The mix of single-family mortgages securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the third quarter of 2013 continued to shift toward purchase mortgages, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of the government-sponsored enterprise market. Purchase mortgages accounted for 36.7 percent of Fannie/Freddie business during the third quarter, up from 23.9 percent during the previous period. It was the highest purchase-mortgage share of GSE business since the market collapse ... [Includes two data charts]

The Appraisal Foundation suggested this week that “alternative valuation products” likely will not comply with professional appraisal standards in most cases. If an AVP requires the same development and reporting requirements as an appraisal, the Appraisal Foundation said in a white paper, why would the industry create the AVP in the first place? The foundation noted that the Appraisal Standards Board does not deem any alternative valuation product or form as compliant with the industry’s ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have to dial back the multifamily spigot if they’re going to meet the targets their regulator wants them to as it seeks to shrink the GSEs’ presence in the space. It looks like it might require a bigger turn of the dial for Freddie than for Fannie. As part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s 2013 Conservatorship Scorecard, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco has called for a 10 percent reduction target in GSE multifamily business volume this year compared to 2012.

Declining refinance volume contributed to a marked decline in the GSEs’ overall business during September compared to the previous month, with Fannie Mae seeing a rise volume to the detriment of Freddie Mac, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.Fannie and Freddie issued $78.6 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the third quarter, a 20.0 percent decline from August but a 9.0 percent rise for the first nine months of 2013. [Includes one data chart.]

The “public voice” of the Federal Home Loan Bank system is calling on policymakers to remember the 12 regional banks as proposals are considered to restructure the nation’s housing finance system. A recently issued one-page “position paper” by the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks lists a set of nine positions the 12 have collectively adopted to remind official Washington that the system has “operated prudently and served as a mechanism for economic stability” for more than 80 years.

After an eight-year hiatus, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco announced last week it would renew its participation in the Mortgage Partnership Finance program, which is managed by the FHLBank of Chicago. Starting in 2014, the San Francisco Bank will purchase conventional, conforming fixed-rate mortgages and FHA/VA products, as well as purchase fixed-rate loans from its members for sale to Fannie Mae through the MPF Xtra program.

Fannie Mae officials said this week their decision to study from Freddie Mac’s inaugural risk-sharing transaction prompted them to take the time to obtain a rating on the deal. Fannie’s Connecticut Avenue Securities Series 2013-C01 is scheduled to close on Oct. 24, according to a presale report released late last week by Fitch Ratings.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week made the common securitization platform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a legal entity, filing paperwork with Delaware’s Division of Corporations, creating a limited liability company called Common Securitization Solutions LLC. The new limited liability company will be jointly owned by the two GSEs and will assume Fannie’s and Freddie’s securitization functions.

GSEs Issue Government Shutdown Guidance. Freddie Mac this week followed Fannie Mae in issuing new, temporary guidelines to servicers and sellers of single-family mortgages as the nation began its second week of the government shutdown. The GSEs have temporarily revised their selling guidelines to permit lenders to verify Social Security and IRS transcripts after the closing but before the delivery date of the loan.“Servicers can offer unemployment forbearance to borrowers that have a financial hardship as a result of the shutdown and must suspend credit reporting for those borrowers,” said Fannie.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitized $285 billion of single-family mortgages during the third quarter, an almost 16 percent drop from the previous three-month period. As for the outlook for the fourth quarter, the industry is nervous.