Fannie Mae on Thursday unveiled that Lone Star (LSF9 Mortgage Holdings) was the sole winning bidder on its second sale of non-performing mortgages. The auction was marketed in late July and is expected to settle Sept. 25.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to increase their focus on the multifamily segment, which generated growing income for the two government-sponsored enterprises during the second quarter. Freddie Mac’s comprehensive income for multifamily grew by $102 million to $366 million for the second quarter. The increase was primarily due to higher unrealized gains on available-for-sale-securities. New purchase volume remained...

On Wednesday, Freddie Mac announced that it guaranteed its second multifamily small balance loan securitization. The government-sponsored enterprise expects to guarantee approximately $109 billion in SB Certificates and plans to price them next week.

Despite former Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Ed DeMarco's call for comprehensive reform of the nation's housing finance system and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the analysts at Compass Point Research & Trading remain convinced "that there is neither the legislative capacity nor political will to address housing finance reform in this Congress."

Delinquencies are declining in the government-sponsored enterprises’ holdings of Alt A mortgages but outsized losses from the loans remain an issue. Purchased and guaranteed Alt A mortgages account for the largest portion of the GSEs’ remaining involvement in the nonprime market, according to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Fannie Mae held $109.70 billion in purchased/guaranteed Alt A mortgages as of the end of the second quarter of 2015 ... [Includes one data chart]

The FHA will not issue a new case number for any FHA-to-FHA refinance if the current mortgage has a repair or rehabilitation escrow account in FHA Connection. The change, which is one of several updates to FHA Single Family Policy Handbook 4000.1, applies only to FHA streamline refis. It aims to ensure that escrow funds of the mortgage being refinanced are properly applied as well as conform to system requirements. The updated sections become effective on Sept. 14, 2015. Another change clarifies that the payoff statement for the mortgage being refinanced is the only document required when calculating the maximum mortgage amount for simple refi transactions. In addition, guidance for loan-to-value limits for cash-out refis has been updated to clarify that the 85 percent LTV restriction applies only to cash-out refis. HUD also noted that appraisers have flexibility in regards to when inspections should ...

A recent shift in the purchase-mortgage market share toward the government-sponsored enterprises appears to be part of seasonal home buying patterns rather than direct competition for mortgages with low downpayments.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released final housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2015 through 2017 on Wednesday. It increased both the single-family low-income purchase goals and multifamily low-income goals and established a new low-income housing subgoal for small multifamily properties.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been gaining purchase-mortgage market share from the FHA in recent months, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The shifts appear to be part of seasonal home-buying patterns rather than direct competition for mortgages with low downpayments. “From our statistics, we see...

The manufactured housing industry wants the Federal Housing Finance Agency to push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase more manufactured housing loans under its forthcoming “duty-to-serve” rule. The “duty-to-serve” rule was mandated by the 2008 Housing and Economic Recovery Act to steer the government-sponsored enterprises to support underserved markets. In particular, that included manufactured housing, rural housing and affordable housing preservation. A final rule has never been implemented...