The Obama administration and the head of the Mortgage Bankers Association, among others, agree that the ongoing conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises is unsustainable. However, with a strong divide between political parties regarding the level of government support needed in a system that replaces Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, GSE reform remains a notion years away from completion. “Market participants are truly uncertain about the government’s longer-term ...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitized $43.28 billion of single-family loans covered by private mortgage insurance during the first quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. First-quarter PMI business was down 7.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014, although overall mortgage-backed securities issuance by the two government-sponsored enterprises was up 5.9 percent over the same period. All of the increase ... [Includes two data charts]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are legally bound to poverty and to remain instruments of the federal government in perpetuity, but Treasury officials argue that the current conservatorship arrangement is better for the government-sponsored enterprises and the housing market. At a seminar in Washington, DC, this week, Treasury Counselor Michael Stegman said that the GSEs benefit from the agreement under which nearly all of their profits are siphoned off by the government ...
The general fear is that higher-than-needed capital standards will cause mortgage insurers to hold unnecessary amounts of assets that will force the industry to raise premiums.
“Fannie and Freddie have made tremendous strides to provide clarity in the system and create innovations,” said Peter Carroll, executive vice president for mortgage policy and counter party relations at Quicken Loans.
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