The U.S. Treasury’s new Federal Insurance Office released a long-awaited report last week that calls for the federal oversight of mortgage insurers, an industry now overseen directly by state insurance regulators and indirectly by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. “Federal standards and oversight for mortgage insurers should be developed and implemented,” said the report. The private mortgage insurance sector is interconnected...

Citing its goal and the White House’s stated preference to reduce the market presence of the government-sponsored enterprises, the Federal Housing Finance Agency this week proposed setting “loan-purchase limits” for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The FHFA said it could use its authority as conservator to set loan-purchase limits about 4.0 percent below the statutory GSE loan limits it established for 2014. Instead of a national floor of $417,000, the top single-unit mortgage Fannie and Freddie would buy in markets that are not designated high cost would be $400,000. The maximum purchase limit in high-cost markets would be $600,000, rather than $625,500, and all the “tweener” high-cost limits would similarly be reduced by 4.0 percent. “The loan purchase limits … would modestly reduce...

Limited examination resources and staff turnover at the Federal Housing Finance Agency remain a concern, according to the FHFA's Office of Inspector General.

According to Inside FHA Lending, the top three VA lenders during the first nine months of 2013 were: Wells Fargo, USAA, and Freedom Mortgage.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and other trade groups are hopping mad at FHFA's latest December surprise: higher LLPAs.

As a technical matter, Edward DeMarco still heads FHFA and the agency is once again testing the waters for lower Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan limits.

Among other things, the FHFA wants to know if six-months is adequate time for lenders and servicers to make the changes to their technology systems.

Compared to June 30, MBS investments by REITs are off 6 percent. Moreover, the industry has lost nearly all of the huge volume of MBS that were acquired in early 2012.

Wells, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase accounted for a combined 44.7 percent of the $517.75 billion in bank HELOCs outstanding at the end of the third quarter.

While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stress their avoidance of new subprime and Alt A mortgages, nonprime mortgages continue to account for a small portion of the government-sponsored enterprises’ new business. According to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets, Fannie’s portfolio of guaranteed subprime mortgages is declining much more rapidly than Freddie’s. Fannie guaranteed $4.30 billion in subprime mortgages as of the end of the third quarter of 2013, down 17.3 percent ... [Includes one data chart]