In a mortgage market still dominated by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and government-insured lending, the non-agency jumbo sector stood out as the only one to show year-over-year growth in 2011, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Jumbo mortgage originations rose 13.5 percent from 2010 to 2011, while overall production was down 17.2 percent from the year before. The $118 billion of non-agency jumbo originations in 2011 represented the biggest annual output since the market collapsed in 2008 and agency loan limits were jacked dramatically...(Includes two data charts)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have asked lenders to repurchase some $76.4 billion of mortgages under representations and warranties provisions in their contracts, although a significant volume of these demands ended up being withdrawn by the two government-sponsored enterprises. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of reps and warranties disclosures made by Fannie and Freddie shows that 37.3 percent of the buyback demands made by the GSEs over the years ended up being withdrawn. Fannie, Freddie and other mortgage securitizers are now required to file reps and warranties...(Includes one data chart)

With Congress unlikely to move major mortgage finance reform any time soon, the Federal Housing Finance Agency this week outlined its “strategic plan” to use the next phase of the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to build a new mortgage securitization infrastructure. The plan’s roll out comes one year and one week after the Obama administration proposed three potential options to shut down Fannie and Freddie within 10 years. No significant action has been taken since, although Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recently noted that the White House expects to provide more details of its...

Most major servicers reported increases in mortgage delinquency rates during the fourth quarter of 2011, but some industry data suggest seasonal factors influenced the increase. According to the Inside Mortgage Finance Large Servicer Delinquency Index, 10.88 percent of loans serviced by 19 major companies were in some stage of default at the end of 2011. That was up from 10.70 percent at the end of September and marked the fourth consecutive increase in the index. The biggest increase was in the serious default category, loans 90 days or more past due but not yet in foreclosure. Some 3.27...(Includes one data chart)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s first official budget – which will be funded by the Federal Reserve – segregates expenditures into three buckets, the lion’s share of which will go to the supervision, enforcement, fair lending and equal opportunity account. Outlays within this category are set to out-step the other two categories combined. After spending about $60 million in fiscal 2011, this SEFLEO bucket is set to climb to about $214 million for 2012 and $261 million next year. Consumer-related expenditures totaled $43 million in 2011 and are projected to roughly double ...

The Multi-State Mortgage Committee and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators have issued Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE) Act Examination Guidelines for use by state nondepository mortgage regulators. The primary purpose of the guidelines is “to ensure that all individuals acting as mortgage loan originators are properly licensed and registered under the SAFE Act in all states in which they are conducting business,” said John Ducrest, commissioner of the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions and chairman of the ...

The securitization industry told the Securities and Exchange Commission this week that certain rules might be needed to make sure transaction parties are not creating and selling ABS that are intentionally designed to fail or default and profiting from the failure or default of such securities. However, industry representatives urged the regulator to make sure that any such rules not be overly broad or vague or place undue restrictions or prohibitions upon the securitization market and otherwise impair its recovery. The SEC in September proposed a rule to implement provisions...

Observers in MBS and legal circles are closely watching how a federal judge will rule on a pending motion by UBS Americas to dismiss the mortgage securities lawsuit brought last summer by the Federal Housing Finance Agency on statute of limitations grounds and the ruling’s potential impact on other pending FHFA MBS litigation. The FHFA sued UBS in July and then filed a blizzard of 17 lawsuits against some of the industry’s biggest institutions, including Bank of America, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and others, seeking tens of billions of dollars in damages incurred by Fannie Mae and Freddie...

Analysts covering the commercial mortgage-backed securities market are cautiously optimistic, predicting continued volume growth and better performance of CMBS in 2012, although at a much slower pace compared to the past two years. CMBS investors will tend to be cautious this year because of continuing economic uncertainty worldwide, particularly the European debt crisis, and a tougher debt market that may reduce liquidity, analysts said. The CMBS market has not yet fully recovered from its almost total collapse in 2009 as a result of the financial crisis. Although recovery began in 2010, issuance remains...

Industry trade groups this week stepped up their efforts to block the imposition of additional fees on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS as a way for the government to pay for an extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits. Late this week, the House-Senate conference committee announced it reached an agreement on a $150 billion extension through the end of 2012, although final details of the deal were not yet finalized as Inside MBS & ABS went to press. Lawmakers had been considering raising $4 billion of new revenue from increased guarantee fees from the two government-sponsored...