FHFA chief Mel Watt said he would not “elaborate on these issues today,” but promised “you will certainly be hearing more about this as we move forward.”
CSP watchers say the GSE platform is starting to look like an orphan under director Mel Watt. But will Watt mention the project in his first public speech next week?
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitized just $11.1 billion of refinance mortgages with high loan-to-value ratios during the first quarter of 2014, a sign that the Home Affordable Refinance Program is slowing down significantly. The first-quarter high-LTV refi market was down 37.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 and off a hefty 78.5 percent from the $51.4 billion of business the two government-sponsored enterprises did back in the first three months of last year, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. Production was...[Includes one data chart]
Additional industry layoffs are likely in the months ahead. In the first quarter, all lenders originated just $235 billion in mortgages. It was the weakest production quarter in 14 years.
The first-quarter high-LTV refi market was down 37.1 percent from the fourth quarter and off a hefty 79 percent from the $51.4 billion of business the two GSEs did back in the first three months of last year.
There’s a growing concern among participants in the secondary market that legislation in the Senate to reform the government-sponsored enterprises won’t be able to allow the to-be-announced market to function. The latest anxieties were raised by officials at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose securities flourish in the TBA market. Legislation in the Senate from Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, calls for the preservation of the TBA market but doesn’t provide any roadmap for how the proposed Federal Mortgage Insurance Corp. should accomplish that feat. “Unless the FMIC sets...
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