The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week that Steven Cross, the FHFA’s deputy director of the Division of Federal Home Loan Bank Regulation, will retire from the agency in March 2013. Cross served as the Finance Agency’s overseer of the 12 FHLBanks since the FHFA was created in October 2008, while simultaneously serving as the agency’s chief operating officer from September 2009 to December 2011. FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco credited Cross’ “vital role” during a “period of upheaval in the housing and financial markets and significant development and change at FHFA.”

Despite gains in oversight and reform of the compensation packages for Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s top-level executives, the Federal Housing Finance Agency needs to beef up its reviews and examinations of the pay packages for the scores of vice presidents and directors currently employed by the two GSEs, according to the Finance Agency’s official watchdog. The FHFA’s Office of Inspector General report released this week noted a “significant cost” involved in the compensation of the two GSEs’ nearly 12,000 employees.

Despite the ever-increasing volume of political chatter that the White House is poised to nominate a new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, industry observers tell Inside The GSEs they aren’t altogether convinced the Obama administration is able or even willing to effect agency regime change and assume full ownership of the GSEs at this time. Following President Obama’s re-election last month, speculation shifted quickly from “if” to “when” Edward DeMarco, a Bush-era hold-over who recently began his fourth year as the FHFA’s “temporary” head, would be replaced.

Analysts expect the U.S. economic recovery to continue on a slow, weak path into 2013 with the potential for a new recession that could weaken the residential MBS market. At Standard & Poor’s, analysts predict a “slow and uneven” economic recovery with a 15 percent to 20 percent chance of another recession that would be less severe than the 2008-2009 financial crisis but potent enough to sap the MBS market. S&P assumes a reversal in home prices and unemployment rising to near 9 percent in 2013, which could hamper borrower capacity to make their mortgage payments. Overall, S&P’s outlook for the single-family MBS market is...

Two separate white papers from industry trade groups on reform of the government-sponsored enterprises call for a strong government role to provide stability and liquidity in multifamily mortgage finance. The Mortgage Bankers Association called for a system of private capital finance for multifamily housing, with a focus primarily on securitization and the federal government serving as a catastrophic insurer. The program would be funded through risk-based premiums paid by the entities that securitize the loans, according to Brian Stoffers, president of CBRE Debt and Equity Finance. “We recognize...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this month completed implementation of the latest round of guaranty fee hikes, this one mandated by their regulator as a move to reduce the footprint of the government-sponsored enterprises and draw more private capital into the mortgage market. Experts say the 10 basis point fee hike will have a slight positive impact in the near term, but future moves in the same direction could help close the gap between agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities. The Federal Housing Finance Agency ordered the GSEs to raise g-fees by 10 bps for cash deliveries starting in November, and for MBS transactions beginning in December. At the time, the FHFA said...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced FHA loan limits for calendar 2013 that include higher amounts for 19 counties, according to an Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. Of the 19 counties getting higher loan limits for FHA forward mortgages, 10 are part of the Houston metropolitan area, where the one-unit limit is going up just $1,500, to $272,550. The remainder are in various counties in Alaska. The “emergency” loan limits for high-cost markets – still $729,750 for FHA and $625,500 for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – were authorized...

The mortgage banking industry is urging Congress to reject the FHA’s call to eliminate the existing “knew or should have known” standard in the National Housing Act in connection with an agency proposal to extend indemnification authority to all direct-endorsement lenders. Both proposals are part of legislative and administrative measures sought by the FHA to strengthen its capability to manage risk and protect its Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. A recent independent actuarial review of the fund found that in FY 2012 the economic value of the FHA’s single-family portfolio had dropped to negative $13.5 billion (excluding Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans) and that ...

Nonprime mortgages and mortgage-backed securities caused a significant portion of the losses suffered by the government-sponsored enterprises since 2008. However, the nonprime assets that the GSEs have held on to have seen lower credit losses and even profits recently due to improving home prices and investor demand for vintage MBS. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have allowed their non-prime exposure to run off since 2008, rather than selling the assets. As of the end of the third quarter of 2012 ... [Includes one data chart]

Participants in the non-agency mortgage-backed security market are largely opposed to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposal to create a platform to issue standardized non-agency MBS. While the FHFA suggested that the platform could revive the non-agency market, industry participants suggest that many issues besides a platform are hindering non-agency MBS issuance. “Key elements of the platform that are advantages for government-sponsored enterprise securitizations, such as standardization ...