Sellers upended expectations by increasing loan deliveries to the GSEs in January. Nine of the top 10 sellers delivered more loans to Freddie Mac than Fannie Mae. (Includes two data charts.)

Almost all the temporary seller flexibilities FHFA put in place because of the pandemic have either been retired or incorporated into the normal selling guides.

Who will take up the slack when the Fed is no longer the dominant buyer in the MBS market?

One veteran GSE investor and housing-finance system critic believes the $6 trillion book of business is actually worth more than $11 trillion.

At the direction of FHFA, the GSEs are permanently integrating desktop appraisals into their automated underwriting systems.

In April, Fannie and Freddie will begin charging sharply higher LLPAs on second-home and high-balance mortgages. The change is likely to expand non-agency securitizations at the expense of Fannie and Freddie.

Freddie veterans Steve Lineberger and Meg McElgunn will run the Western and Central districts as well as the Northeastern and Southeastern districts.

The new goals don’t deviate dramatically from what the agency proposed in August, but the mulitfamily goals will only apply to 2022 instead of the usual three-year time span.

GSEs issue lender letters/bulletins tweaking their guidelines for lenders and servicers.

In 2022, the GSEs will be able to purchase loans nearing $1 million, cutting into what has typically been the non-agency jumbo market.