The Federal Housing Finance Agency is mandating that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac each enter into $30 billion of “risk sharing” transactions this year and move a little more quickly to reduce their $1.19 trillion of on-balance sheet holdings, including whole loans and non-agency MBS. The edict comes directly from FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco, who provided few details about the initiative during a speech this week to the National Association for Business Economics. DeMarco also announced that the regulator intends to set up a new government entity that will develop and manage the common MBS securitization platform that’s been in the works for the two government-sponsored entities. One reason for pushing the GSEs to test drive risk-sharing structures is...

The purchase mortgage business has been in the tank since the housing crash. Although home buying is on the upswing, will it be enough to replace the refi boom?

Industry observers are scratching their heads after the Federal Housing Finance Agency this week took another step toward a future secondary mortgage market by announcing a plan to establish a single entity that would be used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – and at some point, perhaps, private issuers – to issue mortgage-backed securities. Acting FHFA Director Ed DeMarco, in a speech before the National Association for Business Economics, laid out his plan for a single MBS platform that would be run by, and apparently developed by, an entirely new government entity “separate” from Fannie and Freddie. The platform, he promised, would have...

Loans funded in California continue to dominate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchases and MBS, according to a new analysis from Inside The GSEs.

AIG is now buying whole loans on a correspondent basis and will portfolio the product, at least for the time being.

The mortgage operations of banks and thrifts posted record earnings in 2012, but the momentum may be behind the sector.

Citadel Servicing has raised $200 million in capital to originate residential subprime mortgages. Does this mean subprime lending is "back"? Answer: yes and no.

This week’s effort by a quartet of former Washington heavyweights to “jump start” the debate over the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the form of a new, but familiar, mortgage reform proposal put GSE overhaul back in the headlines. Industry observers say that’s a plus, but it remains to be seen whether it will ultimately affect policy change. The Bipartisan Policy Center, comprised of former Republican and Democrat lawmakers and cabinet officials, issued a plan calling for the phasing out of the GSEs in favor of a new federal entity that explicitly acts as a backstop of last resort after the private sector.

Freddie Mac ended 2012 with its single best quarterly showing since the company was placed into government conservatorship by the Federal Housing Finance Agency at the height of mortgage market implosion 4½ years ago. The GSE late this week posted fourth quarter net income of $4.5 billion. Compared to the third quarter’s earnings of $2.9 billion, profits grew by 55 percent, the company noted in its Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Over the next 10 months upwards of $15 billion in nonperforming residential loans could hit the auction market – and some of that product will come from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Investment bankers and loan sale advisors familiar with the matter told Inside The GSEs that Fannie could come to market with a multi-million dollar package of residential NPLs before the end of March. One trader told IGSEs that Fannie’s announcement was imminent, but at press time no such proclamation had been made.