A Manhattan federal judge earlier this month dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s Financial Services after finding no evidence that the rating agency defrauded investors when it gave a favorable rating to Fannie Mae stock prior to the financial crisis.The suit, filed in December 2012 on behalf of potentially hundreds of thousands of investors who bought stock in an offering by Fannie in May 2008, four months before the GSE was taken over by the government, alleged that S&P knowingly misrated Fannie’s stock. Valued at about $25 per share when it was issued, the stock dropped to about $3 per share after Fannie’s government conservatorship began in September 2008.

With interest rates increasing, some new borrowers have turned to adjustable-rate mortgages. Industry analysts expect the ARM share of originations will increase, but limited product offerings and tight underwriting standards will likely prevent the ARM originations from reaching levels seen during the previous mortgage boom. The record low interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages in recent years have given borrowers few reasons to take ARMs. Interest rates on mortgages have increased significantly recently ...

First-time homebuyers accounted for 33 percent of all GSE-securitized purchase mortgages in the first half, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.

The non-cash share of home-purchase financing increased to 71 percent in June from 67 percent in February, based on the three-month moving average.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Ranking Minority Member Mike Crapo, R-ID, have released a draft FHA solvency bill that is far less ambitious than legislation proposed by House GOP leaders last week. The Senate bill, the FHA Solvency Act of 2013, would essentially shore up the existing FHA program by allowing higher mortgage insurance premiums and requiring a bigger capital buffer. The housing finance reform bill introduced by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, would significantly change the FHA program by narrowing its focus and limiting the depth of coverage it provides. The draft Senate bill contains...

The purchase-mortgage market in the first half of 2013 has shown solid gains over the same per-iod last year, especially in a handful of booming state markets, but different lenders are having widely varying success getting on top of the wave. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan-level data shows that 20.2 percent of single-family mortgages securitized by the two government-sponsored enterprises in the first half of the year were purchase-mortgage loans, and total volume was up 31.1 percent from the same time last year. First-time homebuyers accounted...[Includes two data charts]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency should coordinate with the FHA to establish a formal working group to permit both agencies to raise guaranty fees and insurance premiums as a way to reduce the federal government’s role in the mortgage-guaranty business, the FHFA’s official watchdog has recommended. The FHFA firmly disagrees. A new report by the FHFA’s Office of Inspector General this week noted “potential benefits” that the FHFA may achieve by establishing a “more formalized working arrangement” with the FHA and “jointly assessing the key issues around their pricing initiatives.” The Treasury Department made...

Wells Fargo, the nation's large home funder, accounted for almost 31 percent of total Ginnie Mae issuance during the first half of 2013.

Bank of America's mortgage business continued to recover in the second quarter, but its rep and warranties exposure remained high at $16.64 billion.

Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA, say their mortgage reform measure strikes the right chord between Democrat and Republican concerns.