuers, and losses from nonprime mortgages were also minimal during the quarter ... [Includes one data chart]

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions is calling upon the CFPB and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to be more transparent about how they plan to use the information they want to collect for their joint National Mortgage Database. “First and foremost, NAFCU believes greater transparency should be provided by the FHFA and CFPB on what this information is being used for and which divisions within each agency have access to it,” NAFCU Regulatory Affairs Counsel Angela Meyster said in a letter to the FHFA. In addition, NAFCU urged the FHFA and CFPB to select only robust and representative subsets of the data when they seek to use it to support particular policies or rulemakings. “Further, the agencies should ...

President Obama is expected to announce his intent to nominate Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan as director of the Office of Management and Budget and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to replace him. If confirmed by the Senate, Castro would be the second Hispanic after Henry Cisneros to assume the top post at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Also a former mayor of San Antonio, Cisneros served as HUD secretary during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1997. Currently in his third term as mayor, Castro is a strong advocate of affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization, inner-city investment and child education and works closely with the San Antonio Housing Authority. San Antonio mortgage bankers said they have had little interaction with Castro, who, they say is “big on housing issues.” “We’re hoping to hear a little bit more about his ...