Roughly $495 billion of residential MBS and non-mortgage ABS were issued during the second quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS market analysis.

Japanese investors increased their holdings of agency MBS by $32 billion and even boosted their non-agency MBS investments by $1.4 billion.

The uphill climb for the Congressman who would be the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency got a little steeper last week following a lackluster confirmation performance that did not appear to win over Republican critics. Both in his prepared testimony and during questioning by members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Rep. Mel Watt, D-NC, placed a heavy emphasis on his biographical details, but he was light on mortgage-finance policy specifics. Republicans pressed hard on his technical qualifications for the job of FHFA director. “The Housing and Economic Recovery Act clearly defines...

The volume of new business flowing through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – a lagging indicator of primary market originations – declined modestly during the second quarter of 2013, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. The two government-sponsored enterprises securitized $337.74 billion of single-family mortgages during the second quarter, down 5.1 percent from the first three months of the year. The decline reversed an upward trend in quarterly GSE production that started in the third quarter of 2012. Even with the downturn, business at Fannie and Freddie was up 20.0 percent over the first six months of last year. The second-quarter decline clearly reflected...[Includes three data charts]

Credit Suisse issued a non-agency jumbo MBS backed predominantly by seasoned mortgages from First Republic Bank.

Well, at least the White House is happy. Fannie and Freddie turned over $66.4 billion to the government at the end of June, money that will help reduce the deficit.

According to exclusive figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Trends, Citigroup had $748 million of disputed buybacks with the GSEs at March 31.

A bipartisan group of members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee introduced legislation this week to reform the government-sponsored enterprises. However, industry participants and analysts predict that Congress is unlikely to pass GSE reform anytime soon. S. 1217, the “Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act,” would wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac within five years of passage and replace their functions with a new government entity ...

Wells Fargo and Quicken Loans continued to dominate the FHA lending market in May, according to a new analysis from Inside FHA Lending.

It appears that Cerberus is going down the mortgage aisle one more time. Let's hope it doesn't end like GMAC. Meanwhile, jumbo MBS market seizes up, temporarily.